Mandala Tea

Thank you for the sample Garret. I probably would not have picked this out for myself. So thank you for expanding my horizons! The world of unflavoured pu’erh is still pretty new to me but I am starting to see why it’s such a big hit. After drinking it, I almost feel a little detoxed (if that’s a word!). I ate too many Christmas cookies yesterday. I feel like unflavoured pu’erh is a bit of an acquired taste at first. But then, once you get into it, it can be enjoyable. But maybe that’s just me and my sweet tooth talking.

Anyway, this tea was very dark brewed up. I wasn’t sure what parameters to use so I just winged it. I gave a quick 10 second rinse to start off. It is earthy with slightly sweet cherry notes. I am not sure what other notes there was because I was too tired to pay attention. I will hold off on a numerical rating until next time, when I will pay more attention to the tasting notes.

I steeped this all day, I am not even sure how many times…6 for sure. This tea holds up excellent to steep all day and could have steeped many more times after I was done with it.

Backlog…I had this two days in a row, just one steep each, but each steep was the same leaves. I could not remember if this was a pu erh or a black, but upon tasting, I got really lovely thick and chocolatey notes, with a little bit of spice. It was really a pleasure to drink, and I need to try some in my gaiwan at some point. Though my gaiwan is so tiny that it hardly bears making anything in it because I only have the teeny weeny cups (3) or a regular tea cup size (and it would take like 2-3 steeps of the gaiwan to fill the tea cup). I think I need to find a drinking vessel somewhere in the middle, though I might just get a new gaiwan…I had no idea it was so small when I got it…but it is super cute and I love the design.

Anyway, many thanks to OMGsrsly for sharing this with me. It is really spectacular!

Piecing together where some of my mini tuo’s came from in my sampler order from Mandala has landed me here for the sample I am currently drinking. Cannot be sure of the year, though. If it means anything, this site seems to show a picture of the exact wrapper that I have. http://yunnansourcing.com/en/laocangteafactory/1621-premium-grade-ripe-pu-erh-tea-mini-tuo-cha.html

Either way, this ripe seems like it would be a solid every day Puer. The color in the first few gaiwan steeps is a decadent auburn/hazelnut brown. Just beautiful. The flavor is subtle but very smooth. It has that earthy, mushroom feel but with no fishy harshness. Very drinkable.

No one has rated this yet? I accidentally steeped it way longer than the parameters on the bag. The bag says 30 seconds. I got distracted and steeped it for a minute and a half. The first time I steep a tea, I always try to stick to the recommendations and then change things from there based on personal preference or suggestions of others. Next time, I will steep with the recommended parameters.

The tea was fairly smooth and not vegetal. The jasmine was present but not cloying or artificial. A really good jasmine green. It isn’t as sweet as I was expecting though.

It resteeped well through 2 more infusions before I ran out of time today.

Sip down
I really enjoyed this as well. It was really tasty cold brewed as well with a little sweetness and grassiness

This is a very nice white tea. The dry leaf is beautiful, with silver and black leaves.

I used 1tbls of leaf. It was challenging to get the leaf to stay on the spoon because it is so twisted and long!
It seems to be a complex tea. The first infusion is light with lots of silky smooth hay and honey notes. It is a little different than any other white tea I have tried in the past.
The second infusion (at 3 minutes) seems to be creamier. It is a very comforting cuppa.
The third infusion (4 minutes) is sweet and smooth, the honey is back.
I did a 4th (5 minutes) and 5th (6 minutes) infusion, but didn’t have enough time to pay attention to detailed notes

On the website, it says to rinse the tea. The bag that I received has different steeping parameters than on the website and it did not say to rinse. Maybe I will try the websites parameters next time to see what develops.

I am a little timid going into the world of straight pu’erh but here I go! I have so far likely not had very high quality other than Teavivre. I have been scared of the fishy/mushroom taste.
This tea is nothing like that though. It is very smooth and not fishy at all. It is smooth and earthy with notes of dark chocolate. Creamy, nutty notes develop in later steeps.
I followed the steeping parameters on the bag including a rinse first. Steeped for 30sec, 1min, 1.5, 2
I wish I could have resteeped all day but my body maxes out on caffeine at 4 steeps. I might save the leaves and steep again tomorrow

I was skeptical about this tea, for I thought it was solely for a collector’s item. However, I decided to not judge a book by its cover (or a tea by its nei fei) and give it a shot. Regrettably, I immediately caught the scent of cigarette smoke from the warmed leaves. The steeped leaves gave off the scent as well. I disregarded this scent and did not let it influence the review. The taste is actually very good. The initial sip is sweet and smooth. I detected a very slight bitterness in the brew. I was picking up notes of honey, grass, nectar, and honeysuckle. This was a nice smooth daily drinker. The huigan was pretty thick and lasted well after brewing. The qi was spectacular. I had already has some puerh previous, so I was beginning to double stack the qi. Needless to say, I needed to take a break from the tea session. This gives a nice a chest warming feeling and a stimulating head buzzing. I really liked this tea, and I’m glad that I got some. The taste is smooth and steady, and the qi is nice day starter.

https://www.instagram.com/p/-7HOfhTGeS/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Pulled this tea back out this morning. It has been a while since I’ve taken off a piece of the cake. I’m finding that I tend not to drink puerh as much during the warmer months. But Autumn is officially in full swing here in Michigan and that means more puerh will be consumed.

This tea really is a star. After a rinse, the first two steeps are very smooth and sweet. After that there is a slight bitterness that comes into play but not a bad bitterness. That could also be due to my heavy leafing on this session. Sometimes a chunk gets broken off that is slightly bigger than you anticipated.

There is a well rounded taste that compliments the rest of the tea. The woodiness and earthiness mingle with a creamy, slightly oily texture. My god is it drinkable. As in, you won’t want it to end. This was my first cake purchase and I’m very glad to have it in my possession. Uptick on the rating.

This is the first Pu-Er cake that I have ever tried. I have had loose leaf Pu-er before this, though. I ordered this based on such good ratings and reviews. Despite my being a beginner, I don’t mess around. I want some of the best right out of the gate and everything I found pointed towards this being one of the best in my price range.

Right off the bat I found that the leafy earth type flavor and smell that is sometimes associated with this type of tea is very minimal. It is there but it is soft. Brewing gong fu, the flavors are, well, there isn’t much else I can say that hasn’t already been mentioned in these reviews. This tea is smooth, velvety, and carries creamy, mineral, earthy notes to it. And it is consistent. This isn’t a tea (as far as I can tell) that is going to bring you on a trip around the world with taste sensations but what it does present to you, it does it well and it does it with almost every steep.

But what do I know? I’m just a novice who is tea drunk in the middle of a lovely session. Carry on!

One of the best teas in its class of Oolongs. And what I want to know is how? I have no idea how the same leaf and species can produce such wildly different flavors, but this is all butterscotch and cream. From the same leaf that gives me floral and honey, smoke and peat in other Oolongs. It’s amazing. I’ve dedicated my largest Yixing to its wonders.

Oh, and as for Mandala? There aren’t many vendors I can say I trust, but between the love notes they personally write to customers, the consistent quality of the tea, the way they take care of their growers, and all the research they do to… they’ve won me over.

Drank this at work in the morning :)
Potent. Lasting. Taste of fermentation.
I would say that this has less chocolates than BuLang that I’ve had from ’10 / ’08, but the fermentation is quite strong in this. With that being said, this one is up to personal preference not only of taste but time of drinking.

Sipdown
I thoroughly enjoyed this tea and tried to get at least 1 resteep (western style) every time I drank it. I would definitely order this tea again!

The dry leaves are twisty and beautiful, smelling like burnt sugar and dark chocolate.
The preparation instructions state to brew at 208degrees, so I boiled the water and let it sit for about a minute and a half (I couldn’t wait any longer than that).
When brewed, the dark Amber colour of the brew is tempting me to take a sip and burn my tongue but I hold out and wait until it cools a bit.
The taste is roasty, smooth caramel and burnt sugar. Chocolate notes are there in every sip. In the background, there is slightly spicy and fruity notes. I really enjoy the complexity of this tea and that there is no astringency.

I am so glad that I finally put in a Mandala Tea order. What was I waiting for??

I resteeped for 4 minutes, but next time I think I would try 5 minutes.

I didn’t quite finish my last cup, so I put it in a water bottle in the fridge. It is also delicious cold!

Yours truly is immensely sleepy today, courtesy of the desire to get up early, basically resetting my sleep schedule because being nocturnal was getting tedious. Clearly I need more tea to wake myself up with, maybe keep myself awake with some painting, and then maybe a bit of reading or Minecraft. I have been busily stalking 4JStudio’s Twitter feed, they keep posting update teasers and I am super excited for new blocks to build with. The new biomes excite me too, but that means I will need a new world, or just wait til the Xbone gets to an affordable by me price and I can just expand my world. For now though, as soon as the update drops that means lots of building fun in my creative world.

This is a Shou after my heart, Mandala Tea’s Year of the Dragon 2012 Pu’er, specifically because dragons are near and dear to my heart, specifically my favorite dragon, Ben, even if he did spent the entirety of 2012 being insufferably smug since it was his year. Originally harvested in 2010 from 40-50 year old trees in Jing Mai, it was pressed in 2012, March 1st, 2012 to be exact. I felt myself lucky, because my sample of this Shou came with the Nei Fei, which I have kept stored away in a little box…for reasons. The aroma of the leaves is immensely earthy, it is rich and sweet with notes of pine loam, oak loam, a deep humid forest, and a tiny bit like prunes. At the very end of the sniff there is a gentle woodiness that reminds me of an old cedar trunk, with a slight crispness like the air before snow.

Into the elephant pot the tea went, after a rinse and the first steep the aroma is so earthy and woody. Like a mix of oak and pine wood that is both wet and dry, with sweet molasses and undertones of mineral and loam. Again this tea reminds me of a humid lush forest. The liquid is rich, woody notes of stems and loam with wet wood and a molasses sweet finish.

The first thing I notice from the first steep is how much it reminds me of a fallen tree, notes of earthy loam and wet wood combine with moss and mulch. It gently coats the mouth and goes from loamy to sweet figs, molasses, and a touch of prunes. The finish has a slightly bitter oak gall note, though the aftertaste is molasses and that lingers for a good long while.

Onward to the second steeping, the aroma of this one is still quite woody, but the woodiness mixed with a creamy sweetness gives the shou a bit of a vanilla quality. This mixes really well with the loam notes, sweet and earthy. The taste takes a note from the aroma and is quite sweet this time, it starts sweet, stays sweet, and finishes sweet. With notes of vanilla and molasses, figs and prunes, and a touch of honey, these notes mingle with pine loam and wet oak wood for a mellow and sweet sip.

The third steep had much in common with the second steep, as did the fourth. I did not notice much of a change until the fifth steep where the aroma and taste go almost entirely woody, with strong notes of wet pine wood, loam, and oak wood. It has a sharpness along with the molasses sweetness, this Shou is the right amount of woody and earthy in balance. I think I need to add this cake to my collection, because it turns out Ben likes it…which it would be weird if he didn’t, what with being a dragon and all!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/12/mandala-tea-year-of-dragon-2012-ripe.html

Sad sip down because I really enjoyed this tea. I would definitely order this again someday. I have to slim my stash a LOT more before I buy my tea though.

This tea had been on my wish list forever. The reviews have always been raving about this tea. For whatever reason, I have never placed an order. When I saw that Mandala was having a pre-black Friday sale, I figured now was just as good of a time as any!

I think that I did 6 steeps today. I didn’t do a rinse like some other notes are mentioning. The first 4 were for 20seconds each. These steeps were smooth and creamy with notes of coconut, and I find almost a buttercream icing sweetness. It is not overly sweet but just perfect. The mouthfeel is silky and full.
The 5th and 6th steeps are losing the creamy, coconut notes. Floral, fruity, green vegetal notes are making their way into this cup now.
If I would have had more time today, I would have continued to steep but caffeine really affects me if I have it after 2 or 3pm. I should have cold brewed the leaves for tomorrow but I didn’t think of it until the leaves were already in the garbage…sigh… Oops

Very smooth. Grassy notes. Slightly nutty. Slightly sweet. The wet leaf smells so good. Slight marine/seaweed in the smell but not in the taste.

I need to do a quick confession. Think I ruined the pumpkin pie. We’ll see in 30 minutes. I’m sitting here drinking this tea thinking it’s not quite what I thought it was going to be. Nutty and grassy start with a surprisingly sweet finish. Leaves nothing in the aftertaste. Still I don’t mind it. Just not going to the top of my list.