Mandala Tea

This is the 3rd black pearl style tea I’ve tried. This is my favorite. I used 7 pearls in 16oz of just under boiling water.
First steep about 2.5 minutes – Nice dark rich, a little malty, just a hint of chocolate. I especially like how it feels on the tongue. It’s nice and thick, it feels substantial. I actually liked this steep more as it cooled, more of the richness kept coming out the cooler it got.
Second steep about 3.5 min – Not quite as dark, barely any chocolate, more of a sweetness to it. As this steep cooled, I was getting some fruitiness. Am I crazy, it’s possible, but that’s what I thought. Still really nice mouth feel.
Third steep about 5 minutes – A little astringency – not much just a hint. Still totally drinkable but not as complex as the first two steeps.

I think I liked the second steep the best. Some other tasting notes mentioned pepper or spice – I didn’t get any of that. Love how the pearls just unfurl, so beautiful to watch. Next time I’m going to add one more pearl and a little shorter steep time on the first infusion.
I was drinking another black pearl last night and really enjoyed it. I like this one better.
Thanks Mandala for another awesome tea experience.

I received this as a sample with my last Mandala order. Thank you Garrett for including it for me.

I drank a couple of steep of it last night and thought it was a bit mild for my tastes. It was a nice Pu’er, but didn’t have enough flavor. The flavor that was there was nice and smooth, no rough edges, I just wish there was more of it. This is just a little too gentle for my tastes. Sooooo I took the leaves I was using and dumped the rest of the sample in with them added cold water and put it in the fridge to cold steep.
This is my first experience with cold steeped pu’er. OMG WOW!!! Why have I not been doing this sooner. This is AMAZING. I love it. You just get a touch of the classic pu’er flavor, but it’s refreshing and oh so good. I don’t think I would want to cold steep a big bold pu’er, but this was PERFECT. I may have to order some just to have it to cold steep.

I’ve been a bit absent from Steepster lately. I have a good excuse. I sprained my wrist and typing is a big ol’ pain. To make it even worse, I steam burned the same hand so now I have second degree burns and a sprained wrist. I’m not whining, I swear. The only thing that has kept me from being a big baby is tea. So, I guess, there’s that. My form of pain management is drinking copious amounts of tea.

Steep 1- 15 seconds
Kind of mellow. Sweet. A little bit smoky yet creamy. Very interesting in a completely non-aggressive kind of way.

Steep 2-30 seconds
It’s asserting itself a bit more. Still smoky and sweet but where the original Phatty Cake asserted itself in a smoky way, the Sequel is all about the creamyness.

Steep 3-45 seconds
It’s getting a bit nutty…literally. It’s reminiscent of Amaretto. Call me a bit insane but I may even prefer this to the original Phatty Cake.

Steep 4-1 minute
It’s a tiny bit woodsy but it’s kind of reminiscent of vanilla extract without the alcohol kick. It’s vanilla in that sort of woodsy way and not totally pastry-like or sweet.

Steep 5-1.30 seconds
Vanilla bean with a touch of figgy fruitiness. Winner! It’s light but it’s very flavorful.

I’ve been craving some iced tea lately so I decided to stop brewing this hot and try an overnight iced tea steep. Oh my dear tea gods. It was amazing. This is going to sound crazy but it’s like I took a Napoleon, mashed it up in a blender and drank it. It’s vanilla and custard and even a bit pastry-like. I wish I had made more than a glass worth of it.

I am not going to go so far as to say that I love this more than the original Phatty Cake but I love it for different reasons. Since hockey season is getting close, I am going to use a hockey comparison. The original Phatty Cake is the flashy forward. The guy who scores all the goals, gets all the credit and is all “Look at me!!! I’m so talented” but the Phatty Cake Sequel is the hard working third liner. The guy who does everything well but stays out of the way. He’s also the guy that scores the goals when the flashy forward is in one of his cold streaks—-or decides to retire to Russia…I’m bitter. I think on most occasions I’d prefer the more mellow Phatty Cake Sequel to be honest but I think the Sequel with gain some strength with age. Hopefully not too much because I like the gentler aspect of it.

I have been off site going mental, preparing for the in-law visit (yay). Ahh, they are nice people; they welcomed me in their home a few weeks ago, and despite that I am spouse #2,they were very warm to me. So, I have been going crazy cleaning, cooking and food shopping in preparation for their visit, which led me astray from steepster for the duration.

On to the tea…I am glad that this was not my first experience with Mandala. I am a little disappointed with this pu’erh. It tastes a little weak and a bit musty to me.

It is however, a new tasting experience, thanks to Dexter3657, for this sample. While not to my preference, I am still waiting to put in an order with Mandala (tea hiatus), as I have read so many good things about their pu’erhs, as well as having an awesome tasting experience in a previous note.

Still my favorite tea. My current batch is from the fall harvest. There are some unique differences compared to the spring pick. I didn’t realize the time of year could affect the flavor. The fall harvest has more caramel and buttery notes compared to the spring crop. The spring crop is a little more floral.

Just another quick note.

I brought this tea to work the other day and I was able to get 8 quality infusions of this tea. It held its delicious flavor throughout the day. I used two teaspoons in a Mandala tea thermos.

This is my favorite tea.

I was a little worried about how this would taste because the smell of the dried tea was so cloyingly sweet. I shouldn’t have worried. The osmanthus was present, and there is an additional oily taste that I’m not used to in oolong, but overall it complements the oolong rather than overpowers is.

It’s not my favorite oolong – it is missing some of the subtleties that I enjoy – but it’s very good.

I’m very particular about jasmine teas, but this one is definitely the best I have ever had.

First, it’s an absolutely beautiful tea. The pearls are exceptional and whole, and they unfurl into beautiful full leaves with no broken or loose particles. I don’t use any kind of infuser for this tea, simply put the pearls into a glass cup or thermos. Watching these pearls unfold and not having to worry about drinking any broken leaf bits makes this tea an aesthetic delight.

However, pretty tea doesn’t necessarily make good tea, but in this case, it lives up to its looks. It’s a very mild jasmine tea, not something so artificially or heavily perfumed that it no longer tastes like tea. Rather, the jasmine compliments the tea itself and is more of a background undercurrent – it’s something you taste in the body of the tea, which makes it feel like more a natural part of the tea, not something that is heavily overlaying it or dominating it.

It resteeps very well. I just pour more hot water into my cup/thermos when it’s nearly empty. I haven’t really tried the usual Western brewing method with this tea, but I imagine it would be very similar. It’s definitely a tea worth trying in a manner that allows you to enjoy the beauty of leaves as you drink it though.

Such a wonderful tea. Opened a fresh bag that arrived from Mandala Teas yesterday, and remembered why I loved this tea. Nice mellow nutty aroma and flavor, with tones of sunshine on green grass. A great tea to sit down and appreciate through two or three steepings.

Another wonderful offering from Mandala Tea. The aroma of the dry leaves has an alluring mix of crisp, green and nutty scents. Steeped for a few minutes, the aroma gets more complex and the flavor is really smooth, crisp and just a touch earthy. Very nice! As others have mentioned, this has some of the qualities found in better grade Longjing (dragon well) teas, but is distinctly different. Looking forward to spending more time with this tea after I place my next order.

Cold steeped! Leftover leaves from yesterday’s yixing run!

Oh gawd, I wrote that first line of the tea log then a huge moth ran across my desk so I had to run around screaming and throwing stuff at it. I think it’s dead, but i had to use a knitting pattern book to do it. Cry. Darn husband, wish he could work from home so he deal with this kinda stuff. I can’t handle bugs.

Anyways, time to tea! This came out sweet! It’s like cedary woody sweet. Like a fancy honey with woody notes. Maybe not honey, but not maple or agave. Very interesting and very good! I need to cold steep more of my shu pu’er.

Oh gawd, it’s twitching.. /sob

Hello pu’er!

Working on this pu’er than was in the Here’s Hoping Travelling Teabox – I squeaked out a serving of this pu’er so there’s one more round for the next person.

Not a serious review, I’m moreso sitting back with ma tea turtle and yixing pot have a nice tea session, post angry kitchen cleanup. I hate cleaning the slowcooker!

Very crisp with zero fermentationy flavor. Tastes like the skin of a pecan with lots of woodyness. Later infusions I’m getting some creamy lip feels.
Hey! I don’t need lipbalm – just drink creamy teas, yeah!
There’s an echo of coffee notes end of sip that gives this pu’er some pep. About 5 steepings in, the pu’er is still woody and developing more sweetness like sap.

photo evidence: http://oolongowl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_5028.jpg

sadly, I don’t have time to enjoy more steepings today, so I put the leaves in the refrigerator to cold steep.

Finished this one off over the course of a few days. I’m trying to keep the number of puerh I have in my cupboard down so that I actually drink them. I have a few of mandalas newer ones on their way so thought finishing this one off was a good compromise. I think my rating of this one needs to be dropped just a little once I’m not on my iPad. I still love it, but I prefer the shu fits from mandala to this one.

Delicious cup of strong dark yum this morning. Little one finally put it all together yesterdaya d learned how to crawl forward for once. She’s back to rolling all over the place today but it means we really need to baby proof the house this weekend haha. Using this cup this morning to fortify myself for the long day of chasing kiddo haha. So smooth and delicious.

another pick from this morning. soooo deep and dark and delicious. noms.