Mandala Tea
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Maybe it’s because I’m an INFP on the Meyer’s-Briggs scale, but my choice of what tea to drink usually comes down to opening the cupboard, twirling the lazy Susan and waiting for something to jump out at me.
When I find myself reaching for the same tea over and over, I figure it should be a staple in my collection. Well, the Black Beauty qualifies. Unlike other people, I find this to be quite dry and clean in the mouth balanced by a nice burnt sugar taste and an almost chai-like spiciness. It’s definitely becoming one of my comfort teas—perfect for these bone-chilling New England days.
Preparation
My first foray into Mandala teas and I couldn’t be more pleased. This is a delicious, aromatic and refined tea that reminds me of an Old Tree Bohea. A mellow chai-like spiciness mingles with a honey-inflected sweetness to create a perfectly balanced cup. I can’t wait to try my Mao Cha and the two samples that were generously included with my order.
Preparation
So very happy that you enjoyed this tea. I really appreciate you taking the time to write about your experience with it. Thank you. We have had some customers enjoy this tea at 195 degrees as well as 205, 208. It’s a pretty versatile tea, for sure. Enjoy the mao cha, my friend!
Puerh is kind of a masculine tea isn’t it? Not in a bad way at all, and especially not with THIS puerh. Leather and tobacco notes and an earthy smoothness. This is like the George Clooney of puerhs. Even if you don’t particularly find him attractive you still GET why he’s considered so sexy. I can totally appreciate this puerh, and while I may never actually buy some, its definitely an excellent puerh! ;)
I’m still planning on buying some Special Dark. That one blew me away! So unique :)
OH and thanks again Kimquat!
I LOVE this review! Thanks for putting it down for others to read! We had a gentleman in the shop the other day. He was from Germany. I made this tea for him and as he smelled and sipped, his eyes teared up a little bit. Then he shared with me that the tea fully brought on a memory of his mothers very old leather bound bible and consequently, he thought of her. It was a beautiful moment. Tea can do things like that, can’t it?
This is one of the better green teas I have had over the Summer. No harshness or nasty grassy flavors here. It passes the girlfriend test (she is hard to impress when it comes to tea)…she wanted more when the cup was empty. Has a mild pleasant taste that is hard to describe (chestnut-like maybe?). I am surprisingly getting some fleeting notes that remind me of cinnamon or nutmeg. I think I prefer this to the dragonwells I have tried, will have to drink more to be sure.
Preparation
Thanks for the writeup on the Valley Peak! I had the pleasure of visiting the farm where this tea is grown last April. So wonderful! Will be there again next April and will get some video to add to our site and facebook page so everyone can see how great it is. I really like to get teas from clean and pure growing areas and this one is no exception. I don’t source Dragonwell because after visiting the area, I felt like I had been smoked out, the pollution was so bad because of neighboring factory cities. This Valley Peak is grown in a whole different place… can’t wait to go back! And I’m really happy your girlfriend asked for more :) Thank you, once again, for writing this up!
Smells amazing in the bag, I can’t stop sniffing the dry leaves. Smells like a fresh spring garden combined with a peach orchard, or grove of osmanthus trees. The flavors I am getting are similar. It tastes like an oolong leaning towards the green side, with clean, lightly peach-like flavor. It kind of reminds me of the mild sweetness I get out of wheat-grass as well.
Preparation
Full disclosure: I’m a full out pu-erh junkie. Have been since my first sip in a San Francisco tea shop, only exacerbated by trips to Asia, which means my pu-erh stash is pretty deep, full of lovely tea not available here in the States.
That said…
…I’d put Phatty Cake up against the best of ‘em in a heartbeat. It’s smooth, rich, lovely, and complex. Have been able to pull quite a number of brews from the sample Garrett sent, each just as delightful as the earlier round.
I need one more pu-erh like I need a hole in the head, but hey. Looks like that’s precisely what’s going to happen (the tea, not the hole).
Enjoy!
Preparation
This review makes me happy! Thank you for taking the time to write it up here. I am so glad that you are diggin’ it! Wishing you all the best, Garret
My pleasure, Garrett. One question: What grade is the Phatty Cake? I see on the site there’s a Phatty Sequel mentioning the addition of Gr. 3, but am curious as to what the single “non-Sequel” clocks in at…?
Hi! The material used in the original Phatty Cake is grade 1 leaf. So not the smaller gong ting grade. Grade 3 is a slightly larger leaf added in to add a different dimension to the phatty cake. It’s a sequel right, so it had to have a different twist in the plot :)
When I tasted the 2007 material for the phatty cake, I chose not to do a blend because the single leaf experience was just so nice and I wanted to see how it would age once pressed. And it has done very well, indeed.
The loose 2007 material is this:
http://shopmandalatea.com/ripe-pu-er/loose/lin-cang-2007.html
I hope you are having a tea-riffic day!! G
This tea has been comforting me during the ice storm today. Hope all my fellow Midwestern Steepsterites are warm and safe!
I’m going to go build a fire now…seems appropriate :)
As usual, our news people made a big drama over the storm, & we didny really get much in st louis: a thin layer of ice, dusted with a little snow. Of course, it’s cold, 15F, but that’s no biggy. It’s been a nice pj day, with a fire, food, tea, & couch potato mode. :)
Indy was calling for a foot of snow. Instead they got a couple inches. Down south, we have maybe an inch of snow over sleet with a thick layer of ice under it. Enjoy the fire.
I’ right there with you & was waiting on that mega snow of 8-12 inches over the weekend. Got a layer of ice and then about 4 inches of snow. Nothing to slow us down unless it starts blowing and drifting. Gla to have a wood stove and lots of tea samples to try this year. When will this winter mess end? Oh wait.. When it’s over, it’s tornado season!
Ugh, tornado season…can’t wait! :P I had to drive to work this morning in this mess, though schools and such are all closed today.
I’m not going to be doing much tea reviewing till I get over this cold, but I assure you I am doing LOTS of tea drinking! Anyway, I’m drinking this one today. It is very soothing, and also puts me a little bit closer to making my Mandala order I’ve been planning, which is exciting :D
Ooof. This weather! We didn’t even get that much snow compared to the rest of the state…but it is so cold my garage door was frozen shut and my boss had to come pick me up and bring me to work :(
Anyway, LOTS OF HOT TEA TODAY. Special dark is perfect for this weather :)
Go home Arctic, you’re drunk! http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2014/01/05/go-home-arctic-youre-drunk/
I am up early and working from home today. Thank goodness, since we’re still covered in ice and snow here!
To be honest, I chose this tea this morning because I thought it would pair well with the banana and small pile of Nutella I’m eating for breakfast…and it does! :)
Mmmmmm Special Dark! I love this tea! I got it in the mail yesterday evening along with my first cake of sheng, which I am really excited to try, but this tea was the one I decided I HAD to have this morning. I prefer to drink it extra strong. I steep 1 tablespoon for a couple of minutes. OH YEAH dark and rich! Like creamy unsweetened cocoa powder but with absolutely no bitterness.
Oh goodie! P.s. you have something heading your way on Monday :) since you couldnt be in the first round of secret pumpkin.
WHOA! I did a long several minute steep on this one, because my water is a bit under boiling here at work, from the fancy water filter/instant water heater dealie in the break room. Anyway, this tea is INTENSE! But super good! As others described, very much like unsweetened cocoa powder, but not at all bitter. WOO I got a huge caffeine jolt from it too, heh. I ate a piece of pumpkin spice cake with my first steep and it was SO good together. Both were so rich :)
This is going on my shopping list for sure. Thanks so much Kimquat for letting me try this one! :D Next time I want to try it as a sweetened latte ;)
One of my favorite puerhs I’ve tried so far! YAY
Pumpkin spice cake? Do you deliver? That would rock with the Special Dark! Right now, my biz partner is serving up some of the special dark to a very picky customer who travels to China quite regularly. This is his first time in the shop and when he tasted the first 20 second infusion he said “this is exactly what I am looking for!” Yes!
There is just something amazing about this. It is incredibly creamy, without the oiliness of other milks. It’s still smooth, and not astringent, and I keep getting different flavors as I continue to sip. It’s got a tempered base that’s a good average of taiwanese gaoshans, and the smoothest aftertaste I’ve ever experienced. It’s almost a little peppery sometimes. The aroma is incredible. Might lower the rating is subsequent steepings dont hold up, but the first one is incredible.
Preparation
I’m so happy that you are enjoying this tea! We sure do love it here at the shop. It has been in our top three selling teas ever since I’ve had this source out of Taiwan. I appreciate you taking the time to write about your experience with it. Thank you, my friend! It’ll be interesting to see what the autumn crop is like once we begin getting that. You are drinking the spring crop. Quite nice!
I’m so bad at writing notes lately. I had real intentions of reviewing soon after drinking but then there was this to do and that to do and then I forgot all about it until a couple days later. :(
From what I recall, there was a dark oolong-y roasted flavor and a sweet honey fragrance like in typical Oriental Beauty teas. I think I prefer the traditional Oriental Beauty because this version’s strong earthiness muddles up the honey and floral aromas and flavors.
It’s definitely not a bad tea though and I love the creativity. :)
Finally I’m drinking some Sheng! And a sip down (295) too!
I’ve reviewed this one pretty extensively before. It starts out kind of creamy textured, tasting like a mild bowl of cooked cereal, and gradually builds into something else…slightly bitter olive leaf…then a bit of a tart taste…each cup is an enhanced layer of flavor, as it should be, and the wet leaf smells like under ripe apricot to me.
Speaking of under ripe apricots, my apricot tree is loaded this year, & I’m starting to see some color!
Bout time to sheng a ling! Yes. Yes, Any you wish to get rid of from the tree I will help you dispose of them ;)
I got peaches coming on soon too! Right now we’re knee deep is red & black raspberries! I love my big back yard :)
Love raspberries and wine berries! peaches, an all time fave! Like them with a little shine in a jar.
Welcome to day 13 of little terri’s Ultimate Sipdown Extravaganza!
Special Announcement
For all the people I owe tea trades to, I did some serious tea measuring, box packing, etc.
I know I’ve been taking a long time to get this done, but I think you will all enjoy the results!
Thanks for putting up with me, & my crazy busy lifestyle.
Yesterday I drank the final steepings of this Sheng, & I really went for the gusto (for me, anyway) by loading my little 4 oz yixing with 6G of tea. I gave a 5 second rinse, & then several 5 second steeps, but when I say 5 seconds, it really translates to 10 seconds, because it takes another 5 seconds to pour the tea into the cup. I did my steeps in rounds of 2 separate cups, sipped side by side for comparison. I also added time as I went along.
The initial cups had a creamy texture & taste, with a growing savory roasted mushroom quality, which I really enjoyed.
Gradually the creaminess faded away, & a tanginess rose up, along with the taste of olive leaf. This eventually transformed to Cedar, eucalyptus, & a shiny sensation.
The later steeps were like a fruit water.
One more comment about yesterday. In the process of packing up teas, I released several members of my cupboard to much more appreciative audiences (don’t worry, none of this tea is old). Anyway, that puts me at 330, which I know sounds like a lot of tea, but for me, it’s coming along nicely, LOL.
I drank this throughout the late afternoon & early evening. I was teaching & needed a little pick me up. The first couple of steepings gentle cereal & mineral, with a sprinkle of salt.
Gradually a lemony mouth developed, followed by camphor which had a pleasant tongue & lip numbing effect. Later steepings were dry & made me think of chalk.
This is not a very good review, perhaps, making the tea sound wierd, but I did enjoy it, LOL.