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So I started a session with this one last night. And again the first thing I smelled on both the dry and wet leaf was pond water. I steeped this one up for the 30 seconds and holy darkness. For some reason I was expecting this one to be light. But it’s was almost black.

The liquor smelled just like the wet leaf, pond water, something I don’t remember Special Dark’s liquor smelling like. I’m thinking I definitely should have rinsed this. That first cup tasted similar to how it smelled, like pond water and mud. I ended up dumping half the cup. The next steep was a little better. Less pond and mud taste (I guess earthy in a wet way). Now I’m starting to get other notes, there’s a slight sweetness, and something not quite earthy but I’m not sure what it is.

The third steep, most of the pond scum smell and taste was completely gone and for the next three steeps the flavor continued to mellow and mingle and confuse but please my taste buds. My tongue is not refined enough to pick out flavors, but once I hit the third steeping I ha begun to relax into this puerh. It started to feel safe, like it was trying to show me a preview of could come if I continue down the rabbit hole that is puerh. Now I really think that a good rinse or maybe two would have eliminated those first two awkward cups and put me right into this sweet spot to begin with.

The 6th or 7th steep seemed a little bit weaker, and since by this point it was nearly 2am I decided to cold steep the last steep overnight. I strained and tried it first thing this morning, and detected a surprising note that I really wasn’t expecting and don’t know where it came from: grapes. This cold steeped and lightly sweetened taste like grapes and a tinge if cocoa, some of that almost earthiness, and I want to say browned sugar. The other notes were there in the hot cups but just seem more identifiable this time. But I don’t remember grapes last night, yet there they are this morning.

I still find it so amazing that a straight tea can have so many different notes, without adding any flavors.

This really does taste like frosting, or a glaze. It’s got that distinct powdered sugar taste, mingled with a sweet creamy vanilla. I can sort of taste a fluffy marshmallowness to it as well, which in assuming is coming from the marshmallow leaf. There’s also a cake batter like taste and mouth feel to it, though it’s less prominent than the icing taste.

A few people mention that this is very thin, but I’m actually surprised by how almost heavy this is considering it’s pretty much all petals ad flavors. And I was also able to get two steeps out of it, one 5 minute and a 10 minute resteep. I can definitely see myself reaching more this when I have a late night sweet tooth!

This was the more approachable of the two oolongs I received, so I saved it for last. This is very interesting. I decided to ice it after I steeped it so it was a tad watered down, but still good.

When I think of ginger I think of the ginger salads you get as starters at sushi restaurants. I love those house ginger dressings, always so much better than anything I’ve tried in store.

So naturally that’s what this tea reminded me of. I can totally see this being served along side the starter at sushi restaurants. The rose and the ginger meld so perfectly together, a combination I would have never thought of. Light and florally with a little spice of ginger to add a depth that you weren’t expect. Now I really want ginger house salad.

So I decided to try this iced, I wasn’t to sure about floral and cold, but something was telling me give it a try.

This is so delicious and refreshing. Instead of tasting like I was drinking perfume like I feared, this actually just tasted like sitting on the porch on a hot spring day next to the fragrant jasmine flowers that are intertwined along the porch railing and climbing their way up the wire arches. You’re drinking an ice cold green tea, and the jasmines smell so strong you can almost swear you can taste them in your tea. And you love it, you couldn’t imagine a more perfect place. And that’s what this taste like. Cool and flowery and slightly sweet and just fresh. Even in the dead of night I can almost feel a warm breeze. I need a big pitcher of this cold in my fridge for the hot Florida days.

The second steeping is just as bright and floral as the first and the leaves are still so fragrant there’s no doubt in my mind that I could get at least one or two more good cups out of this.

After spending all day with Mandala Special Dark, I wanted to transition to something creamy but fruity. This seemed like it would fit the bill.

This tea smells like what I imagine buttermilk smells like, but with a dash of vanilla. This is definitely a creamy tea. Taking a sip, I first and foremost taste vanilla cream. Then I get a sort of buttery taste. At the end of the sip I can almost believe I detect a citrus note. With a name like Mandarin Cream I was expecting something similar to like an orange creamsicle.

This is almost purely cream. It’s actually sort of amazing because it even seems to have a thick creamy mouthfeel to it to. If I closed my eyes I might even think I was drinking warm sweetened vanilla cream. It’s actually pretty good. It kind of seems like a thinned out coffee creamer. Different from what I was expecting but not bad.

As soon as the hot water hit this, and I got a whiff of pond water, I started to panic. What did I do? What did I get myself into? Why did I trust all the reviews. This isn’t going to taste sweet and chocolaty and caramelly. This is going to taste like licking pond scum. I stood there in fear during that 1st 30 second steep.

Tentatively, I took a sip. Nearly holding my breath, it seemed like it took an extra second for my mind to register what I was tasting. Hm, what’s this? This isn’t pond water at all! I don’t really know what to say about that first sip. I was baffled, no bad notes about it. I didn’t really taste any cocoa in those first few sips. It was much lighter than I expected, sweet, and almost caramelly. By the time I finished my first cup, I had decided I needed to skip class today and continue to experience this tea (I mean I didn’t have my notebook, that’s why I skipped class. Not because of tea. Good girls don’t skip class because of tea).

Second infusion, I went 45 seconds, and this time I got more cocoa notes. Again I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that puerh isn’t as dark and bitter and I guess straight coffee-ish as I expected. This is my first straight puerh, and the only other one I had was minty so I didn’t like it. But this? This is good.

I followed the increase by 15 seconds directions until the 5th steep, where I went up by a minute. MMM I’m definitely getting cocoa powder this time. And caramel. I drank about half the cup, and then saw the Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate with SeaSalt Caramel squares on the counter. I dropped on into my cup, and made up the 6th infusion (3 minutes) and poured that into too. Oh my decadence. This is like sweet sinful chocolate dessert in a cup. So chocolaty, with notes of caramel, some almost nuttiness, and a sort of earthiness. This is like a very complex and delicious hot chocolate. Oh my word. I’m sure I can get some more out of those leaves, but for now my tummy is nice and full and satisfied.

Not bad at all for what essentially is my first puerh, and my first Mandala order!

Hmm I don’t know what to think about this. I want to like it but something is holding me back. There’s a weird taste at the end of the sip that I cat quite describe but that seems to build up as I continue to drink. Now truthful it’s possible I added too much stevia and that’s effecting the taste, but I’m not too sure that’s what it is. I let it get cold and I like it better that way. I’m thinking maybe it’s the peppercorn and other spices that are throwing me because my minds trying to tell me that this is a fruity tea. But those red peppercorns do look awfully cute. (I took a picture of this and all the other teas in my cupboard without pictures and added them because seeing them with no image bugs me. That’s when I realized I never tried this tea yet)
Thanks MissB for sending me a sample of this!

I drank this while doing homework and quizzes today and as such wasn’t paying enough attention to right a proper tasting note. I know I enjoyed it, because it had fresh crisp vegetal notes that I love so much and wasn’t smokey like some of the other teas in the sampler are, which I’m not fond of. I want to do a side by side comparison of the 6 no flavored greens teas in the sampler so that I can learn the differences among then and be able to better understand what I do and don’t like in a green tea.

This is the first time I’m having a not otherwise flavored genmaicha. It tastes just like the other ones I’ve tried, but without the spices. The little sample tin I have is chocked full of rice, and the rice flavor really comes through in a delicious toasty way. Genmaichas are just a very satisfying tea to me, warm and toasty and comforting. One of those teas I can drink for a snack and truly feel satisfied after like I just had something hardy.

Of the 3 samples I received, this one the only thing that intimidated me. I don’t think I’ve ever even smelled frankincense before, and I cant find word to describe it even now that I have. But you can definitely tell this was scented by a perfumer. The smells are quite intense! Even after brewed it smelled pretty intense to me. Thankfully the taste was milder.
This is not as scary as I was expecting. I didn’t add any sweetener, because this is almost more on the savory side of the tea spectrum. I sort of want to add a little salt and see what thats like.
This really is sort of balsamic tasting. I caved and added a touch of salt to the last half of my mug, and I like the result. Sort of brothy, and a very light sort of sense. The website says it can be resteeped 4 times so I’ll try that in a bit and see how it goes.