661 Tasting Notes
This tea is really strange. I brewed 1 tsp at 190 for 1 min. I think that might be too much tea since the rolled amounts say to use only one or two sticks. It’s hard to tell with the loose leaf. It has a real bite with lots of bitterness that hits the tip of the tongue and as it rolls to the back there’s a sweetness. It’s also a bit astringent like a green tea.
I just have a hard time getting past the bitterness. As the tea sits it seems to become even more bitter.
Flavors: Bitter
Kuding is an medicinal herb that is the leaf of Holly Ilex. It tastes terrible, LOL, extremely bitter, no matter how you brew it, although if you start with 1 spike & very short time, you’re supposed to get used to it after awhile, & the ‘after sip’ is supposed to be sweet.
Over Christmas I worked with a Chinese international student who talked about Kuding; she said it was a household staple for her family and a lot of people she knew – but not for the taste but because it’s believed to make you look and feel more youthful.
it’s also suppose to be good for respiratory problems & as a detox. I have some, but have only drank it once, so far.
I could use it for my respiratory problems. I’m always congested from allergies but this tea is really hard to get used to.
So Uba, maybe we should both agree to drink a cup a day, starting with 1 spike at say 15 seconds? It can be a joint operation to built up our sensitivity to bitterness, LOL
I don’t have it in spikes, only loose and not sure I could follow through on that. I might be willing to try if it really helped my lungs!
I can’t believe this was my 400th tasting note and I never even knew. On top of that I wasted it on Kuding tea! LOL
Bitter Needle or bitter nail I think is how it is translated.
Congrats on 400!
@mrmopar, yup!
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.
adore this tea…
There’s probably not that much of it left out there. I never tried the 2014 Wild Monk but it doesn’t seem to get the same amount of love that this one got.
I love this one too. I’m hoarding it but shouldn’t. Should just drink and love it. I have almost two cakes of it, and that doesn’t seem like very much. :(
I know what you mean. There may be Wild Monk’s close to this tea but this one will never be again. I thought you bought the last cake but it seems to be still up on the website:
http://shopmandalatea.com/raw-pu-er-tea/mandala-wild-tree-sheng-pu-er-100-gram-2012.html
Ooops, just saw the out of stock on availability
heh i have 2 cakes of the 2012 and 1 of the 2014. I keep meaning to do a comparison but then i’d have to break a cake hahahaha
This tea was from the Yunomi group buy that Liquid Proust arranged.
I can’t believe I’m the first one reviewing this tea.
I brewed Western style and only infused 40 sec at 185F. It brews up a bright emerld green with a sweet grassy/mossy aroma. Lovely! This tea is supposed to have the Sakura cherry blossom aroma which ups it price a bit I see. Well, like I said, I got a nice aroma but I didn’t think it was like a Cherry blossom. I don’t eat or smell cherry blossoms so I’m not sure what I am looking for. This tea had great umami but not overly strong like some gyokuro teas. Sweet and grassy/mossy.
So when I got near the end of the cup and it had cooled down, I could pick up this aroma that was kind of cherry blossom like. It was very good and this was just the first infusion so will have to see how other infusions go.
Flavors: Cherry Blossom, Grass, Moss, Sweet
Preparation
I’ve had this tea for awhile but never left a review on it. Had it only in sample size .
Finished off the last of it yesterday but don’t think I will buy this tea. It’s good but not the best Fujian black I’ve had. It seems it was lacking in freshness. Perhaps because of how it was packaged (in little clear plastic baggies). Of course it was only sample size and the whole idea of samples is to try them right away and not let them sit around forever!
So brewed it up Western style. Used the water from the work water cooler which is probably anywhere from 195F – 205F. Could even be less than 195F but it seems pretty hot. I got chocolate notes and some malt. I love the chocolate & malt but this just wasn’t up to par. I’ve had much better blacks.
A pleasant enough cup but nothing to get excited about.
Flavors: Chocolate, Malt
GCTTB
I was expecting to love this tea based on past reviews but in my experience I haven’t really loved an Oriental Beauty yet so it might be just me.
I over steeped this accidentally at work. Darn!
It was fairly strong with strong roasted notes. Probably would have been lighter if I hadn’t steeped it so long. I could pick out what was like autumn leaf, roasted notes & faint honey.
This tea just wasn’t very good for me. I’m not rating it because I over steeped but it still might not have been my cup of tea even if I got the brewing times right.
Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Honey, Roasted
I have Butiki’s oriental beauty if you would like to test that hypothesis a bit more
Sure! Thanks. We were going to do a swap anyway.
Awesome! I am dealing with so many people on here it has begun to be a blur, which I love! I just realized you were with me/us on the YUNOMI deal. I have some very interesting teas to set aside for a swap :)
I haven’t sampled anything yet from the Yunomi order. Things have been crazy lately in my life. Looking forward to trying them out and doing a swap. I will PM you.
GCTTB
This tea was in the box for the last round and I didn’t try it then. I took a sample out and gave it a try yesterday.
It was pretty good! It reminded me of the Vanilla Mint Cha Pu’erh from Rishi Teas. It was the very first pu’erh I ever had. Now after having straight pu’erh only for awhile it was a bit strange to try a blended one again. I just think of them as being in their own class of tea separate from straight pu’erh.
This one was minty & earthy with a hint of vanilla. There was also something in there giving it a faint spicy edge. Maybe the cinnamon? This blend works well for a ripe pu’erh and I really enjoyed it. I tried to keep notes at work but it went down pretty fast.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Earth, Mint, Vanilla
Preparation
While packing up the GCTTB yesterday I found this among my black teas pretty much ignored since I’ve purchased it. The bag looked full and I haven’t left a review. Shame shame! How could I have ignored this tea? It’s so good!
Brewed it Western style . This is a delicious bready, maltly brew. It’s got chocolate notes too which I love in black teas. The chocolate is not as prominent as some Fujian blacks but it’s still good. There’s also a honey sweetness to it. What a fantastic tea. also love the golden colour of the leaves. So pretty.
I’d like to add some of this to the GCTTB but I had trouble getting it closed already.
Flavors: Bread, Dark Chocolate, Honey, Malt
