Mandala Tea

Garret put this sample in my last order with him. On Friday, I had little sleep and needed something that would give me energy but clear headed. I tried this one for the day. It being a few days ago, I can’t remember the exact taste experience but I do know I was impressed it wasn’t bitter or smokey. It was very close to a green tea with just that bit of earthiness. It did do a great job of getting me through the day. I didn’t even feel I was tired until the evening when I crashed early. I have one more sample of this but think I might order more after that.

Thanks Garret for this fantastic free sample!

This is Dexter3657 #1 oolong and she shared this generous sample with me.

Just like black tea, it is hard for me to find some oolong I don’t like. But I have preferences and highly oxidized Wuyi are usually not my favourites. My tastes gravitate more towards greener oolong. Having said that, I still appreciate drinking it once in a while, but I will never keep a large supply around.

This one is beautifully crafted, dark long and slightly twisted strands.

The smell of the infusion is spicy and citrusy.

It’s malty and full bodied, a nice rich cup.

I get dried fruits, apricot maybe. The roasty taste in the background is quite enjoyable.

This type of oolong will never be my favourite, but it sure provides a nice cup nonetheless, and I can appreciate that.

And It’s always interesting to drink someone else’s favourite tea :-)

Thank you Dexter!

Edit: I am now at steep 5 (gungfu) and I don’t know if it’s because my water is considerably at a lower temp, but this is now very sweet and peachy, a completely different tea!

Steeped for 2 days. Started with 195F just to be safe. I’m just trying shengs and really dont like excessive bitterness. This one is very mellow and smooth. Smells of roasted green peppers. i think i should increase the temp to see how it will turn out. Ready(i think)

Another great tea sample from Terri HarpLady! :D I’ve got the best tea friends in the world <3

This is the smokiest sheng I’ve ever had! But in a totally pleasant way. It tastes like camping somewhere exotic. Very woodsy and mysterious with a nice shengy twang :)

My breakfast tea this morning is courtesy of Terri HarpLady! Thanks!!

This is a nice bold tasty breakfast tea. Very glad I got to try it but there are probably blacks I like more than this one :)

JustJames gifted me a bit of this tea during our swap around Christmas and I am finally getting to it now. It is a lovely tea thanks James !

The dry leaves are long and loosely twisted cables that smell like a lighter grade dark chocolate with hints of Logan and a touch of cinnamon, scents that translate well into the flavour.

I steeped this tea as recommended for short steeps and used 1 TSP/200ml/95°C and steeping time starting at 1 min increasing by 1 min per steep.

The colour of the liquor is a bright reddish tinged golden brown.

Like Terry mentioned today the flavour remains fairly consistent through the steeps . The top note is of longan followed by cinnamon, chocolate, a hint of malt and honey.
The taste is a good balance between cocoa and fruit, there is a slightly buttery creamy tone that blend them together. A faint hint of cinnamon and malt binds everything underneath. As it cools the cocoa scent and taste intensifies. The tea is slightly sweetened by a honey like tone and a faint peppery note mixes with cocoa and honey in the aftertaste. It has a buttery, smooth texture. In resteeps the fruity tone is more apparent, but is softened from the sharper tones of longan.

This was a pretty enjoyable tea with chocolate tones that were easy to obtain, especially as the tea cools. Thanks again James!

Dove into this little gem tonight. I’ve been neglecting my green teas. This tea is very similar to a Dragonwell for me. It’s very buttery, soft, and sweet with a light nuttiness like macadamia nuts. I only had three steeps but I imagine it could have kept going for at least two more. After cooking a heavy dinner of chicken fried rice (with rosemary!) it was the perfect end to the meal. Very subtle and delicate as rice paper. It has a lingering sweetness. It reminds me of honeysuckle flowers in the shade…Dewdrops on morning flowers. A little vegetal and a little floral. I could write poems to this tea.

HOLY !#$%^ This stuff works and is AMAZING! DAAANG. I was stubborn and liked my cheapy “baking soda and water scrub” method, but I never got my strainers clean. So I decided to buy the 6oz of the Smart soak to try it out.

Seriously steepster, check out my blog post (Oolong Owl) for the pictures of Smart Soak at work – I test run the smart soak with a gongfu tea strainer and it came out brand new. http://oolongowl.com/smart-soak-tea-stain-dissolver-mandala-tea-oolong-owl-review/

I then tried it on my horrific, disgusting, about to trash it gravity steeper from the tea stained bowels of hell and it came out impressively clean! I had scrubbed the blasted thing many times, but after 2 minutes using the smart soak I could see the tea stains peeling off.

I actually noticed my tea tasting better with the sparkling clean tea strainers – like I was using a brand new strainer. Very spiffy!

(on a side note.. rating this 100, with the Steepster green licky happy face is weird. Not drinking this stuff and it is probably a bad idea and smells like stale old tea)

Not even really sure what to say about this one. It’s the only pu-erh I can say at this point that I can drink more than one cup of. :) It’s very interesting but I’m not sure I can pick out any specific flavors, it’s just very unique. Not what I associate with pu-erh, which is good. Thanks for the sample, boychik!

This shou is incredibly smooth. I like it. Creamy and fruity, some wood notes. The brew is dark reddish-brown color and clear. I had a nice session of multiple steepings
5g 100ml gaiwan 212F
rinse/pause/ 10/10/15/15/20/25/30/45 sec etc
Perfect for beginner or lover of Puerh.

Been waiting to get this one in a cup for a while now. Pulled 8 grams out to brew this with leaving room for the leaf to have plenty of room to open up. Hit it with a flash rinse and opened the lid on the Gaiwan to inhale the aroma, steamed broccoli and butter came to mind in this.
I did 3 quick steeps and put thin them all in a big mug so I could have it all at once.
It has a little zest to it. Lingering tastes of smoke in the front and a nice touch of green veggies that turns to an almost sweet potato flavor on the end. A very active taste profile in this one for sure. Touches of the tingle on the tongue that fades into a light sweetness on this one.
Very nice product right on pace of the quality of the Wild Monk maocha. Very lively where the Monk does the fast dance the Dehong does the slow dance to an easy soft beat.

This was included as a sample in my Mandala order. It is a very pretty tea with long, long leaves. There is a mild earthy quality and overall a mild flavor. It has a very smooth mouthfeel. Nothing I’ll keep in the cupboard but very pleased to have tried it.

Thank you so much Terri HarpLady for a sample of this!

I have been drinking this all day. The leaves just keep going and going, huh? This is VERY nice shu. Rich and creamy with just enough earthiness and sweetness and no funk. I love that it is organic, too :)

This is a shu I would definitely reach for any time I have a puerh craving! Glad I got to try it.

Time to be brave and drink another puerh!

I didn’t know how to steep it so I gave it a 10 second rinse, after bringing it to boiling. Then I steeped it for 1 minute because I’m too much of a coward to go for longer. :P

I really could have gone longer. This cup is really light and mild. It’s earthy but good earthy? As it cools I detect a little bit of honeyed sweetness. Lovely! :D I’m going to have to steep this a few more times to get a better idea of this tea but I am enjoying it so far.

Thank you TerriHarpLady and Sil for passing this on to me. :)
Sipdown: 187 (which is good timing as I have a pkg from Dexter arriving today!)

Sipdown 11 of 2016. 1oz pouch. Purchased 5/2014 – Finished 1/2016.

Milk oolong is the tea that truly got me into loose leaf tea. A friend of mine brewed a cup of Gong Fu Tea’s milk oolong and I was hooked. I started looking into tea types, and started ordering things. I found steepster and Butiki and it just snowballed from their. So….. I love this tea. It is not only good, milky smooth, yummy, but every time I drink it, it brings happy memories.

The long awaited Mandala Milk Oolong. I should have tried all of the milk oolongs on separate days and then compared them, but such is life. I will have to write about this tea on its own another day. Comparatively this comes in second to the Gong Fu Tea Milk Oolong. It is creamy it is buttery, but there is more of a vegetal, orchard flavor that takes away a bit from the creamy sweetness of the tea relative to the other. I like it, and I think I will have to spend more time with it, but not my top pick.

This is a great version of Dragon Phoenix Pearls. The intensity is a 8 out of 10 but it uses rolled buds and has some of the jasmine flower present. Its very high quality, the only way you could beat this, is if you consumed it the day it was processed in China. Unless you want to travel to China this won’t be beaten.
I use the gaiwan and do multiple infusions (4-8 seeps). I find it best to infuse longer than the traditional gaiwan formula, like 2 minutes per infusion. I still experiment with the timing.
Great for detoxing and special occasions.