Mandala Tea

Mao Cha is what they call a young pu-erh. For some people it may not agree with the digestive system as it can be too strong (elimination, upset stomach). Really the key with this tea is to use a small amount of tea leaves (ancient tea trees are very rich) and wash the first two infusions for a few seconds. Also keep the water cool like under 190 degrees. If you do not do those two things it will become extremely bitter and astringent. This tea has a nice spicy smokeyness. If you can follow these steps it is a enjoyable tea very unique unlike most teas. I do not think most tea drinkers will ever drink this everyday but that does not mean its bad or worth trying.

I brewed up the rest of my sample of this from MzPriss because I was trying to decide what to order from Mandala given the awesome sale.

I’m supposed to be doing a multitude of household chores right now but I had to come on to say that I used spring water, rinsed, let it steep for 1 min (I will probably do 30 sec next time) and then added some coffee cream and this. Is. So. Good.

Thick and creamy. I wouldn’t call it chocolatey, but I’m enjoying it!

Thanks again for sharing, MzPriss! Now I know what to order :)

Another pu-erh sample from the very kind MzPriss!

After drinking flavored teas all day yesterday, I knew I wanted to start today with something bold. Perfect time for pu-erh tasting!

I will tell you what happened with this one, I forgot to rinse it (because I’m not used to having to do that), and let the first steep sit for about a minute, looked at it and it was BLACK. Said to myself “aw crap I forgot to rinse” then took a sip anyway, decided I was nowhere near ready for that, and dumped it….consider that a very long rinse.

Next, I let it steep about 30-45 seconds, it was much milder. No mushrooms! Just earthy, and a vague dark chocolate note. It was still dark enough that I decided to add milk…. Wow!

What a creamy and smooth tea! Right now I prefer this to the Special Dark but I know I kinda messed that one up so I will try again. I’m going to be resteeping this several more times this afternoon!

Thanks, MzPriss!

I still have some of this left. Since it never gets bad I can hoard this tea safely. Enjoying it today. What a treat.

I am pulling out some teas for a swap this weekend and of course had to have some of this tea. It’s been ages! I remember how I liked it but the smokey flavor was a bit much for me at the time. Thinking of how I loved the smokiness from the lapsang souchong I tried a few weeks back I was thinking I might enjoy the smokiness now.

So did two quick rinses. Then 10 sec. OMG!!!! Love, love , love this tea all over again. I usually throw out the first few infusions of most pu’erh but I was drinking on the first infusion and loving it.

So fun to pull out an old tea and love it even more.

This was my morning tea today. I’ve reviewed this tea before but today shared with Hubby. He liked and picked up on the smokey flavour. He didn’t mind the smokey flavour but I have to admit, the smokey flavour is not my favourite. I like it after that goes and all the other flavours that come out. I can’t count how many cups I had this morning. I lost track because this tea calls to me like a siren. I keep thinking I’ve had enough and before you know it , I’m pouring another cup. I can’t place exactly what it is about the tea that makes me love it but I just keep going back for more. Even when I finally put it aside and said “Enough, I want to try some WP teas today”, I could still smell and taste this tea in my mind. Soooo went back for one final cup after that. lol

I couldn’t wait to have this pu-er but I think I butchered the poor cake getting my tea off. Wonder if there’s a better way to do that…
This is one of the most unique and unusual teas I’ve had so far. For the first infusion I used boiling (or near boiling) for 30 sec. It was still pretty strong. I would for next time use 195F instead of boiling and steep for 10 or 15 sec. I still enjoyed the cup with that sweet smokey taste. No bitterness. For other infusions I played around with the temperature (one at 185, one at 195) and using 15 min steeps. The smokey sweet flavour was still there in all the steeps. This tea was a very unusual taste for me compared to my favourite greens , whites & oolongs.
Again I felt that rush of energy without the jitters. This time I didn’t feel the clearing of the head and thoughts ( or maybe just a little bit). This would make such a good morning tea when headed to work but I couldn’t waste the leaves with only one infusion .

This morning I wanted a Mandala tea and I wanted it to be a raw pu-erh. I’m really excited to try some of my teas I got from Mandala but I chose this one from Dexter3657 because I got her package first. First off I got the brew time wrong. I used boiling water, rinsed the leaves and then let them steep for 2 min. Later I now see that’s quite a long steep since most are seconds. Should have checked her first! It was still a good cup though and and drank the whole thing. Not getting some of the notes and flavours others here are getting probably because I just haven’t had much experience with pu-erhs. I did find it mellow. It didn’t have the astringent grassy flavour green teas normally do. I will maybe spend more time over this when I make it again to savour the different flavours and notes. I did a 2nd infusion at 30 sec and found it seemed to have some lighter (floral) notes coming out in it. I made a 3rd infusion and took it in my Timolino for the day but the Timolino just didn’t do anything good for the tea. So that was my tasting experience. Not bad but the most AMAZING thing was how I felt. Going to work, I felt soooo energized but not jittery. I was clear headed. All the cobwebs that have been there lately (WEEKS!) seemed to clear away. I’ve been periodically stressed and a little down and for the day I was upbeat, cheerful, focused. Man, I felt like that guy in the movie who took the little magic pill (Limitless). I knew what I had to do and I did it. lol
Thank you Dexter3657 for this fine sample and thank-you Mandala for such a fine tea. Now I’m wondering if all raw pu-erhs have this same effect or is it just this one?
PS: Not rating this tea yet only because I want to spent a bit more time with it to get the rating just right.

Thanks Garret for a sample of this with my recent Mandala order!

This is the 2014 harvest. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such large FUZZY white tea leaves! This is seriously some fluffy downy stuff :) The kind of tea you want to pet like a kitty!

I may have slightly underleafed this for my tastes. It is so hard to measure big leaves! This is a smooth, creamy white though. Light but with a rich earthiness. Creamy hay may not sound appealing but that is what it reminds me of. Sweet and summery :)

Oh! I almost forgot about this. Had a couple steeps last night. First one was rinsed and then steeped about 1-2 min (can’t recall exactly) and drank black.
Added milk to the second steep, which I’d let sit for over 5 min.

Both versions were silky smooth and flavorful, but still zero chocolate notes coming out for me. Earthy in the mushroomy sort of way.

Comforting and satisfying but I continue to get no cocoa notes at all. Zip.

Still have a bit left to play with from the samples MzPriss and Cavocorax kindly sent my way. I’m nothing if not stubborn! :)

Giving this one another try….

This time I rinsed then let it steep 3 min @ boiling and added milk.

The milk helped, but I’m still getting mushrooms with this! Sooo frustrating.

I really do appreciate the chance to try it though. Thank you MzPriss!

I’m going to check out the Imperial Dark again to see if I still prefer it. Funny!

MzPriss very kindly and generously sent me some Mandala puerh teas to try, the next step in my long and convoluted tea journey.

This was one that I specifically had on my wish list because of all the amazing reviews.

I got the tea this morning in the mail and I hadn’t made anything yet for breakfast, so obviously I tore right into this one.

Smelling the dry leaves was a bit odd, or new, let’s say, because it sort of smelled like something i might find in my spice cabinet. Earthy but a bit spicy, which I didn’t expect. Zero dirt or fish smell so that’s good! (Something I’ve noticed in the past with a couple puerhs)

I rinsed the leaves first because I thought I ought to… If rinsing means pouring a cup and then dumping it out, because that’s what I did. Maybe I should have teasearched a bit more before diving in (tea-research, just made that up :))

Anyway, so I brewed at 212 degrees F as per the directions and let it steep only about 1-1.5 min because I’m a little nervous about this one. I figured I could always do longer later.

I had my cup in front of me for like five minutes, just sniffing and contemplating… I swear I’d never been more terrified to drink tea in my life.

It straight up smells like mushroom soup.

I went for it though.

It straight up tastes like mushroom soup.
Even slightly salty? What?! Am I imagining this?? And the spice is the thyme that I always put in my homemade cream of mushroom soup!

I must have done something wrong, I’m not getting any chocolate! With LB I get cocoa, but this tastes like lunch….

Pu’erh experts….Help!

I’ve never wanted to love a tea more, especially where a friendly stranger shared this with me out of the kindness of her heart. For that, MzPriss, I thank you very much! I am working on this!

Am I just not ready? I know my taste buds are still a work in progress….
I’m open to suggestions! Steep longer? Rinse better?

Eta

Even though this isn’t what I expected based on other reviews, it’s still enjoyable!
I also have to say that I now suddenly understand what a “good mouthfeel” means…. Because this is like silk filling up my whole mouth, really smooth and full. Neat.

Wow, a lovely sweet spice wuyi medium roast oolong!
I’m planning a Mandala order, with that said, sipping down all the samples I have just in case I want to order more of those samples! (or in a few cases, setting aside to review for Oolong Owl)

I believe I requested this sample an order or two ago. Very delicious oolong, I love how sweet it is, with interesting milky quality to it. Resteeps nicely with no dryness. Quite addicting of a tea as well. I’d say this is one of the nicest medium roast oolongs, however I personally prefer a darker, richer roast. (OMG Mandala’s Big red robe is amazing!)

The dry leaves are gorgeous to look at. I often will pluck a leaf out of the bag and turn it over in my fingers, marveling at the color and the fine golden dust it’s covered with. The color of the tea liquor ranges from a mellow gold to a light amber. It’s definitely malty—but it sits lightly on the tongue. There’s a smooth, silky feel to the tea liquid. Sweetness lies at the end of each sip, like caramel, and lingers soon after. Sort of like a light perfume. It doesn’t coat your tongue, but it definitely builds and leaves this clean, sweet feeling behind. Sooo hard to describe. It’s delicate and complex. I prefer to drink this tea in the evening. It doesn’t really have the punch of a strong black tea I would drink in the morning, or middle of the day. I dare say it’s quickly becoming one of my favorites. Later steeps bring out more honeyed, chocolate notes coupled with a full, juicy freshness. Simply lovely. (:

Stephanie is so awesome to include this as an extra in her swap package! And I must announce that this is my first Mandala tea ever.

I don’t drink pu’erh much. My palate isn’t adjusted for it, especially shou pu’erh. This mostly tastes earthy – wonderfully earthy, not as strong as the other few shou pue’rhs I’ve tried – though I was able to detect the chocolate and cocoa notes. Additionally, the liquor is full-bodied, brisk, and thick.

Delicious! I don’t think I’d have to drink a hundred pu’erhs to discern that this one is a good one. I’m so glad Stephanie gave me the opportunity to try it :]

i got this generous sample with my recent order from Mandala – thank you so much.
2 days of drinking this wonderful tea. i think its time for review even though its still pumping.
i was extremely cautious because i’m beginning to explore sheng territory. the most remarkable sheng I had was Wild Monk 2012. runner up is 2005 Xiaguan Tibetan Flame Raw. others i tried the bitterness was so overwhelming i just dumped the cup.
195F 5g 150ml gaiwan
rinse, pause, 5/5/5/7/7/10/10 etc.
Leaves are gorgeous long with some silver threads
1st steep clear pale, little spice, some mint lingering
2nd steep was more intense, flavor like green roasted pepper, more spicy tingling the tongue. I felt very warm and sweaty(sorry for details)
3rd steep the color intensified to yellow-green, spicier. Some bitterness came along, but nothing harsh even welcoming to round out the flavors. Incredible sweetness in aftertaste
4,5,6 i had to combine in my Timolino
later steeps were very smooth and sweet. as i writing this review i keep sipping, lost a count of steeps.
i’m sure that more experienced sheng lovers would use more leaves and higher temp, longer steeps. I just wanted to play safe. Once i get a cake of it and have more material to experiment I’m sure I’ll try diff parameters.

After recently deciding to kick the ‘ol coffee habit (I’ve always wanted to but never quite possessed the required will power to end such a long-standing morning ritual [much as the tea ritual is FAR more rewarding on a variety of levels]) and really coming to love Mandala Tea, I decided to order this the other day not only because it looked incredibly useful, but because I knew that any help to kick the coffee habit would go a long way to making it a success.

In any case, it arrived just yesterday (along with a shipment of a few teas from Darlene’s Tea Port) packaged wonderfully and carefully, along with being insured. As always with glass/breakables I was a bit nervous opening it all up, but it was beautifully in one piece and even nicer-looking in person. Double walled glass is hard to beat!

The construction all around is great—everything fits nicely, the glass has a great weight to it, and the lid secures nicely (although as awkwardsoul aka Oolong Owl mentions [along with Mandala Tea themselves], it will leak if tipped/inverted).

Just brewed some Irish Breakfast Green for the morning and I’m anxious to go with Mandala’s Wild Arbor Buds this afternoon! Having previously been using the OXO Twisting Tea Ball, it’s nice to be able to really watch the tea leaves as they steep, and it makes the workday that much more enjoyable.

It’s true that the most delicious tea always gets consumed first. This one gets added to the growing pile of deeply missed absentees, along with others like Milk Oolong, Golden Snail, and Sticky Rice Oolong. I have no Japanese greens, Yunnan black tea, Shu puerh… OMG. Soon I will be left only with a bancha hibiscus cupboard. It’s going to be so gross.

Please make this hiatus end.