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Talk about root overload hehe. I’m eating a big bowl of congee with tons of ginger and been drinking Ginseng oolong along with it.

After I finished my Ginseng Oolong sample, I had bought some more so I can enjoy it often. Nothing really to add to my previous review except it is a really good Ginseng Oolong and once the little nuggets open up, you get steeps of really good Oolong.

Porcelain gaiwan, 6g, 110 ml, 10 steeps, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 1m5s, 1m15s, 1m25s, 1m35s, 1m45s, 1m55s

Started this morning with Mandala’s Golden Turtle. I prefer this in the afternoon more due to the tanginess. I’ve enjoyed this since I received it, and I decided to really focus, even got out my aroma cup hehe and see if I can taste/smell more than I usually do. I think my log is more one of laughing at myself, seriously. lol

I love reading the reviews of a certain tea, and then try to see if I can pick that taste out. I read an excellent review of it on the net and I couldn’t pick out some of the notes it mentioned: Vanilla, butterscotch, marshmallow. /cry lol. However, this lightly oxidized oolong, light to medium tightly rolled up green balls is a really good cup of tea. The wet leaves have a citrusy, tart aroma. The golden liquor has a crisp, smooth, and a slightly dry finish. It’s TGY-ish vegetal, tangy, citrusy, and some nutty notes. Recommended for TGY fans. I think you’d enjoy it if you like tangy and creamy smoothness. ^^

Porcelain gaiwan, ~195°F, 5g, 110ml, 9 steeps, 15s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 1m05s, 1m15s, 1m25s, 1m35s

Just an additional note to my previous review on this since I finished my order of this tonight. I really enjoyed it and will keep it on my cupboard. I hope some of you pros will review this since I’m far from having “absolute taste” hehe. There is so much here in these infusions and only know “This tastes so good” vs “Bleh”.

Having said that… This tastes so good. ^^

Speaking of " absolute taste" it reminds me of a series Alice in Paris (Amazon prime) which I adore where I learned the term. She discovers at a young age that she has the ability to detect ingredients in food. I’m far from it so thank you all for your reviews, it helps me so much what to look for when I do try the teas you all like.

Have a great night.^^

I prepared in a 110ml porcelain gaiwan at ~200F, 5g, rinse, 10 steeps – 10/13/16/19/22/25/28/31/34/37.

Dry leaves are dark green and light green, has a woodsy aroma. Light pale amber liquor. I got it on sale and I’m glad I did, it’s a good sheng… To me, it was like a step up in boldness from some delicate shengs with many of the same notes.

Some seaweed, marine, floral, wood, smoke notes. It’s complex as it evolves steep to steep. On the 4th steep on, a little drying on my tongue going on, astringency. It wasn’t overwhelmingly bitter to me. It’s delicious and pepped me up some hehe.

Update: I’m using the last of this today 2/18/19 and this time I prepared it 7g in 10 oz, rinse 10 seconds and steeped it for 30 seconds, the 2nd steep for 1 minute. I prefer it this way much more.

I’m a sheng over shou Pu’er person and I particularly like this type. It didn’t let me down. I had it before bed last night and unfortunately, it outlasted me. zzzzz. It still had a lot of flavor after the 15th steep. The dry leaves smell earthy, a pretty silver/gold/brown coloring. It began with stonefruit and apple notes which continued throughout. The apple got lighter as I progressed, it was loaded with many stonefruit notes, like apricots-peaches, slight honey-like notes and at the latter end of the infusions, floral notes became more pronounced. It’s pleasantly sweet but never got syrupy, became slightly but pleasantly astringent at the 9th steep. It had a long-lasting finish. Stayed with me until I brushed my teeth for bed :P.

Porcelain gaiwan, 5g, 200˚ F, 15 steeps: rinse, 10s, 13s, 16s, 19s, 22s, 25s,28s, 31s, 34s, 37s, 40s, 43s, 46s, 49s, 52s

I debated making a review on this because eastkyteaguy did such a great review on it. Far better than my inability to pick out taste notes hehe. However, I just had to because I absolutely loved this.

Sticky Rice is one of my ‘things’ in life, and I’ve tried all kinds and this one is by far the best. I always thought it was best with green tea and I like the pu’er ones too but their description is right in that it goes very well with Oolong, if done right, of course. I really have nothing to add to his focused and thorough review (which convinced me to try it hehe) except that I loved it. It’s just the right balance of everything, not overly sweet, well-balanced, and has a ‘Je ne sais quoi’ about it. For me, it’s a keeper.

porcelain gaiwan, 5g, 110ml, 194°F, 10 steeps, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 1m5s, 1m10s, 1m15s, 1m25s, 1m35s, 1m45s

The free sample came in a resealable ziplock bag. Looking up the tea, here’s something a little different… Oxidation: 90% and Roast: 0.

The leaves are dark, rolled up with a sweet floral aroma. The liquor is a clear but dark amber, almost pu’er-like, with a honey-like aroma. The taste is superb with honey-molasses-like flavors but with light floral, light spice notes. It’s medium-bodied, but it’s rich and has a super smooth mouthfeel, and a long finish (I still taste it and I finished a while ago). The prominent molasses, honey, malt notes absent of bitter notes makes it a wonderful wake-me-up tea.

Porcelain gaiwan, 3.6g, 80 ml, 90°C/194°F, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 1m5s.
Note: I split my sample in two, so I can try it again at a later date so that’s why I didn’t have the typical 5-6g.

The liquor has a bright amber-ish color. It’s aromatic with a light orchid and strong honey aromas. The tea leaves are dark green. I was reading the interesting story behind this Hu’s tea “The Big Dark Leaves” on Mandala’s site while sampling this. How Mr. Hu saved the ancient tea trees during the 2008 financial crisis. Pretty interesting stuff. ^^

Back to the tea hehe… Although the aroma was a strong wild honey smell, the taste of honey was light, delicate. Very mellow floral, wood, sweet notes. I enjoyed the first and the 4th steep but the 2nd and the 3rd were very bitter. My dad, if he was alive, would have loved it, it reminded me of this “delicious” soup he used to make, made of bittermelon. I ate everything he cooked except that soup lol, no matter how much he tried to gaslight me saying how “delicious” it was. He was born and raised in the Philippines so he cooked all of their authentic dishes but that was the only one that I could not eat, no matter how much rice I put in it.

So this tea isn’t for me, although I’m generally a sheng over shou type of Pu’er person. It’s just a little too bitter. If I ever get another sample, I’ll try to lower the temperature and play around with the brew & see if I can make those honey notes sing instead of the bitter notes.

Yixing gaiwan, 7g, 205F, 15/25/35/45 and debating to continue. :P

I had quite a heavy dinner, a taco salad with lots of salsa and guacamole.

So now, I’m just chillin’ and am enjoying this “sticky rice pu’er tea” tonight. It’s rich, although not too much depth because after the 4th infusion, the majority of the rich flavor is gone but the rest of the infusions are still flavorful, just a much lighter flavor. It’s earthy, leather notes but not too overwhelming, and that’s a good thing for me because I don’t like the heavy leather taste. It’s a little nutty, has brown sugar notes throughout with a very light sweet finish. Not sugary sweet. Some dark chocolate notes (especially in the beginning) could be sugarcane sweetness, not sure and then transforms into a more creamy light milk sweetness on the 4th or 5th steeping. Throughout the steepings is a very delicate glutinous rice scent that I love. It’s a good balance but I wouldn’t mind even more of the sticky rice flavor personally.^^

Porcelain gaiwan, 5g, 212˚ F, 7 steeps: rinse, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 85s

This is the last of my Iron Goddess Charcoal Roasted Oolong from Mandela. I’m not really into charcoal anything, even Burger King hamburgers hehe. Having said that, I would take any charcoal roasted oolong over a charcoal hamburger any day… And well, I did enjoy this sample very much.

The aroma is interesting, it’s definitely the roasted aroma that one smells whenever you sample charcoal roasted teas but it has hints of cinnamon and other spices. Kind of reminded me of this one coffee (Mexico’s Cafe De Olla) with the cinnamon and light piloncillo notes. Mandela’s description is one of raisins and sweet caramelized onions so maybe that is where those notes actually come from. I couldn’t detect the onions at all. I did over steep on the 4th infusion (cry) and so that may be why. A good opportunity missed again.^^

Overall I enjoyed this tea. It is mellow, smooth and lightly sweet with a good finish.