Mandala Tea

Following up my Thai eggplant and ground pork takeout with a strong, clean shou to cut the grease.

I’ve brewed this consistently throughout the 1-oz bag. Easy to break off a 5-gram chunk and go western in a ball jar. Couple of 10-second rinses, though after tasting the second rinse, I think only one could be had. Already dark and clear. Fill ’er up with 8oz of boiling water. 30/60/90/120/180/asyouplease.

The brewed liquor smells like the ancient, leaky trailer my friend used to live in on the edge of damp riparian habitat. His mother, the prior occupant, was an indoor chainsmoker. Sounds gross, right? Tastes amazing.

If that offends you, I can say it also reminds me of slogging through a forested swamp in northeastern Ohio on a cloudy and cold November day. It’s about 36F and nearing sundown. Clay and muck and leaf decay stick to my wader’s boots and weigh me down. Somebody within a mile has a fire burning. The smoky particulates stick to my own misty exhalations which I breathe back in, open-mouthed. I’m a sweaty stick of human-landjaeger in these chest waders, forever trudging forward. Sounds gross, right? Tastes amazing!

Ash, earthy fungal loam, humus, smoke, leather, old books, followed by a tingling tongue, decaying dark wood, gray clay (very specific mineral taste for me), tobacco, lighter wood and finally a sweetness like vanilla. Mouthfeel stays light and clean. Cha qi is near instant and unbeatable. Perk up, calm down, both gaze and lights soften. I’m immobilized yet focused within this rusty orange hue. If I were still much of a writer, this would be my choice of beverage for late nights of visualizing and penning.

I’m pretty sure you could manage less leaf, more steeps, lower temperature and still end up with a decent cup.

Sad to see this ounce go. I will order several cakes of this to have as my go-to evening shou.

SIPDOWN! i feel like i never get to say that anymore because i haven’t wanted to “waste” my cup of tea for the day on my samples lol. Not that i don’t want to try my samples but i also want to make sure i get to drink a delicious cup! Just need to get back to being consistent about drinking tea daily again, even if it’s just the one cup. Sad to see this one go, but enjoyed it a bunch while i had it.

Finally back home from vacation + work travel. As such, i pulled out tea to have this morning with breakfast. Opted for this one, mostly because i wanted a straight tea but also because it’s nearly done. I haven’t been making much progress on my cupboard and we’re in to November. Still enjoy this one, as i do most straight blacks from Mandala :)

yesterday’s tea. So good. Love how smooth and sweet this one is while still being bold enough for a breakfast tea for me. Mandala has so many great black tea (and others) offerings that i can’t decide which i love the most.

Tea from yesterday. Cooler weather means i’m more inclined to drink more tea. Mostly i just wanted something warm in the morning on my way to work. Was nice to get back to a straight tea, as i really haven’t been in the mood for them recently.All in all, quite enjoy this offering from mandala. just the right sort of mellow, smooth, not so bold kinda of cup.

Very pleasant and fragrant. It smells like Easter lilies. Infusions after the first start tasting more and more like cooked spinach, but the fragrance remains.

7 grams @ 160F for 1:00
lid aroma: vague sweetness with something slightly roasty
wet leaves smell of apricot, very fragrant
liquor is fairly insipid.
aftertaste: apricot

@165F for 2:00
lid aroma: hint of cocoa
wet leaves: slight stone fruit and stewed vegetables
liquor remains relatively flavor-free…
aftertaste: celery, apricot

@170F for 3:00
lid aroma: more cocoa
wet leaves: strong apricots and stewed vegetables
liquor: not much more than astringency

The wet leaves throughout smelled truly lovely, and it’s a pity none of that translated to flavor in the liquor. Had to crank it hard to get anything out of it, and still it was much more about aromas than flavor. Which reminds me, the brewing method suggested on the label is absurd and will produce only hot water.

All in all, seems like it would be fine for someone who loves a delicate tea, but I wouldn’t buy this again.

2017 tea, brewed in May 2018.
1st infusion at 1:00
STRONG honey scent immediately on taking the lid off the gaiwan, that vanished quickly.
Pleasant taste, mouthfeel. Very mellow. A bit of astringency in the background. A touch of sweetness. I like it.
Faint ghost of white grape juice and dryness as an aftertaste.

for 1:30
Very slight tobacco aroma on the lid. Liquor itself smells faintly of honey.
A bit more astringency, a bit less sweetness. Juicy. Something almost like cigarette ash? But not unpleasant.

for 2:00
Not much difference at all from 1:30. Just a little more astringency and less of everything else. Seems like that’s all I’m going to get out of this one.

6 years old this spring.

still got great bite. good bass note in the cup. has an underlying darjeeling profile almost.

letting a few cups settle in at work. its starting to wake me up for sure.

very nice after taste still. highly floral. def lemon flavor in there

did a session with this one after lunch and i’m kinda “meh” with this one. western was ok, but not as wonderful as some of garrett’s other shou and brewed up gonfu today it was just kinda boring. Nothing changed much over the few steepings i had but it wasn’t a bad tea…just…boring? No fishiness here for me, just an average mellow shou with a bit of earthiness to it. Sending the rest of this off to Terri to see if she prefers it :)

trying to drink a little bit of my puerh today as well. Some days it feels like i’m getting dangerously close to having only puerh in my cupboard haha. This one was a western brew – it’s a nice cup imo…slightly sweet but overall a good solid ripe puerh. I’ll have to see how this fares at a later date gonfu style :)

Ovetime, I’ve become skeptical when tea companies list oolongs as buttery; when I see “buttery” I expect a flavour and texture explosion evoking all the oily, salty-sweet richness of life. Butiki’s ambiguously named “Organic Sparrow Tongue” Oolong always delivered. Some batches of Shan Li Xi deliver (with jam like a delicious, fully loaded scone). This Tie Guan Yin delivers too and its glorious.

I’m internally squeeing right now. I want to yell and to curse all the other Tie Guan Yin oolongs I’ve had, which will now and forever be deemed insufficient. It’s like, after years of being indifferent to Chardonnays, stumbling upon a “butter bomb” Californian Chardonnay and realizing life could be beautiful (I’m sorry Chardonnay purists, I know this preference is wine sacrilege of the highest order). This is a Lilac butter bomb and it’s even better.

Anyways, I’m so grateful for this free sample. I would’ve never ordered this on my own because I thought I was done with Tie Guan Yin varieties. You did right, Mandala!

Now I’m off to play with the rest and see how it holds up to multiple steeps and sessions.

Steep Count: 3 + Rinse. Subsequent steeps taste of lilac cream.

(2017 harvest)

Broke out a sample this morning. This GABA was a good choice as I was in need of calm.
The liqueur is a light sunny yellow and it has strong floral & grassy notes. The finish is sweet. Happy Monday teaples.

Thank you to CrowKettle for the share!

This smells and tastes just like my favourite milk oolong (China milky oolong from Special Teas Inc). The super creamy milk fragrance, some apricot stone fruit notes, undertones of mango and pineapple. It is very rich and decadent-exactly what I want in a milk oolong.

This is my first experience with The Shu Fits and so far so good! The dry leaves smell like cocoa powder and make my mouth water when I inhale deeply from the gawain. I rinsed twice with boiling water. The first few steepings were very quick tasted like dark chocolate with hints of tobacco, leather, and a savory fruit. Raisins? Every sip conjures up memories of walking through a quiet forest in the early morning just after a rain.

On the third steeping I started to catch notes of brown sugar followed by a subtle bitter dryness in the finish. During later steepings (#4-6) the dark chocolate mellowed into milk chocolate and i also tasted some mineral notes. The brown sugar sweetness is still hanging out in the shadows only to make its presence felt every now and then.

Overall, I really like this tea and look forward to my next session with it.