155 Tasting Notes
I need Sheng! This and Wild Monk are my default shengs and there is a reason for that. Hot damn this is wonderful!
I put 7 grams in my awesome red gaiwan, 212 water, rinse followed by two infusions of 30 seconds, then five 1 minute infusions
1st steep green and shengy with that little bit of pucker and the tinest hint of grape
2nd getting the green floral with a slight bitterness and a touch of camphor
3rd Oh hello darling – Ive missed you! Opening up into that sublime deliciousness
4th There’s the grapey lovliness I adore so much with this tea
5th – 7th Still the grapes with a stronger camphor note and the most pleasant bitterness ever. I’ve got the tongue tingle, the chi buzz, the warm feeling all through my body and THIS
is the way to start a Sunday morning y’all. I will likely sip on this alllllll day!
Garret – I appreciate you for many reasons – this sheng is most definitely one of them :)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/125488674@N02/14663283253/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/125488674@N02/14620394036/
OMG I forgot a song! How about the Zydeco Boogaloo? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZHnu_mgQBs
Flavors: Floral, Grapes
My first time for this tea. It’s a rocketship! The mint finish just blows me away and I thought I wasn’t gonna like it. And having it watching the moonrise with tea heads is every bit of the awesome.
I think this pretty much says it all:
Flavors: Chocolate
Haha! Love iggy, he’s the major twitch and shakin’ master!!!!
I <3 him so much, bless his crooked little heart
Video review. Niiiiice! I’m beyond excited to try this tea! I hope mine arrives quicky!
I hope so too!
<3
(Sarsonator and mzpriss, if ever it doesn’t arrive, you know where to find some..)
Correct, TTF! I’ll just drive to Canada and pick some up from you. I love Canada!!! :)
I wish mine would come NOW. I’ve only had one cup of it but I still think about that cup!
Ever wonder what sweet chocolate love tastes like? Yes, I said SWEET. CHOCOLATE. LOVE. With a cherry on top? Wonder no more damas y caballeros – Cocoa Amore is here to show you exactly what it tastes like. Actually it tastes like Cherry Whoppers. If Cherry Whoppers actually existed and were made by Godiva out of truly excellent chocolate and with real cherries! Brought to you by Brenden & the Magic Vanilla Beans. I know you’re asking, “What’s that you say Mz HoneyBelle Priss? That’s a bunch of mixed up funky stuff.” It sounds that way, but in reality it’s a chocolate-vanilla Cherry Bomb (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYf_NM_lCLI) y’all:
Hello Daddy, hello Mom
I’m your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb
Hello world I’m your wild girl
I’m your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb!
First I have to say, I’ve been SMELLING this for a week. OK so huffing it might be slightly more accurate. But it was here and I was waiting for the LovelyTeaFairy’s (LTF) sample to get to Canada. I kept sending her notes saying, “chocolate covered cherries!”
I started out very, very carefully following Brenden’s parameters of ½ tablespoon in 8 ounces of 200 degree water for 3 minutes and zero seconds. We always try to mind him on the first round.
As soon as that timer went off, I poured up a deep amber cup and inhaled a malty chocolate cherry nose-bomb. It’s medium-bodied, but it’s a body that won’t quit (more on that later….foreshadowing!)
Luscious liquid cocoacherrymaltvanilla bliss. All of those elements are very present, with the vanilla the most in the background on the first steep. But I’m not kidding – this is sublime. It is right up close to Golden Orchid for me and that is saying quite a lot. GO is a sweet dream of a tea and so is this. It’s got lots of bottom with the cocoa and the malt with a sprightly cherry bit and that silky smooth vanilla to make it mellow and it is so sweet with a deep caramel note – a real cuplicker.
On the second steep, I went for 4 minutes. There was less cherry, the coca was still definitely there as it mellows out to a less malty cocoa and it still has plenty of body. It is a deep cocoa powdery kind of cocoa and at this point a slight bit of cinnamon starts to peek in.
The third and fourth steeps (yes, it re-steeps awesomely), the malt diminishes but there is still some cocoa and vanilla with the cinnamon waving from a distance. For the last half of the 4th steep, I decided to go Terri-style and added ½ teaspoon of maple syrup to it and that brought the cocoa back. A delicious way to finish this.
Oh! There were still some leaves in the bottom of the teapot that sat there for quite a while – at least 15 minutes – no way was I just pouring that out. I was quite surprised to find there was no bitterness or astringency – just really strong, still delicious tea.
So I will be waiting impatiently with the rest of y’all until I can have a supply of this. This one is very very very near to Golden Orchid awesomeness for me and that is an extremely high bar. And once more LTF – such a delight to get to share this with you!
Flavors: Cherry, Chocolate, Malt, Vanilla
Preparation
I am gushing over this review, everything about it rocks, even the song!!!! You are spot on, it is the BOMB!!!!!
So much fun to do this with you and The Magic Tea Whiz
:) Hehe, this review is awesome!
Omg sounds dreamy
My favorites : chocolate and cherries and vanilla
Mmmmmmmmmmm
boychik so. very. dreamy.
Brenden never gets to see our reviews before we post them so he doesn’t know what they’re going to say. It’s great tea man.
Sounds Great!
I’m a non believer in re-steeps, but this baby takes it like a champ!!
LTF – did you see the PM I just sent you? Are you in my brain??
Haha! I guess I was!!!
You make me smile with LTF
You ARE the LTF!
This is now available! :)
I miss out when I don’t get on Steepster over the weekend. This is awesome. It makes me want to buy this right now! Great review TTF and MzPriss!
Tea important is clean water to make tea. Currently in Vietnam we, heavily contaminated water sources so often used to make tea Máy lọc nước. Máy lọc nước produce pure water so very delicious tea. If interested you can visit the following link:https://mb9000.com/san-pham/may-loc-nuoc-korihome.html
In the gaiwan at 170. Quick rinse and a first steep at 1.5 minutes Nice and vegetal but quite mild. Second steep opens up and I’m getting a little of the juiciness with a little stonefruit. Third – the aroma is getting gorgeous and ok – I’m starting to get the white tea thing. There is a hint of grapey-ness that I love and lots of juice. The fourth steep is my favorite so far, more juicy fruit.
This is a revelation! Who knew I liked white tea this much? Clearly I need to spend more time with my gaiwan:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/125488674@N02/14626557522/
But that’s all I have time for this morning. Delicious!
Tea of the (actual, yet early) morning. So I got the MOST beautiful little tea set yesterday (thank you for the inspiration TeaFairy!). It is pink-flowered and girly and just lovely. I love the convenience of my brew-in-a-mug thingie. It’s efficient and not fussy.But.
There is something just so civilized and deeply soul-satisyfing about brewing beautiful tea in a beautiful pot and pouring the beautiful tea from the beautiful pot into a beautiful teacup.
This is beautiful tea and I am having it from my beautiful tea set. This tea is everything me (and everyone else) says it is: smooth, caramelhoney sweet, malty and delicious. I am just purring with contentment.
And it’s FRIDAY!
Pictures!
And….voilà:
Wow that is gorgeous.
Thank you! TeaFairy pointed it out and I only ordered it after putting two of them in my cart to make sure there would be one left for her and then taking one out (though I see they are sold out now), so I feel slightly guilty about snatching it – but it’s just SO pretty! And it wasn’t expensive. And I love it very very much. Petting it right now :)
OH and thank you Marizpan for the tip on making the letter accents on a mac
And it seems the pot is still available – just not the cup
Yw – hubby is foreign so it’s an everyday thing here.
You must NOT feel guilty you silly!! I was so happy you liked it and bought it it made my day :-)
And it makes my day that you are enjoying you pretty tea in your pretty tea set this morning!!
I’m about to get out my gaiwan and tea try and gong-fuy the Moonlight tea. I will quit feeling guilty and pet my teapot some more.
tea TRAY
And I totally noticed the “voilà” but I miss “viola” a little ;-)
Well I can keep doing it that way :D
I blame you MzPriss for my Golden Monkey addiction:) I opened my 3oz tin this morning and thought hmmm maybe I should order more already! It is one of my favorites right now. I saw the picture of your teapot. It is really nice! I am glad you are enjoying it.
I blame you MzPriss for my Golden Monkey addiction:) I opened my 3oz tin this morning and thought hmmm maybe I should order more already! It is one of my favorites right now. I saw the picture of your teapot. It is really nice! I am glad you are enjoying it.
Haha, I have no idea why that posted twice.
It just does that sometimes. And I’m sorry(?) for your GM addiction – but I shouldn’t be all alone in mine should I?
Good tea with beautiful objects is an all around sensory delight.
WALLA! ;)
Love the tea set! I am not reading this review because I do not need another tea addiction! I already ordered tea today b/c of you and TheTeaFairy!!!
Ah I want some Golden Monkey!
And this is the BEST Golden Monkey I’ve tried so far, although Inreally really like Teavivre’s too – this is one of my happy places.
As I suspected, this is a great middle(ish) of the night tea. I’ve been enjoying this propped up with in bed with the dogs snuggled up and a book. This time, I’m definitely getting the cherries I didn’t taste before – they are more subtle, but they are there. I keep thinking the same thing I did when I first sampled it – this is just so lovely.
Of course I ordered this, too!!! :p
It’s good stuff!
Very Lovely, Lovely is just the only word to describe it really ;)
I can’t wait to try this one! It sounds gorgeous! Luckily my WP orders always arrive quickly. Maybe I should knock on wood now, so as not to jinx the trend!
I haven’t had this in a while because I couldn’t get my tin open. I finally exerted the full force of my will and viola! The question I have for myself is why in the hell did I only rate this at 89? I LOVE this tea. Love love love it.
Viola…so cute. Makes me think of purple.
Love this tea! Well deserves a ninety something!!
I don’t know how to make the little French accent symbols. And right? I have no idea why it was in the 80s. Silly MzPriss.
Lol, it’s “voila” but I’m now saying only vi-ola, so much cutter :-)
Oh hell! Sorry to murder your language :(
Nooo! That was such a cute mistake :-) lol, you should see how French themselves murder our language, a real butchery!!!
At least you didn’t type “walla” – that makes me crazy.
It makes me crazy too
Hahaha! Marzipan, is that for real??? Voilà as walla? Ok. That is hilarious!!!!
Try this link to get those symbols for French:
http://www.squidoo.com/keyboardsymbols#module3131640
If you are on a Mac, just hold down the letter and a menu pops up with all of the variations.
Oh! I am on a Mac -thanks!
First tea of the morning. The smooth sweet caramel is just what I need this morning to ease me awake gently. There is a bit of breadiness, a little bit of malt but the caramel is especially prominent for me this morning. Like all of the other Joseph Wesley teas I have, this is just a classy tea.
Flavors: Caramel
Yum….Have you had Teavivre’s Bailin Gongfu? Same flavour profile, they must be very similar…
Yes they are similar. I almost had the Teavivre one, but I can’t get the lid off the tin :( but I love JW teas so much. Am finished with it now though and am going to make some Golden Orchid since you mentioned it :)
Nice review for the beginning of the week. Thanks for your support!
@Joe – you know how much I love your tea! Hope you had a good holiday.
So cute! Happy Mandala sheng day :-) I had mine yesterday pretty much all day too!!!
More grapey flavors in a pu’erh! I will note this one to try next!!! Wishlist! Wooo!
@Sars – this was first sheng and still one of my very favorite. I LOVE this one
LTF – you did the Autumn Song right? I may have to have some that later
Well I have to order from Mandala again soon b/c I have decided that I simply cannot live without the Heart of the Old Tree. I am really taking a liking to pu’erhs because I feel like I can buy them, and not drink them all right away, and that’s totally ok because of the aging!!!!
I need some of that Heart of the Old Trees. I can’t believe I don’t have any. Right now I have buzzy sheng head and seriously – better than a lot of drugs I may or may not have tried.
This sounds superb. I need to add this to my want list.
The Wild Mountain Roughage? If so, YES you need this. It’s delightful. I’m ordering the Old Trees as well :)
Love this: “better than a lot of drugs I may or may not have tried”
Yeah, I am going to order more Mandala soon. Before I do, are there any other pu’erhs that you think I simply can’t live without, HoneyBelle? I want the Wild Mtn and more Heart of the Old Tree.
How about you, TTF? Let me know!
What I love: Special Dark of course, Imperial Bulang, Noble Mark(!), the Lincang. I have more but haven’t spent time with them – just got the Old nuggets. Shengs I love: THIS ONE!, Wild Monk(!), I’ve only done one roung with the Silver Needle – but I liked it, and I’m looking forward to the Autumn Song
Thanks so much! I did get special dark. Loved it. I also just received the wild monk, but I did not try it yet. I need to get over my desire to keep it in it’s beautiful wrapper. LOL.
I will check out the other suggestions!!! <3 <3 <3
Sarsonator, I loved all the ones MzPriss just mentioned…but I also loved Imperial Dark and Temple Stairs shou pu’erh which I only got to try lately. Yesterday’s session with autumn song was also unbelievable!
Sars – you wrap it back up in that beautiful wrapper so you get to keep looking at it :)
OK… I got temple stairs, but I’ll add some imperial dark, too. Thank you both!
And MzP… I know. I just think it’s so pretty that I don’t want to mess it up! I’ll work carefully. :)
Yes you have to be sweet with it, but you can do it!
Oh! I forgot about Lincang and phatty cake!! They are a little bolder though, having lincang right now…whoa!!!
OMG – Phatty Cake! How could I forget phatty caek? Probably because my cakes are in a box and I didn’t see them…
I need to quit typing because I am not good at it.
Typing is overrated. You’re good at tea. :p
I <3 you Sars
I will review lincang again shortly….YOU HAVE TO ADD THAT ONE Sars!
I’m about tmake my Dark Beauty cocktail. I told someone I would make a listing on here with instructions. I should do that today too.
Steepster ate my comment!!!
I heart you, HoneyBelle!
Lincang was added! Can’t wait!!!!
What is Dark Beauty??? Sounds deeeeelish!!!
OH well now. Don’t know about my Dark Beauty cocktail? I will (very carefully this time) tell you:
16 oz boiling water
1 TBSP Special Dark
Big ass pinch of Black Beauty (Mandala)
Steep that bad boy for a while 5-7 minutes
Hellllllllo happiness. I have it every, single. morning. Makes the world turn right.
I would like to the clarify the above statement. It makes the world turn correctly not right.
What a lovely picture of a perfect Sunday morning! I’m saving this for future use as a background on my computer. For the next couple of weeks, that place of honor goes to images of the Tour de France.
AWWWWWWW thanks Hillel – it was for Science!