Mandala Tea

My second sipdown of the week. Haven’t logged the first yet.

My daughter made chocolate pie and I was craving salty and sweet so I made popcorn and this tea to go with it.

I had very little Special Dark left sadly, and needed a really big pot because my husband was joining me. I steeped what I had twice and put the rest of the leaf in a bit of water in the fridge for tomorrow.

This is a really reliable, smooth, tasty shu. It goes so well with desserts but is also delicious to just drink and enjoy. You can do so much with it. Because it is smooth, you can steep it for a long time, but it is really good even if you like your shu on the light side.

Now let’s see if this posts!

I have had this a couple of times lately but haven’t logged it. Last Wednesday night I drank several cups of it in the evening and was WIDE awake until around 3 am! That may have been the tea, the cake I had with it, or just a fluke.

I had it again today. A friend is moving away and we met for possibly the last time. She has recently become quite sensitive to gluten, so my daughter made some delicious flourless chocolate cookies for us, and I made deviled eggs. It was all we could come up with on short notice that was gluten free! It was good, though, and she really seemed to love it.

This is the friend who thought she disliked tea, and I introduced her to puerh and to Teavivre’s Jasmine Silver Needle and she in turn got her mom totally addicted to puerh. Don’t you LOVE it?

This is a great tea to serve with sweets because it doesn’t compete, it complements. I also like serving it when I think the fats in the food might be hard on the system. I suppose it is preventive maintenance.

This is not a horsey puerh at all, but rather one of the smoothest. It is very mild yet flavorful. We drank two steeps western style in a large pot and the second steep was as good, as flavorful, as dark and tasty as the first. It is not the darkest puerh I have had, but it is indeed very, VERY special.

If I had any notions of reducing my cupboard, they were blown out of the water today. I got lots and lots of tea for Christmas.

I wanted puerh after lunch to help keep the tummy happy after the holiday meal. My son and hubby usually want some whenever I have it, and this time they did indeed bring me a cup to fill. Then my eldest daughter wanted some. My, how far we have come from the days when they all turned their noses up at tea! My daughter’s fiancé had never tried puerh but he was game and gave it a try.

I am pleased to say that every last one of them liked this tea, even the puerh newbie. I made four steeps and then had to make four more. My daughter remarked that this wasn’t nearly as horsey as some we have had. I agree. It was rich and earthy, and the darker I made it the sweeter the aftertaste was.

I had high expectations and hopes for this one, and they were all met.

Finally I got to try this amazing oolong everybody is talking about. It’s not my first milk oolong. I quite enjoyed some from Della Terra and Teavivre. The smell is intoxicating condensed milk and coconut. Tastes sweet, buttery, coconuts. The smell reminded me when my mom used to make ghee. Sweet and savory at the same time. Amazing

Oh,wonderful,a kind of tea to burn fat!

I like to drink something that looks very strange，and this satisfies my desire.It tastes very slippery,and I like this feel.

Hot damn. Smells amazing, tastes amazing. Up there with American Tea Room milk oolong, maybe even preferred…

I received this as a sample in my latest Mandala order. I had to add the tea to the database so it’s no surprise that this is the first review. I’m not sure what to make of this one. I’m going to have to try a few steeps to see where this one takes me. I’ve only ever had GABA oolongs, and there IS a familiar taste there but it’s a black tea.

This is a rather unique taste. I really am having trouble describing it. Maybe my tea sister will do better since i AM sending her the other half of this sample. yeah….this one is confusing me lol it’s not malty..it’s reminescent of gaba oolongs, but it’s clearly NOT an oolong based on the taste… there’s no astringency but there is a taste there that reminds me of red rose bagged tea if i let it sit in my mouth.

huh. thanks for a unique experience Garret! more to come on this one i’m sure :)

This one intrigued me so i asked Garret to send a sample my way in my last order. I try not to buy oolongs until i’ve sampled them because i’m so picky about the ones i like or don’t. While this one is certainly interesting – it’s still not quite up my alley. It’s a roasted oolong and has cinnamon and sweet notes to it but i can’t quite get behind it. That being said though, it’s a taste preference thing rather than this being a bad tea. :) I’d recommend others give this a shot :)

(also this is really tasty as the “water” to instant oatmeal lol)

This tea is crazy juicy, a bursting-in-the-mouth quality that reminds me a bit of standing over the sink peeling lychees and biting into them one by one. I reckon it’s going to be a lot of fun playing around with temperature over time. It feels like summer with its abundance of ripe clean-tasting fruits, and there’s a hay thing going on too. I don’t get much smoke yet but that might be down to my steeping parameters or the fact we just had dinner and my taste buds are a bit impaired/tired. Regardless, I can definitely see why this is such a favorite. There’s an easy-going sourness that makes one think of fresh fruit; it’s not unpleasant at all because it feels very fresh and there’s that juicy quality to go with it (Amanda posted a ton of tea articles recently and I really related to one about how the author is dismayed “astringency” has become a catch-all term with unpleasant connotations when there’s many types of astringency and how each interacts with the other aspects of a tea can make it good or bad!). As the juicy flavor builds over time a mysterious, sharp-bite-in-a-good-way element emerges that makes me think somehow of exotic fruit (You know how pineapple can make some people’s mouth tingle later? It’s kind of like that) and wet spicy wood (I’m sure that sounds weird but I don’t know quite how else to describe it…the exact thing is eluding me…). The texture is a bit like when you freeze grapes on hot summer days and then bite clean into one while it’s still frosty, the way there’s some thick pull to go with the juiciness. I really like this and it’s not like any pu erh I’ve tried so far.

Another generous free sample from Mandala, packed with my last order. They are so nice.

As always, the dry leaf is long, unbroken, and beautiful, a light warm golden yellow. This one’s sweet but with a light airy sort of flavor. Slightly fruity in a bright way, but also quite silky, not at all fruit-tart astringent. There’s some dry wood fuzziness in the texture, a little powdery like sawdust—might sound ick to many but I like it just fine. I think this would be a good one to enjoy on one of the first sunny mornings of spring.

A super generous free sample from Mandala with my last order! Woot!

What an unexpected tea this is. First cup of the day for me, vaguely remembered it’s unusual because it’s very, well, golden (the dry leaves are gorgeous, big long light golden branches), so I figured it’d be lighter and sweeter than black tea generally is but was still knocked for a loop—the brewed color is very unusual, not super light like white tea, not dark with warm brown tones like black tea, not bright golden green like green…just kind of its own thing. Hard to describe. And then the taste!—it’s so light-bright and sweet in this way that builds so that by the end of the cup your mouth sort of buzzes with an almost numbing (kind of like mint) quality mixed with a very clean sweetness. I’ve never tasted tea like this before. So glad I got to sample it—I think once Black Friday madness stockpiled orders settle down I will order some of this. Really unusual and great. It wakes up your palate in a different way than strong black tea, almost the opposite approach where the flavor is zingy (but not in a fruit-tart way thankfully) and so sparkling clean it refreshes you awake. And that sweetness is a beautiful accompaniment; delicious without being rich, it manages to fit right in in contributing to that feeling of bright refreshment.

Used quite a bit of leaf, probably nearly 2 teaspoons, because it’s one of those teas that’s hard to measure as it’s so fluffy-long and unbroken. (And because free Mandala samples are awesomely generous—I reckon I can make 2 more cups!)

I was in a mood for sheng today. If somebody told me that I would become puerh obsessed last June I would think that person is crazy. Yes, I see puerh cakes in my dreams and I also place orders in dreams and real life. A lot.
Back to the tea.
5g 150 ml gaiwan 195F
Rinse/ 5/5/7/7/10/15 sec
Nice sweet like bell peppers, juicy and some tobacco.
Later I decided to increase temp to 200F. I like it even more. No bitterness, dried persimmon, some spice and very smooth. It has some orangish tint compare to other young sheng I tried ( those are yellowish-greenish usually)
Im so happy I picked another cake to hoard before it disappears.

Smells like Spanish sweet smoked paprika. Tastes juicy and sweet. Gongfu 15 sec steepings
Amazing, I’ve never tried anything like this

I’m ending the day with 350 teas in my cupboard.
I really want to start drinking a different Sheng every day, so that I can really get a feel for what I like. This one is tasty, starting out a little tangy, & fruity. It brings apricot to mind, & the later steepings make me think of lavender, which I don’t like as a tea usually, but this is a crisp clean tart lavender herbaceousness, not soapy or perfume-like.
The best part of this tea, which was mentioned earlier today on someone else’s tasting note, is the awesome energy it brings, the clarity of mind & heart. I sipped this before, during, & after a rehearsal this evening with a flute player, & although I would have loved the rehearsal either way, I do feel that the tea contributed a good vibe & nice sense of focus. My favorite piece of the set was Faure’s Pavane…god, I love that piece.
For those who would like to hear the piece, here’s a youtube video (no, it is NOT me, lol)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_EW0No3ApM

Final tea of the day, I reached in the sheng box, & this one came out!
The initial aroma of the warmed leaf was sweet & a little fruity. It brought nectarines to mind for me, although I can’t say that it actually smelled like nectarines.
I didn’t actually document my steepings on this, but I started with 4G, rinsed, & kept it short for awhile. The primary taste I’m getting is Grape peels, with a little bitterness, but as I said before, my allergies are horrendous right now, so I can’t really tell you if it is bitter or not, & my guess is that it is not. But it does have a bright grape/citrus edge to it. Otherwise, it’s smooth & a little sweet, kind of spring like, if that makes sense.
I’m several steeps in now, & picking up on a floral quality that reminds me of Lavender, kind of. And also apricot – kind of tangy!
This is from a sample that our awesome friend Garret sent to me awhile back. I have just enough for one more session, so I’m putting it in the official sipdown cannister, where I’m collecting teas for my upcoming Sipdown Extravaganza!.

Add on: The energy of this tea is very ‘open’, as in opening of the chakras & such. I can feel my energy field clearing, something I really need today. Gratitude. Breathing deep.

Day 2: Revisiting this yixing somemore today, after a quick rinse. It’s light & fruity & I love it.

Thank you Garret for this generous sample. I finally got a chance to try this one out, using 4G in a yixing, with short steeps. The aroma of the wet leaf was heavenly & springlike. The tea was very mellow & mild, none of that intensely brash sheng here. This is a very sweet & creamy sheng, & I’m grateful that I have enough to drink it again!

On the rare occasion when I have a guest for tea, this seems to be the one most gravitate toward. I have to admit, it is one of my favorites as well, from the gorgeous little pellets of rolled leaves, to the heady aroma (both dry and brewed), to the amber brew with flavors of malt, honey and fields of grain and wildflowers. Had to add this to my shopping list since there was barely enough left in my stash for a mug this morning…