Mandala Tea

Bought two ounces of this with my Mandala order. It one tasty tea. It could be because I added sugar but a get notes of apples with this tea, tart apples. I think it would be sweet without the sugar.

I steeped it one time with 2 tbsp tea and175 degree water in my Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper for 2 miin.

I’m still enjoying this one. it’s very tastey, kinda juicy slighty fruity like peach, floral at first then goes kinda leafey vegetal like fig leafe with a slight bitter bite, some umami notes similar a tomato or bell pepper, slight sweetness coming thru along with a wet leafey aspect that i enjoy a lot, like “autumn leafe pile” in the flavor notes above. Avery nice Tea.
I’m not a big sheng fan but i’m exploring more shengs now and this one is nice, looks like I’ll have to make an order with Mandala Tea soon :)
I gave 85 last time but Now I’ll bump it up to 90 because it’s really damn good to me.

I put like 4 steeps of this one into my travel cup thingie to take with me this morning, 4 steeps 10s, 10s, 15s, 15s all just poured together, it really damn good.
Yeah really damn good, this will make a good morning :)

I have only had two samples of pu erh teas before buying this cake, and my tastebuds aren’t as experienced as many in here , but I have to review my teas. I had a sample in shop and enjoyed it. It gets 10-15 steeps. The earlier ones have a pleasant bitterness and the later ones are a bit sweeter. Overall, I like it. Excited to try more pu erh teas! Oh, and the paper covering is awesome looking on these 2015 pu erhs by mandala.

In my pursuit to try as many different teas as possible I somehow keep missing yellow types. But thanks to Garret and Manalas awesome sale I’m finally able to try some.

I’m amazed at how incredibly light this tea is. Honestly abit too light for my tastebuds. The dry smell is…. Indescribable. I have no idea of ehat to compare it to. Dry grass mixed with hay?

Infusion 30 seconds. too light for taste
1 min.-3 min. A bit of nuttiness. Truly this is a unique tea. They will need to come up with more descriptive words.

This is a very tasty ripe puerh with very little bitterness and a fair amount of fermentation flavor. I would say the fermentation taste went away by the fifth or sixth steep. It was a sweet puerh. I would venture to say notes of chocolate and it definitely developed a fruity flavor in later steeps. I should also note that the fermentation taste to this tea was very clean, I didn’t notice any fishy notes but I don’t always notice this. I steeped this ten times and it would have gone a few more. But on this my first real Sunday off in years I want to go on to a different tea, maybe the White Whale from White2Tea.

I steeped this tea ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 9.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 min. Judging by the color in the tenth steep I think this would go fifteen steeps at least.

I was surprised that I had to put this one in the catalog. There was a 2014 in the catalog. I hadn’t known that there had been a 2014 version of this or did a person put it in the catalog with the wrong year? In any case this is an excellent tea. It is somewhat bittersweet at the start, thick with fermentation flavor. The fermentation taste was clean to me though, no fishy taste that I noticed. I would venture to say that there were some chocolate notes to this tea and some fruity notes in later steeps. I gave this tea ten steeps and I’d say it took about five steeps for the fermentation taste not to be a factor. This was an excellent tea.

I steeped this tea ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 9.8g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 454 sec, and 1 min. The tea was still quite dark in the tenth steep. I would definitely go a few more steeps.

Sample from Sil. Thank you!

I picked this out of my sample pile, and then I was thinking about whether I should air it out or not, but then I decided to just go for it and try the tea. The piece I got is quite tightly compressed, so I’ve started with a 30 second rinse and a 5 minute wait.

15 second steep. Oh man, it’s been forever since I’ve had an aged puerh. Smells SO GOOD. It’s really tasty. Has some lovely sweet notes and doesn’t taste musty at all.

And now I have a cat on my lap and to lean forward and steep again would mean tipping the cat onto the floor, and I don’t feel like doing that right now. :)

Edit: I’ve had a few more steeps and I’m really enjoying this tea! Maybe now that I have the kettle set up, I’ll manage to drink more of the vast quantity of puerhs that I have…

I got this a little bit ago, so I’ve been letting it sit in storage to get ready for brewing. I opened the jar and poured it out into my cha he. The leaves carried a wonderful aroma! This was a very fragrant shou. I could easily identify a dry hard chocolate tone with some slight fermentation. I was also picking up some cherry and red wood scents. I loved how intense theses aromas were. I warmed my gaiwan and emptied the cha he. The aromas began to morph. I was now picking up a warm petrichor and liquid dark chocolate. The cherries became more pronounced and resembled more like dark chocolate cherry cordials. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. I decided to go heavy with the leaf, for I like intense shou sessions. The steeped leaves lost their chocolate tone and was replaced by an aromatic ferment and wet wood. The lingering sweetness was of some fruit. The taste was something special! The liquor was a beautiful red coffee color. This drink was thick and syrupy! The taste began as completely filling and some intense drying sensations. The body was nice and full with a lot of flavor. I picked up some heavy wood, molasses, and fermented tastes. The chocolate was still present but lingered in the back to help curb the Bulang bitterness. The drink moved into more mineral tones in later steeping and a pleasant sour taste followed throughout. This brew has a lot of mouth action, with it beginning with a full and lubricating feeling and then the Bulang brings a sharp bite to alert the taste buds. I noticed a bunch a tongue prickling after each sip. I was able to pull at least ten steeping sessions out my gaiwan. The final sessions still brought a relatively dark liquor; however, the drink became more muddled with soil and wet clay tones. The qi is almost unnoticeable at first. The feeling begins in the chest and doesn’t blossom until after the session. I cleaned up my table, and then I was stuck with a heavy heart and nice head buzz. The force emits from the chest center and flows throughout the body. I really like this qi, and this is a nice brew for a morning starter. All and all, I enjoyed my session and this would make a nice daily drinker. This a great representation of young Bulang Shou, and it would be well to introduce to newbies and guests. This is an easy drinker and it lasts for quite some time.

https://www.instagram.com/p/-EtUI2TGcb/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

I had this at an earlier time, and it wasn’t as “wowing” as others made it out to be. So, I decided to let it rest for a little and revisit before doing a review, and I am so glad that I did…

The dry leaf has very little scent to it. I opened my jar and could only catch whiffs of slight fermentation and some dust; however, there was a light sweetness in the background. I placed a generous amount of these strands in my warmed gaiwan and gave it a shake. Then, the scent came forth! The strands gave off a sweet hot coco mix scent. I took in the dry cacao powder aroma. I could note a lingering milkiness behind this decadent scent. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The chocolate aroma became muddled in the steeped leaves. The outstanding tone were fruit and a mild bitterness. The chocolate tone wrapped around these fruit scents like little jam filled desserts. The taste was fantastic! The sip begins with straight dates. The flavor moves into some more raisin tones with wet tobacco. Then, there is a prominent fig note. I noted a light pleasant bitter tone in the aftertaste. The next drink brings on a sweeter atmosphere with brown sugar and light honey. I began to experience a nice head feeling with a warm stomach; The qi has commenced. This brew has a lot of complex tones. The chocolate began to show its face at the second steeping by appearing dry and slightly unsweetened. The next steeping brings on its true face by being presented as rich, dark, and heavy with some earth tones. This brew has a lot of mouth feeling and it fills the palette. The body is thick and smooth and goes down easy. The qi continues to build and is an ever rising focused feeling. I experienced plenty of mouth action and hair prickling. This is something I could drink all night. I love brews that hit you with a full body of flavors steep after steep. The brew morphs to heavy chocolate tones with some drying in the background; moreover, there is a smooth creamy texture that lubricates the mouth. This is a well developed brew, and I am glad that I awaited its recovery. However, the brew dies down dramatically at about the eight or ninth steeping. The brew grows watery, pungent, and consists of solely fermented tones. Personally, I have little appreciation for these tones, but I do know people that enjoy this. All and all, I enjoyed this session, and I will be squirreling away some. I am sad to hear that this was discontinued. I can now understand the uproar from the tea community upon hearing of this tea’s demise. Thankfully, it can live on from the other tea hoarders and I ;)

https://www.instagram.com/p/9BuJ7DzGbw/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Pu’erh TTB 2015 Tea #7

Thanks AllanK for putting this in the box after I made the request. The 2012 Wild Monk still has a memory associated for me because it has continued to be the best of what I have tried in regards to the wild variation of sheng (with Repave as the non). While this may be smoother than the YS tea I had today and only a year old, the taste just isn’t as explosive as the 2012 was. This sample was exactly what I wanted before I shelled out lots of money for a few cakes; I still find it odd that a small ‘higher’ quality cake doesn’t seem to have the flavor that a cheaper cakes has. Maybe the price is for the material?

Received a 9.4 gram pre-production sample of this as loose leaves in my latest Mandala order. After three days of solid shengs, it was time for a shou. I spent half an hour waffling over how to best try this using several brew methods, but finally just threw the whole thing in my 100ml gaiwan and went for short steeps (5/7/9/11/15/20/30/60/120 seconds). That turned out to be a good choice.

Gave it a 5 second rinse, then let it sit for about 15 minutes. The tea was still opening up on the first steep, but steeps 2 through 5 were a rocket ride. The liquor was only medium bodied yet the flavor was intense. An incredible molasses sweetness was paired beautifully with a restrained Bu Lang bitterness that balanced the whole thing out. Around these two dominant flavors were notes of oak wood, leather and tobacco. Salivating citrus notes and hints of spice (felt more than tasted) popped their heads up a couple of times. The sensation was of a very clean shou with no off flavors. These early steeps had a heavy mouthfeel that felt like they coated my tongue, mouth and throat in rich shou goodness that lingered in the long aftertaste.

Steeps 6 through 9 tapered off in intensity and body, yet were very enjoyable. The Bu Lang bitterness tapered off a bit as well, yet remained present until the end. The sweetness became more like sugarcane. I caught a subtle note of chestnuts on the 8th steep.

I had a hard time sipping this tea because I could not pull my nose away from the cup. The aromas were intoxicating; powerful at first but significant all throughout the session. There was a super-intense sweet aroma that ran the gamut from sugarcane to molasses, with one steep having caramel and another pralines. There was also a strong, clean earthiness in the early steeps. I even smelled some cinnamon at one point.

I did two final steeps at 5 and 10 minutes, but they were pale shadows of the earlier session.

This shou really hit on all cylinders for me. The note on the sample bag said “soon in 200g cakes”. I hope soon really means soon. Assuming the final pressing lives up to the potential shown in this sample, this may be the best shou that Mandala has yet produced (no disrespect to the Original Phatty Cake).

Pix: http://instagram.com/p/9F40FTFi93

Another nice medium-bodied sheng from Mandala with a spicy, sweet, mildly tart, and slightly citrusy profile. The aromas were hard to place in the early steeps, centering around tart / savory / spicy notes that I could not isolate. In the later steeps these became fruity-sweet, then tart stonefruits, green apples, and lemons.

I went with cooler water to try and bring out the sweetness, and short steeps (5/7/9/11/… seconds).

This sheng had an oily mouthfeel in a couple of early steeps, then became a rounded one in the mid-steeps. The spice note was not intense yet it was very present, if that makes any sense. In some steeps it was felt more than tasted, which contributed to a lively feeling in the mouth. I got a hint of pine sap in steep 4, but no smokey taste. When the sweetness made itself known it struck me as being similar to apples.

Not as energetic as yesterday’s 2014 Leaf Nei Fei, but still gave me a strong uplifting energy by the end of the 20th steep (which I did all in a single three and a half hour session … whew!). Mandala describes it as a feeling of “calm vibrancy”, which is pretty close to how I feel now.

Overall I really enjoyed this one, and will probably lay in a cake to age.

Leaf porn: http://instagram.com/p/9DSYJzli5Y

A very nice medium-bodied young sheng with notes of pine, spice, citrus and tart stone fruits in the cup. On some later steeps I also picked up some Granny Smith apples and a faint herbaceous quality. The flavors were not too complex, but the aromas were! As the session progressed I smelled pine sap, split pea soup, cinnamon, apple pie, Meyer lemons, honeydew melon, lemon meringue pie and loquat. I did the session with fairly short steeps (5/7/9/11/… seconds).

The most outstanding quality for me is how this tea reacted with my Qi. After the first three steeps I had to walk away for a number of hours because I had so much energy I could no longer sit still. That happened again after the next four steeps as well, but to a lesser degree. I was able to finish the session (steeps 8 through 19) in one sitting since the energy had subsided a bit by then. This would be a good tea to drink when I have to get up and get things done.

Mandala notes that the tea is very young and not incredibly complex, and my session bore that out. As of this writing a 357 gram cake is only $37, so it might be worth putting one away for a few years to see what it does.

Classic dragon well green. Bitter grassy smooth

Creamy notes linger after your last sip. No milk or artificial flavoring are used in this tea. It is simply tea art to achieve these flavors. One of my favorites from Mandala Tea.

I really enjoyed it. It is quite strong for a white tea.Tasted just like the autumn air here in Minnesota.

I enjoyed the changes in flavour throughout the steepings. Ended up tasting fruity like peaches and apricots.

Wow, it has been awhile. 3 months, hey? I think like a lot of the people I follow, I’m slowing down, and trying to be more thoughtful about the tea I keep and drink, instead of trying to have ALL THE TEA. I’ve even weeded out a lot of my teaware (just need to get the weeded into a box and dropped off at goodwill). It feels good to be simple. I do like to post pictures of my tea times on Instagram, and look at some of the folks I follow’s pictures of the same.

So, onto the tea. I’m actually logging a note because I am polishing off the bag. So I wanted one last mention of it before it leaves my cabinet here.

I quite enjoy LS, so I will get more for my cupboard, but I don’t know if it will order this or explore something else again. I will have to see what’s out there.

I actually didn’t have enough left to make a full pot, so I supplemented it with a couple of Dragon Pearls, which is a good match. It does dilute the smokiness, but they are both malty.

These are really cute mini tuos. I grabbed one to brew in the morning; because, it was something quick, fast, and easy. The small little guy carries a light fermentation and a dry scent. I warmed him up in my gaiwan and prepared for brewing. The little tuo gave off a warm fresh soil and forest aroma. I washed the tuo once to get it nice and ready. The leaves take about two steeps to fully expand. These wet leaves carry a sweet but daunting earth scent. The liquor is heavily black with a deep red. I mean like black black black when I say this. You couldn’t even see light through it. The flavor is very good. This is a perfect on-the-go daily Shu drink. There is a pleasant drying sensation with a light mineral tone. The black liquid is heavy with earth and fermentation tones. There was a background oak and pleasant sour flavor in later steeping. The odd thing is that a slight tang or citrus tone follows the drinker throughout the session. This is a nice brew; however, it was very “dusty”. I mean that in the sense, that you must have a nice strainer to gongfu this. I was spitting out tiny leaf dusting throughout the whole session. This still was a nice little tuo, and it would be perfect for gongfu on the go.

https://instagram.com/p/8a5H6XTGWs/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

A big thanks to Beorhthraefn for so generously including a sample of this with the tea I bought from the stash sale.

This was wonderful. I got 30 mins to sit, read, and drink tea last night. This was a floral, very green oolong that was also very sweet. The first infusion it was always like someone had added sugar to my cup. It had almost like a touch of caramel. I only got through 3 infusions before it was time to hit the sack, but I brought the leaves with me today to resteep at work western style.