Mandala Tea

mmmmmm i rather like this one from Mandala. Not only are they really fun to watch brew as they turn into neat star like sort of tea bundles of yum, but they’re tasty and malty and just downright delicious!. I enjoyed this one quite a bit today since it’s been a while since i last had some :)

that settles it. i prefer this western brew 4-5 cones for 4 mins or so rather than gaiwan. heh I saved one little cone to try out with my gaiwan and while it’s a pleasant enough cup, i like the depth of flavour you get from a western brew much better. :) thanks for the share terri!

Terri sent these my way and i was super excited to try them out! I have to say, if nothing else these are fantastic looking when they’re brewed :) I’ve had a couple of steeps of these – they’re malty and rich and delicious! I’ve got one cone left that i’m going to use tomorrow for a mini gaiwan session.

this graceful tea has long gypsy curls, winding into cocoa, then twisting into malt. each arch is pronounced, distinct, but before long it wisps away and i must sip again. i am left with no bitterness or puerh mossiness…. just a memory of refined grace and surprise that this is in fact a puerh.

my cup has become a dark limpid pool of beauty. such a gracious gift from stephanie! thank you so much. most certainly the most evolved puerh i’ve ever tasted. so this is what the next level tastes like…..

A bit of an unusual format for me, I wrote tasting notes right after my gaiwan session, here they are:

Cinnamon not detectable in dry leaf.

Very sweet wuyi! Not vegetal at all, sweet sweet sweet. Would be great stand alone wuyi.

Cinnamon not present until later steeping 3-4.

First detectable in the aroma, then realized late in the palate.

Not bold in your face cinnamon, this comes later, much more subtly towards the end of the palate and the back of the throat…. like a cinnamon essence.

Remarkable subtlety! Teaches patience, awareness and subtlety – things which I need to improve on or am lacking generally… ahh this is like tea therapy.

Subtle floral like cinnamon, or rather oolong-like cinnamon.

Warm sensation persists in back of throat, cinnamon related or just temperature?

Retains flavor up to around 6 quick gaiwan infusions, then starts to dissipate.

I used the last of my sample from staphanie with a greater leaf-to-water ratio. I had just under two teaspoons and I used exactly 8oz of water. I remembered to rinse first this time and then i steeped the leaves for 4 1/2 minutes, trying to bring out some of those dark and chocolate notes everyone else gets.

But bleh. It taste like rotten green beans this time. Strange though that I get very little aroma from this puerh.

Apparently, I was not ready for the “full power of the dark side” according to the description :p

I’ve been wanting to try this one for a long time, and thanks to stephanie I finally can. :)

I really had this one hyped up in my mind. Its special and its dark, come on, how can that name not evoke only the yummiest stuff??

Now, the problem could be my high expectations, or it could be that in my haste to get a taste of this one, I didn’t rinse the leaves first. I steeped it 3 min, skipping over the whole gongfu hoopla and anxiously awaited it to cool off.

Well, hmm, its kinda stinky and flat tasting. I want to think this is my fault and see how a second steeps turns out. Or try the remaining unused leaf with different parameters (and a rinse!).

Then again, I wouldn’t want to break my tradition of disliking nearly every super-famous tea on here :p we’ll see ^^

UPDATE*** A second steeping for 4 minutes yields much less stink (rinsing is an important step!), but it’s not as sweet as I like my shu puerhs. It’s very earthy for sure, like fresh dirt (I don’t mean that in a bad way). I can definitely appreciate this one, but I’m disappointed that it wasn’t as grand as I had hoped.

I am beyonf frustrated! This is my 5th attempt at this tasting note! Where do they keep dissappearing to?! I’m about to give up! So as a result, the notes are getting shorter and shorter.
I got this tea from the lovely Stephanie.
Wow they were not kidding… this smells just like cocoa powder, and oh man! This is soooo dark. Like coffee dark!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20741867@N05/10892734496/

I wish I could have done the proper amount of steeps this tea deserves, but I had to cut myself off at 4:30 as I have to be in bed by 8:30 for work at 4AM. Having said that, I did manage to get 3 great steepings.
The first steep was definitely that bittersweet 90% dark chocolate taste. Yumm!
The second steep was more of a semi sweet 50% dark chocolate. This was probably my favorite steep. The last steep was creamy! More of a milk chocolate feel. I cannot wait to give this tea the time it needs to reach its full potential. I am looking forward to it! Thank you!

Also I forgot to post this on my tasting note from last night on my sTEAp shoppe black and white tea. I stopped by tjmaxx last night and found these gems! Delicious!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20741867@N05/10880969955/

Yep I still love this tea. This is my favorite oolong. This is the last of what I have right now, but I’m sure there will be another Mandala order in my near future…..

I LOVE Mandala tea, and this one is no exception. I haven’t been drinking a lot of oolong lately, they have been pushed aside by my new love of blacks.
I need to let this one back in. This is everything I think an oolong should be. It rich, roasty (without being too smokey), smooth and woody. IMHO This is everything I love about dark oolongs. I’m not getting any of the metallic taste that some have. I’m just going to stop buying oolongs, drink what I have then just restock this as my PERFECT oolong.
As always, thanks Garret for providing such amazing teas.

I brewed this both gong fu and western style. Very nice both ways. For me, I get more of a cinnamon smell then any real taste, but I do get a very “spicy” taste that is quite pleasant. I think I enjoyed it more gong fu, I was able to get 6 good infusions, but it works western as well for when I have less time. I have been very impressed by the Mendala teas I have tried…and this one is no exception!

This is such a light and refreshing tea. I totally agree with the other reviewers that it has a bit of a hay taste. I also get a really nice sweet taste as well. This is a sample that I got with my first Mandala order recently. This is a great tea to unwind with after a long day at work.

steeping this a few times today. Finishing off the last of one cake. Thankfully i still have one more cake of this and one from 2014. Probably the only sheng i’ve found worthy of cake purchase as i generally prefer shu.

8? Years later and I’m finally getting around to being nearly finished ONE of my two cakes of this one. One of the few Zheng puerh that I love, as shu is my first love. I had a few cups of this today as it was a miserable rainy day. Also I AM trying to work on getting through some of the puerh in my cupboard as I’m good with only having 2-3 in my cupboard even if it means missing out on some wonderful aged opportunities out there. Until the little one is older I can’t see myself spending the time on really enjoying them like I want to. Not that I couldn’t make time…but I suspect there are other things I’ll want to make time for first :)

Really enjoyed getting back to this one though…especially when it rained all day and was cold and windy. We ended up taking a drive to pick up tea from variaTEA just for something to occupy us since tomorrow is THE DAY. Ugh.

Had a few steepings of this one today, in my continuing effort to get at least one puerh in every weekend when the husband is home. I was so relieved to find that I still adore this one immensely. Good thing too because I have the rest of this cake to drink…and then I have an entire other cake of 2012 and one from 2014 haha.

one of the only shengs i really love. I’m more of a shu girl. I didn’t exactly have this gongfu today but i did a number of steeps over the course of the day as i’m trying to get through more of my puerh. I’d forgotten just how lovely this one is and i’m glad i have not 1 but 2 of these cakes as well as a 2014 cake :)

Not going to write much on this one but suffice to say, I haven’t had this in 4 years…had it once, bought 2 cakes and have been hoarding it ever since because it’s one of the few sheng’s that i adore. Today i finally broke down and split one of the cakes apart to a) have a treat and b) make sure my storage of these cakes hasn’t totally made them suck.

Mission successful! still the delicious sweet, smooth, slightly smoky brew that i adore. whoop whoop!

Final count: 16