Morning Sun

It’s cloudy this morning and I did not sleep a wink last night, but must somehow get it together to go to work and toil away on a big, complicated project.

Thanks to Mandala tea, I have my own Morning Sun today. :)

The wise man J. Krishnamurti once said, “One has to be a light to oneself”

Trying to stay positive and keeping on! what else can you do?

Thanks to all my Steepster friends for the supportive thoughts, it really means a lot to me.

This tea is beautiful to look upon, & brews into a rich & resinous cup of tea whose rustic flavor reminds me somewhat of masa harina & fire roasted green chili’s. Very savory, but also sweet in it’s own way. Tasty.

The leaves of this tea are beautiful. Rolled and all golden and black, amazing to look at.
I’m not educated enough to understand what is going on in this one. It has the right mouth feel of a rich, thick black – but it also is lighter in flavor than I normally prefer. It’s smooth and gentle – zero astringency, but has a bit of the “dry mouth” thing that I’m not fond of. I’m not sure how to classify this. There is no doubt that this is a high end tea, but I don’t think it fits my favorite black notes.
Thank you so much ifjuly for sending me some of this. I feel like I don’t deserve to be “wasting” this beautiful tea.

So i’m pretty sure my taste buds need a health check this morning. This came across as a smokey tea…more like a cross between a keemun and a lapsang. I don’t think it’s been contaminated but i’m going to have to hold off on rating this until i can make another few cups heh

I haven’t seen AureliaFish on site for some time, but this is who I got this amazing sample from – so if you do ever see this AureliaFish – thank you!

Leather and smoke. That’s what this tea tastes like to me. I like it a lot. I will definitely be ordering this in the near future.

A great sample from Mandala—super generous!

My up-and-at-‘em pick this morning. This one funny enough has qualities like those I just described for the Tanyang Gongfu, where it’s thick and starchy-sweet and smooth but also floral, but I appreciate that it’s not quite straightforward sweet potato this time, that there’s other elements like fire (Terri is so right that it’s kind of like roasted green chiles!). There’s a quality to it where the taste evokes more astringent, dry-woody teas like Darjeeling or Zhu Rong in flavor but not actual astringency (there’s pretty much none; this is as smooth as any of the popular Teavivre black teas). A neat trick. Good morning tea and strikes that smooth-vs.-woody, Chinese-vs.-legacy-type balance in the same way I appreciate with Zhu Rong. I really, really like this. I think I’ve figured out teas that don’t tidily fit into either of those vague categories but sort of take the best of both worlds and throw in some unusual unclassifiable characteristics (that smoked chile heat!) are my favorite discoveries right now. Jerks a jaded tea palate awake in the nicest way.

Another reviewer noted this tea is between a legacy blend and smoother Chinese black tea, and I agree. In fact, if it were presented to me as a mix of the two, I’d have believed it. It seems to hit all of those notes in a really wonderful way. The dry leaf color gave me the impression it would be a lighter flavor, but it just goes to show that’s a really silly way to judge tea. I’ll keep this one around for guests looking for English Breakfast. It’s way better than anything I’ve found in that category, and I don’t think they’ll be disappointed!

On the rare occasion when I have a guest for tea, this seems to be the one most gravitate toward. I have to admit, it is one of my favorites as well, from the gorgeous little pellets of rolled leaves, to the heady aroma (both dry and brewed), to the amber brew with flavors of malt, honey and fields of grain and wildflowers. Had to add this to my shopping list since there was barely enough left in my stash for a mug this morning…

Free sample with the purchase. Thank you Garrett !
Steeped gong fu 1,2, 3 and 5min
I like it a lot. It’s bold sweet, smoky and spicy. I have to agree with Terri it smells and taste like roasted poblano . I do like this smokiness and spice. It’s welcoming , makes you feel warm and toasty on a wet and chilly winter morning. This tea is not flat and boring. It changes as it cools. I prefer it hot.

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.