Mandala Tea

SIPDOWN! (231) After adding in all my verdant teas and the teas from terri i’m back up to 231 after this sipdown, which is much better than i expected – i thought i’d be closer to 250 or worse.

It was my birthday yesterday and I didn’t get much tea drinking done since we pretty much got up, had a bite to eat and hopped on the bikes for the rest of the day. We did some trail riding, hit the farmers market, and then biked some more with a stop for picnic lunch before finally heading home. We made one of my favourite things for laaaaaate second lunch (BLT on flat bread with homemade guacamole, turkey, cheese). We then pretty much headed out for dinner and a movie. By the time we got home i was not only totally ready for bed but was also super happy. Probably one of my best birthdays in a while – just getting to be outside and with my other half. Plus we totally didn’t spend a lot of money since we had movie tickets we’d bought previously.

Today though, i have to spend some time working, so to make that more enjoyable i picked one of the puerh i’ve been really looking forward to from terri and i’ve been drinking that all morning..that meaning THIS TEA!

Special Dark! yay!

First Steeping was light and i didn’t get the cocoa taste until the last few sips in the cup – smooth though
second steeping – much more chocolatey, still smooth and delicious
third steeping – still really enjoying this. will have to keep steeping this for a few more to see how it goes..

so far…i’m glad that gracebtlb and terri introduced me to this one. grace through her excitement and love of mandala teas and puerh and terri for sending a sample my way for me to try. Going to be adding this to my must have list :)

Backlog:

Thank you for sending me some of this tea, Azzrian!

I like! This is a very forgiving tea. I accidentally brewed it at too high a temperature (boiling!) because I mistook it for a black tea rather than an Oolong.

But even with the higher temp … the flavor is remarkable. Sweet, rich, and with a lovely earthy, woodsy tone to it. Toasty notes, with a nutty sweetness.

This is a remarkably complex tea (most Oolong is complex, of course!) and I also noted some muscatel notes with a sweet, dry fruity tone. Hints of molasses. A silky-smooth mouthfeel. This is one of those teas that you just want to keep sipping and sipping … so brew a big pot of it and enjoy it all day long!

Lots of yixing teapot discussions going on lately. Today I decided that I haven’t been using mine and really should be. I did season it a while ago, but figure with lack of use it could use another bath.
Wild Monk is of course my favorite sheng, and seasoning yixing is an investment in the future so you should use good tea.
My teapot is now happily soaking in it’s bath, and it’s not possible to make Wild Monk and not drink some. I was using the – one pot for the bowl, one pot for my cup method.
This stuff is fantastic, it just makes me happy to be playing with my teapots while drinking such an amazing tea.

This is another huge hit with me. I seem to love all Mandala Pu’erhs. I still don’t know how to describe them, all I know is that they make me happy. There is nothing “icky, scary, fishy, barnyardy, dirty socky” about this tea.
I’m not sure I did the best job of breaking a piece off the cake, and I’m not sure how much that might effect it. I really need to learn more about the teas. I feel like I’m mistreating them. That I’m not worthy of them.
Even with my mishandling of it this is fantastic. I’ve drank about 6 cups of it so far, and it just seems to get better and better.
Thank you Mandala for another awesome tea.

My stomach has been feeling bad since I started taking the oral typhoid vaccine (going to India at the end of next week). I thought a pu’erh might be nice this afternoon so I grabbed this on my way to the office. I’m still leery of my puerh collection after my apartment got sprayed for cockroaches. The smell of bug spray was everywhere. Still it’s a hard decision to throw out what amount to hundreds of dollars of tea.

This sample was in a plastic ziplock bag so at least I think it was better protected than the pu have that’s wrapped in paper. I still haven’t decided what to do! Anyway this is a good shu, I have always liked it. Chocolate and velvety. Hope it does the trick to settle my tummy a bit.

I decided to break this out and have an afternoon shu here at home. There is construction going on across the street which means if I’m at home I get to hear hammering all day. Oof. Not my idea of fun. For this and other reasons I’ve been thinking about buying noise reducing headphones — generally my neighborhood is kind of noisy.

This is a yummy shu however. I went out with a friend last night and we had too many birthday margaritas. I don’t feel that bad today but I know puerh is supposed to be good after a night of drinking anyway. So… why not?

I like this when it’s steeped for shorter periods of time, 10 – 15 seconds seem to do the trick. Then the cocoa notes really come out, and this is incredibly dark and rich with spearmint dancing around the cup. I definitely think I will be ordering more of this once the current supply runs out. It’s so smooth…

I really need to do a proper tasting note on this when I have the time. This is a great after lunch tea and also good for the humid and damp weather. This tea is delicious, I am getting chocolate notes along with some study tobacco ones. Mellow and nice with no funky aftertaste. I think I’ll have a few steeps of this today… It’s been ages since I’ve had a delicious shu!

This tea got me into trouble.

As I was sipping away, writing my review, I started looking at tea ware. Once the 3 hour tea session was done, I dented my paypal account with a yixing pot. Be warned! Actually, it’s probably all my fault, I get into trouble all the time!

This cake – gentle and beautiful! Apple, floral, apricot, earthy, and mineral notes with a fantastic smoothness in later infusions. I can see this tea being loved greatly by a white tea lover – it’s almost similar in intensity, but with a earthy flavor and better resteep ability.

I was very impressed how little smoke and astringency was present despite it being a 2012 – the least smoke and astringency I’ve had in a 2012 raw cake so far! Very nice!

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/mandala-silver-buds-raw-puer-2012-from-mandala-tea-tea-review/ featuring thirsty tea turtles and pu’er pick happy Owl.

I saved this one for last because I was really looking forward to it. It just sounded so good and it smelled so yummy in the bag. And it was really really good but it was kind of weird too.

I don’t know what I was expecting when it came to this tea but I definitely didn’t expect what I got. Dry the tea smells like any other black tea. Maybe a bit roastier. But brewed this tea smells…it’s kind of difficult to describe…but kind of herbaceous. Like basil. Basil in a garden because there is also kind of an earthy smell as well. It smells like my Grandma’s garden….it’s a happy place for me. The taste keeps that basil flavor but adds a chocolaty kick at the end of the sip. It reminds me of my favorite cake ever which happens to be a chocolate basil cake. It sounds weird but it’s pretty much the best thing ever.

I’m still brewing this one so updates will be updating. That makes very little sense but it will happen.

Garret included this one in my birthday order as a sample. I was overjoyed because it was on my list before pu’er craziness took over and I added another cake instead. This one was really really good.

First of all, the leaves are so pretty to look at. They are these golden bits of pretty. I almost felt bad pouring water over them. And they smell like the best caramel you’ve ever had. As I said yesterday in my review of Long Life, black teas for me fall into 5 categories fruity, chocolaty, malty, roasty and kick you in the butt. This one falls right in the malty category. There is a bit of nuttiness and even some chocolate notes but it’s not one of those “Good Morning!" with a punch in the face teas. It’s mild and gentle. Golden Strand is that quiet kid in school who always does well even though you don’t hear from him much in class.

I’m going to steep this one a bit more. I only had time for two steeps tonight. I’ll probably update this tea note tomorrow.

Pu’er just may be the love of my tea life but coming in a close second is black tea. Not so much flavored black tea but the unflavored stuff. I have been searching for my favorite but there are so many different varieties. There are the chocolaty ones, the roasty ones, the malty ones, the fruity ones and the ones that just kick you in the butt in the morning. This one is fruity. Very fruity.

When I opened my package of tea, I was hit in the face with the smell of dried apricots. It’s the smell of Sundays for me. My Grandma used to give me dried apricots in church when I was a kid to keep me from starting my own mini-riot. The brewed tea tastes very much the same. Dried apricots with a bit of malt. It was pretty perfect. It was more apricot than any apricot flavored tea I have ever tried and apricot is one of my favorite things on the planet so I’m pretty picky. I resteeped this tea four more times increasing by a minute each time. Each resteep maintained the same level of apricot and towards the end got a bit of a nutty note.

I keep losing tasting notes! Man this sucks :(

Tea #2 in my birthday tea adventure!

The smell and flavor I get is a lot more intense than the black pearl I just had. That peppery flavor I mentioned is much more prominent and there’s this almost smoky aftertaste I’m picking up that settles on my tongue. Along with being less smooth, this tea just tastes like barbeque to me! Totally tasty but I’d have to be in the mood for it. As it cools down it reminds me of the cedar pine chips my dad uses when he makes ribs.

Second and third steeps become even more smoky! This bbq taste is really unexpected. For some reason I was expecting it to be more like a dian hong.

Overall a good tea but I’d really have to be in the mood to drink it.

Just tried this iced. Ooooh so yummy! Really smooth and full bodied and there’s a new smoky flavor that comes out. Really tasty :)

Ahhh I lost my tasting note :( at the end too!

Anyways, this is part 1 of the birthday tea adventure. I got my package from Mandala yesterday but apparently the mailman managed to fit the box in the mailbox so I never saw it outside my front door. You go mailman.

First mandala order and I’m already impressed! He left a cute little note—apparently he’s been to my hometown before!—and some black tea samples because he noticed I ordered a bunch of black. So nice :0!!

Anyways, opening the bag it smells earthy, but more of a hay-earthy than a mineral/soil-earthy. I’m really excited because I love earthy blacks.

First steep surprised me! I would deem this tea more of a fruity black. It has that rich fullness of flavor that isn’t chocolatey or earthy, plus it’s quite a smooth texture, so fruity it is. Oh, and the cup is empty :(

Second and third steeps bring out that hay note a lot more! The tea becomes far less fruity but that sweetness remains in the hay. As it cools, the hay becomes more grain-y and sweet and coats my mouth deliciously. Oh I just want to drink this tea forever!

While waiting for my kettle to boil more water, the aftertaste I’m left with reminds me of the flavor of a really peppery grilled steak—without the spicy heat of course (which is good considering how wimpy I am about spicy foods :x). It’s actually a really pleasant aftertaste which I enjoy more than some of my other black teas.

My dad distracted me so on the fourth steep I was worried I had overdone it—coming out of the spout though it looked fine, so that reassured me. That peppery note became far more prominent, superceding the hay flavor; however that grain note came back out near the end of the cup again!

The fifth steep began to lose flavor, so I think four steeps is the max for my method. Four delicious, full bodied steeps is wonderful though! This will likely become a staple everyday tea for me :)

I’m doing it again. My brain thinks I should blog review every new tea that passes through. The problem is, if I do that and get no new tea, I’m covered for the year and probably the samples will go bad. Sigh. Doesn’t help that Mandala Tea gives out great samples – I can tell there’s thought put into it and a nice size for a couple cups.

So, I’ve had a couple dragon pearl teas in my life. I’ve quite like the Adagio one. Mandala? What the, smells so good and blows my in stock brand outta the water! I caught my roommate sniffing this one a couple times.
Taste, even better! The jasmine is fantastic – not overly perfumely or chemically, with some sweetness. The tea base is buttery smooth. The adagio one’s perfume is edgy bitter and the base isn’t as good. Okay, I think when I restock my old jasmine pearls, I’m going to restock with this one (if I can even drink my old one again)!
enough sample left for one more cup!

I still love this one. It’s just easy to drink, not fussy, not finicky – let it steep for 6 minutes on your desk and it just gets deeper with out anything nasty happening.
Honestly this one reminds me a little of Special Dark – yes this is more pu’erh esq – but it has a hint of chocolate and a lot of the notes of Special Dark. Smooth, cocoa notes, bit sweet, touch of earthy, just fabulous. It resteeps forever, doesn’t really go through too many drastic changes, just cup after cup of awesomeness.
If you like Special Dark, I’m suggesting you think of this one as it’s little brother. Similar, but just not quite as in your face.

Another Mandala Pu’erh that I really adore. This is an awesome tea, but it’s different than the others that I’ve tried.
This tea is more practical. This could be my everyday go to pu’erh. Don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome, but I don’t think it’s as complex as Noble Mark. Noble Mark is a “special occasion” type tea. You need to have time to enjoy the many steeps and changes that occur during those various steeps. This is more of a “I don’t want to fuss with it, I just want a good cup of pu’erh” type tea. I don’t always want to spend all day savoring one tea. Sometimes you just want a cup or two to enjoy. This one would be great on those occasions. I love them both, but love them for different reasons.
This one smelled a bit fishy to me during the rinse, but that was GONE with the first steep. It’s bold and earthy, without being offensive. I drank 4 8 oz cups of this and enjoyed all of them, but didn’t find that the flavor changed that much from steep to steep.
This could definitely find a permanent place in my cupboard for those days when I just want a quick, good cup of tea.

Just to be clear my package reads: Big Red Robe Supreme Grade Light Roast Oolong Tea, the title for this tea on here says Premium grade. I apologize if I am posting this in the wrong place, but seemed close enough to me.

I am often in awe when I read other steepster reviews that include detailed tasting notes of each steep, and the subtle changes in flavor that occur between the different steeps of a tea. I am no where near educated enough, have a refined palate enough, nor have the vocabulary to be able to provide one of those reviews. I have come to the realization that I am as much about “how a tea makes me feel” as I am about “how it tastes”.

I’ve been exploring the world of oolongs lately and have tried a few of them. Some of them are “green” – I think grassy (some say floral – I don’t get that) and maybe a bit veggie ish. Others are “dark” and are more toasty, nutty, with some being almost metalic (?). I’ve decided that I like the “dark” ones better.

I’m currently drinking my third steep of this tea and the leaves are not completely unfurled yet. I don’t think I have time to give this tea the number of steeps that it deserves. :(( This is the best example of a “dark” oolong that I’ve tried. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a quality tea. I just don’t think it’s dark enough. This almost seems like it’a halfway between a green and a dark. Maybe that’s the “light roast” part of it? Like I said I’m not experienced enough to know if that’s a fair assessment, but that’s how I feel. It’s not “grassy or veggy ish” it’s more roasty and nutty, but light and delicate. It’s smooth and soothing, gentle and pleasing. This is for sure one of the best oolongs that I’ve drank, I just wish it were a bit more…. Bit more what? Woody? Not sure… I really like this, I just think maybe I didn’t choose wisely for my tastes (yeah like I know what my tastes are), I’ve ordered the fancy grade dark roast version of this. :)) Maybe that will be my PERFECT oolong, but until then, I am quite happy with this, and will certainly enjoy the package that I have.

As always, thank you Mandala for providing me with an excellent tea to spend my evening with.

I had a bit of a crappy day at work today. Felt like I spent the whole day fixing other people’s mistakes, cleaning up their mess. Was in a bit of a cranky, foul mood when I got home. Went digging in my sample box, and pulled this out. Mandala did really well choosing the other sample I got from them, and I was hoping this one would suit me just as well.
There is something about pu’erh that just makes me happy. For me it’s comforting, soothing, it feels like home, it’s like your favorite comfy slippers.
This is AMAZING. I still haven’t drank a lot of different ones to really know good from great, but if there are better ones out there, I need to find a new rating system. This is big and bold, all the flavors I expect in shu, but as stated in their description, “without overbearing earthiness”. It’s not dirty socks earthy, it’s crisp and clean, smooth, mellow, but full of flavor. I can’t even express how good this is.
Thanks Mandala for including another fantastic sample in the order.

Edit: six 8oz cups later and this tea and I are still very much friends. It’s ok that I’m having tea for dinner right?

Sipdown! Finally finishing off the last of this one from Gracebtlb I am loving this! It’s not as dark as the yunnan puerh i had this morning and it certainly smells like roasty chocolate. It doesn’t have the weight that the other one has, but it’s still a dark puerh. It’s got chocolate notes running through the steepings that, as i move through the steepings, give way to a sweeter caramel like taste. I’m not sure if this is one garrett still has for order, but i would pick this one up for sure! bumping the rating a bit :)

I received this sample from gracebtlb a while back and i’ve eben waiting to have some time to sit and enjoy it. I don’t have a lot of practice with gongfu style brewing but i welcome an opportunity to try and improve my skills. I’m finding pu-erh is the way that i can do this. I lined up a couple of my cups from China so that I could pour a few infusions to try them against one another a little better.

First off, the colour of this one brewed is a beautiful reddish hue. Sitting in the white porcelain of the cups made me smile just looking at it. I wasn’t very good at detecting the subtle nuances of each steep but over all, this is a VERY nice puerh (keep in mind i have very limited experience with puerh). There is a deep, rich flavour to this blend and while i don’t get the chocolate that mandala speaks of, i do get hints of the burnt caramel and what i would describe more as an earthier sort of taste.

Here’s hoping my vocabulary improves along with my skills at gongfu :) Thank you grace for sharing your tea with me! I really liked this one, and i’m looking forward to trying the other bit of it that i saved in case i screwed things up lol

Oolong Week at Oolong Owl!

Mandala’s Milk Oolong? A M A Z I N G

The smell of this tea is like caramel candy! Taste? thick caramel, buttery peas, vanilla buttercream and the perfect sweetness. In later infusions, there is some sunny floral and fresh grassy notes. In the final infusions, mango notes. Love it!

The leaves expand to crazy huge sizes too! Impressive quality tea!

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl, http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/milk-oolong-tea-from-mandala-tea-tea-review/

Owl Photobomb Crew?

This tea is amazing. The first time I enjoyed this tea, the aroma shot me straight back to my childhood, spending time at my grandparents house, surrounded by their lilac bushes.

The aroma if this tea is like being surrounded by lilacs and honeysuckle. The taste is sweet and clean and lingers on the tongue nicely. I highly recommend this tea.