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Quick note… This tea is not the type of tea that you can take lightly. I’ve screwed up one or two early steep times due to being busy. I have to redo this on a quiet day. I work from home a lot so my Sundays are sometimes my busiest day.

It’s complex. It’s above my ability. It’s making me want to paint landscapes again. lol I’m thinking colors like umber, mahogany, burnt sienna… Earth colors. It starts off bold, like “Hey, pay attention!”, almost combative but then becomes more subdued, calming, mellow, sweeter.

Interesting experience.

212˚F, 110ml, 12 steeps: 5s rinse, 10s, 15s,???s, 25s, 30s, 35s, 40s, 45s, 50s, 55s, 60s, 1m15s

Update: I didn’t get any fig or fruit as some of the others.

So I got my Mandala package and am a happy camper. They gave me this free sample of their Alishan Light Roast oolong. It has been sold out for a while, and I was glad to see it come back as I have never been able to try it.

Oh no, no pro reviews. I’m on my own lol. :D

The tightly rolled balls were a nice dark green, no tea dust at all (throughout the entire process, screen was clean), a few stems. The wet leaves are highly aromatic. Vegetal, spinach-y, sweet, milky, and floral aromas, specifically lilac aroma (which btw I would probably never have guessed the flower had they not mentioned it lol. Maybe?), not much roast nor smoke.

The amber goldish liquor has a super super suuuper soft mouth-feel. It was as if I used different water to make it. I’m thinking this is what sets it apart from many others. It leaves a nice coating in my mouth. After a few steeps, and the leaves opened up more, the roast and other flavors came out to play and mingled with the creaminess. Up until that point, it wasn’t so much flavor but the mouthfeel. Some spice, sugar cane sweetness, light vanilla notes, floral, butter, popcorn… I’d definitely like to try it again.

Yixing teapot, 195˚F, 110ml, 10 steeps: 5s rinse, 20s, 25s, 25s, 30s, 35s, 40s, 45s, 50s, 55s, 65s

Just received my Mandala package with this tea thermos. Good and thorough reviews already. I got the large 14 oz one. It is double-walled glass, came with a black neoprene sleeve, a 2-way stainless filter and brew basket. Haven’t tried it yet, just washed it out but it feels solid, well made. I’ll use it next time I do anything grandpa style. I think this would be perfect for that. If there is anything to add to what was already covered, I’ll do that after I use it for a while.

Update: Very nice. I really like it. I’m using it right now. It’s not leak-proof but I’m planning to use this around my home anyway. I like Oolong Owl’s review on it. :) For road trips, I always bring my Zojirushi travel mug to carry hot water, and maybe I’ll bring this too as a sipper.

Update 1/14/19: Been using it every day since, and bringing it with me on the road. If you’re careful putting the top on level (not crooked) and not cranking it down too tight, it doesn’t leak. I left it on its side for the past few days, and so far, it didn’t leak but I’ll keep testing. Upped the rating.

Now that I got my ability to taste back, reaching for a favorite. Ahhhh… Roasted nuts, fruity, umami, mineral :). So comforting. I felt like I needed the instant calm this tea gives me.

Cha Qi heaven.

I got the bananas this time too, derk, woohoo lol.

Yixing teapot, 5g, 110ml, 212°F, rinse, 8 steeps: rinse, 25s, 35s, 45s(I’m here at the moment), 55s, 65s, 75s, 85s, 120s

The first time I prepared it gongfu to get the flavor profile (previous note). Today, I’m having this grandpa style. Being sick (or super busy) and drinking tea grandpa style just goes hand in hand to me. It’s so good either way and it’s really forgiving time-wise. 3 minutes or 6 minutes later, it tastes great. No bitterness. So glad. That helps when one just can’t concentrate. I have said for so long how I dislike strong rose. I think this is the second “rose” tea that I liked and no instant headache either… And the resteeps go on forever and last all day too.

I’ve been under the weather the past few days. Fought it off for a while, but it hit me hard. Asthma that lingered is what got annoying. The mucus exacerbates it & had to go to visit the doctor (boo). The only doctor I ever liked was dad, and after he passed, I’ve been stuck with people who either don’t know or don’t care. Left me waiting in a room for 2 hrs (during a severe asthma attack). Hello? I’m dying in here. They finally realized I needed a steroid shot…

I never realized how lucky I was in that respect… To have a dad who took care of all your medical needs (he was also a surgeon so he took my tonsils out, for example.) and no lines to wait in. lol

So, I’ve been quiet here since the cold destroyed the little bit of ability I had to taste anything. lol It’s a good time though, I’m still waiting for my December package(s) from TeaVivre and YS, so I don’t really have anything new… But then, I found another sample from Theodor. hehe I guess they gave me 5 free samples!

With that knowledge, this has a Chinese green tea base with a strong melon flavor, and slight peach, pineapple, passion fruit, strawberry, green apple notes. ^^ It’s a very nice fruity green tea. I normally wouldn’t rate it due to my dislike of strong melon taste but it was more like an exotic slurry of fruits.

175 °F, 3 steeps: 2m, 3m, 4m

Happy New Year :D

I’m trying this again and this time I didn’t break it wide open, which was a mistake last time I tried it. While it’s not a strong orange flavor (compared to their tangerine one) and the pu erh is really mild too… I like it much better this time. I’m drinking it grandpa style, after rinsing it, I have it floating in a big mug. I didn’t make holes in it as their video suggests. Maybe next time. I have quite few of them to experiment with.

I decided I couldn’t wait to retry this after drinking their delicious Taiwan GABA Oolong, so I made a cup of this. I couldn’t resist.

This one.

The flavor profile sings to me. Now my sample is all gone. Will be on my next order for sure. Maybe I should also try Taiwan GABA Heavy-Roast Oolong Tea since this one is slightly roasted. Hmm…. :)

Flavors: Apple, Baked Bread, Brown Sugar, Butter, Fruity, Malt, Raisins, Roasted

This is quite different from the Vietnamese GABA Oolong. The aroma of the wet leaves reminds me of yummy fried plantains, the sweetness, and slightly tart aroma. The flavor profile was complex (beyond me).

It was mildly sweet with brown sugar and honey notes. My throat is kind of sore today (hope I’m not getting sick but have no other symptoms.) I found it to be very soothing to the throat due to the thickness and comforting creamy feel. I love to read the great reviews and there were lots of different notes mentioned. This time around, I got the pear, nuts, baked bread, malt, vanilla, and some mineral notes. It is a solid GABA oolong and I look forward to trying it again, perhaps alongside What-Cha’s Vietnamese GABA. I “think” I prefer the Vietnamese one but I recommend both to anyone into GABA oolongs.

5g, 195°F, 110ml, rinse, 8 steeps: 10s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 85s

Last of the four free samples from Theodor. I saved it for last because I’m not really into herbal teas. There was a time, when I was younger, that all I did was drink hibiscus tea. I liked the tang. I have no idea how to rate it since other than that, that’s all I know. This one tasted a lot juicier than the one I used to drink.

When I work out, I often drink fruit infused water, soaking all kinds of fresh fruit in water, then drinking it. I also eat the fruit after. No reason to waste good fruit lol. This is basically all it is, just more portable and convenient I guess. The liquor is a dark pink at first, then gets lighter each infusion. The ingredients consist of apple, peach, rose hips and hibiscus… That’s what it tastes like. Fruity flavors of apple, peach, hibiscus and the extra tang of the rose hips.