Mandala Tea
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This is a nice larger leafed shou. It definitely has some of the honey notes that are talked about in the description. I have also found some floral aspects in it and an almost vanilla-ish spice to it, if that makes any sense. I think this tea reminds me more of a mood or atmosphere than any particular flavor. I have found it to be surprisingly complex and subtle. It is on the lighter/clearer side of shous which is making it perfect for drinking on a sunny autumn day such as we are having in Boston today.
Flavors: Honey
Preparation
Just got a brick of this in from Mandala Tea a couple days ago. I’ve been drinking this gong fu all weekend in 3 different sessions. Started off with 7 grams for 15 seconds in 100 ml and was a little underwhelmed so I boosted it up to 8 grams for 30 seconds in 100 ml. It was a good idea to be a little more aggressive.
This tea doesn’t give a ton of steeps but it comes through when it counts! I get bittersweet chocolate and I love the suggestion of burnt caramel by TheTeaFairy. This is a great dark shou that I think will help me get through the fall until I can splurge on pu-erhs near Christmas time.
EDIT: Tried this earlier today in my new gaiwan and it seemed to have longer legs than I thought. I used 7 grams in 90 ml water and I got a decent amount of steeps out of it. I started at 10 seconds and built slowly from there. Still super delicious.
Flavors: Dark Bittersweet
Preparation
I just realized that I had yet to try any of the shengs I got from the Mandala sampler, and decided to remedy that with this tea. I have only tried one or twoshengs before, so I’m quite inexperienced with them. That’s why I got this sampler, to explore the world of shengs withput having to commit to any.
7g, 6oz water, 200F, two 5 second rinses, then 8,10,12 second steeps.
Ok, so the first steep tastes like smoked meat. There’s definitely other notes here, there’s a lot of complexity, but I’m having a hard time identifying anything other than smoked meats, and maybe some pine. The second steep loses most of the smoked meat flavor, but still is slightly smokey. Again, smoked pine comes to mind. There’s also a sort of sweetness here, not in the tradition I just added sugar to this sense, more in a mouth feel, and in the salutatory response. (I didn’t add any sweetener, I generally don’t sweeten greens, oolongs, or shengs). There’s also some camphor notes, and with the pine needle like notes, creates a cooling sort of bitter end of sip/aftertaste as it cools.Third is much like the second, but less cooling/bitter.
I don’t know if I’m just not in a sheng mood, or if I’m not really in a sheng mood. But this just isn’t doing it for me right now, so I’ll be calling it a quits early. Leaving the rating off since it’s purely my tastes.
This was the last untasted sample from my Mandala Sheng sampler!
Unfortunately I did not take good notes as I drank it all day at work, but I did enjoy this one. Definitely some sweetness here, not too much bitterness, some light floral/fruit notes. Not as bold and brassy as some young sheng can be.
Good morning Steepster! This sample came to me from Dexter. I’m excited to try this one, it’s been a while since I had a golden snail tea. These curls are about half to two-thirds golden, and they have a gentle bread and honey scent.
Wow, I was surprised by the aroma. I was expecting sweetness and bread, what I smell is decidedly savory with smoked food. And the taste is savory as well! Definitely different from other golden snails I’ve tried, or at least how I remember them tasting. It’s definitely a savory flavor, though there is some breadiness there. The main flavor for me is smoked meats along with a hint of pepper. I do pick up on some sweet honey notes also, especially in the aftertaste. Overall, it’s lovely, though not what I expected.
Flavors: Baked Bread, Honey, Malt, Smoked
Preparation
tea from yesterday. Just happy to get back to a little bit more regular tea drinking. I have samples i need to work on but i’m enjoying going through the few teas in my cupboard that aren’t samples. I really should have some puerh this week but i’m guessing i’m not going to get around to it – too much caffeine.
It’s august! and that means cupboard updates. Had this one earlier today while weighing things. Looks like my total for end of July is 40 teas, 1250g…however take away the samples and i’m really looking at 8 teas – 185g and 10 puerh – 1065g. that’s fantastic considering i haven’t been drinking as much as usual – but at least i’ve also managed not to buy much too :)
woot! still really loving this tea and i’m glad that i got to share a little with kittenna. THinking about buying more with mandala’s sale even though i’m not yet finished this one, in part because it’ll take 10 days to get here. and that makes it november lol. soooooo goood.
This was my other straight tea today and i am really a fan of this one. There’s something to be said about the way this one tastes western brew (i really need to try it gongfu). I had this first thing and drank it up before mid morning. a re-stock for sure once i’m out! love this sweet smooth tea!
oh man….this is a backlog from yesterday and i’m still having trouble believing that i purchased this and hadn’t gotten around to trying it until yesterday. This one is delicious people. better tasting note to come when i can be doing it as i’m drinking the tea…but i drank this one up super quickly and kept trying to go back for more when my travel mug was empty haha
I have this tea but didn’t taste yet.
It’s definitely interesting. Has a different character than a lot of the other shous I’ve had. I attribute this to the fact that it is made from a higher grade of leaf. I plan on getting some other big-leaf shous in the future to see how it plays out in other recipes.