Mandala Tea

2023 Ode To Tea – Part II – I

Not too many teas representing ‘I’, so this is yet another tea that is not quite a sipdown.  What a quality puerh this is — it would be a great candidate for adding coffee beans to.  Very agreeable flavors here — coffee, cocoa, nice lingering aftertaste. It’s interesting my previous note (another note from nine years ago!) mentioned butternut squash.  I wish I were still tasting that.   The only difference in steeping parameters would be using 2 teaspoons instead of 1 1/2 teaspoons that I previously used and using cooler water this time around.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug // 24 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 //   10 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #3 //  5 min after boiling // 4 min

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #14
I could be wrong but I think I’m starting to taste that the high quality pu-erh has a mellower, sweet flavor than the lower quality pu-erh made with tiny leaves that has a very dark deep flavor. I like both types of pu-erh and I’m actually glad that they are different but I REALLY like the deep dark (I guess low quality) pu-erh. I could have been using too many leaves then though. Of course, I’m not finding any of that darkness with any of Mandala’s pu-erhs. Even with Special Dark that I tried months ago, I was surprised that I wasn’t finding it as especially dark as some other pu-erhs I’ve tried. Of course it’s a delicious pu-erh, but not necessarily dark. I’m just glad every pu-erh is slightly different from the next!

This one is very mellow and sweet, it tasted like butternut squash but there was a crisp, bright and fresh flavor to it as well. Even though there was hint of pond scent to the dry leaves, there really wasn’t any in the flavor. The second cup was much of the same on a slightly deeper level, but not really anything like dark chocolate. Never astringent, as pu-erh isn’t usually anyway.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 tsp // few mins after boiling // 2 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min

Well, good morning to YOU, too, pretty tea.

First, I would like to say that I put my big girl pants on and broke into this cake yesterday, after hemming and hawing around for several days. It does seem kind of a shame to break up such a lovely and perfect thing as a tea cake, but I got some great advice from my tea friends about starting from the indentation in the back of the cake. This made it easy, and I used extra care, so the cake still looks perfect on the front. It’s all carefully wrapped back up now.

Anyways..

Method: 3.3 g, 3 oz, 198 degrees, 10 sec rinse, 10-15-20 seconds, ru kilk gaiwan & Dr. Who mug

Dry Leaf Aroma: This smells clean and pleasant. A little foresty, but not really earthy. More like trees after a rain.

Brewing Aroma: This has a distinctly apricot smell, like I found in the Heart of the Old Tree 2012, also from Mandala. There’s also a mineral note and a very slight hint of seaweed, but only when I sniff really hard. It’s mainly fruit and fresh tree smells.

Flavor: The 3 steeps indicated above were combined into one mug.

Maybe I will only drink shengs for the rest of my life. I really haven’t had enough of them to say that, but I don’t care. I just love this. There are so many flavors all up in yo face. Being a novice, it’s hard to pick them all out, but I’m having a great time making the attempt.

There’s fruit, then a little bitterness, then a little sweetness, then a little dryness.

MOAR! MOAR! ALL YOUR SHENG ARE BELONG TO US!!!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base_are_belong_to_us

This is a free sample with the recent purchase – thank you Mandala tea
I brew the whole sample of 9g since I know nuggets require more than leaves or chunks of puerh.
9g 100 ml 212F
Rinse/pause /20/20/30/45 etc
The brew is thick dark red- brown , clear. It’s sweet with leather and stone fruits flavor. Yum. I love this tea, it’s my favorite notes.
Thank you so much Garret for the opportunity to try this new tea. It goes on my wish list!

Brewing this in my yixing, which is thankfully seeing more use than it was a week ago. Unfortunately, I realized that the glue on one corner of my tea tray has been splitting, due to the hot water, and pu’erh has been seeping through the seams. Thank goodness for a tile countertop being underneath. Still…

These infusions were very loosely timed. The first one was supposed to be for twenty seconds, but I think it ended up at about thirty. The tea is not incredibly dark; despite a rinse of a couple of seconds, I think the leaves are still awakening. The tea does not smell too rich, but there are some cocoa notes with the earthiness. It tastes very smooth, if a little less intense than I would expect, but this was only the first steep. As I sip this steep, I already started and completed brewing the second steep. The cup finishes with some dark chocolate/cocoa notes.

Steep two is darker in appearance. The flavor has deepened a bit but not quite as far as I usually enjoy. I think I will run the third steep for forty-five seconds to a minute, rather than just adding ten to fifteen seconds. This one was steeped for thirty.

Third steep for a minute – dark and delicious. Still very smooth, not super earthy.

We shall see how long this can go.

This is one of those crossover teas that confuse me – ok maybe it’s not, but that’s how it seems.
This looks like a highly oxidized, roasted oolng – it’s smells like an oolong, but everything says black tea. It hurts my head a little.
If I think of this as oolong – then it’s nice and dark, toasty, roasty, without being too smokey. A little sweet – interesting tea, I like it.
If I think of this as black – then I’m thinking, why does this taste like oolong. It seems disappointing to me – not dark enough, not rich enough – there are better blacks out there.
It’s weird how our expectations, reflect our experience.
Either way, this was enjoyable at work today. Definitely interesting, and I urge all you Mandala fans out there to try it.

This tea is so freaking good. I am having a yixing session with it and it’s amazing -woody, creamy, mushrooms, and almost a milk chocolate note coming out. The smell is soooo good too, definitely a creamy chocolate scent! So rich, so delicious. I needed this. Perfect for a chilly, lazy, stay inside day. The bf is hungover so might be a relaxing, drink tea kind of day so as to not disturb him with vacuuming, errands, and everything else I should get done. But I should just enjoy some down time and de-stress.

Oh, and prayers and love to everyone affected by the Nepal earthquake. Such a terrible thing to have happened :(.

I basically had no weekend, worked both days and still have tons to do :( ugh and I have the usual 5 day work week ahead. Le sigh. I had a few cups of tea while at work, but didn’t log. So tonight I am logging my current cup of this puerh, my before bed cup. Warm, woodsy, comforting..I love puerh. And my cat just jumped up to lay on me, so I am even warmer and happier now :) can’t wait until this week ends! See previous notes on this tea :)

Mmmmm. So I re-seasoned my yixing yesterday with this lovely tea! It took a couple long boilings to take out the oolong flavor from the yixing, so I hope it’s all out now, and if not, meh, it will add a nice sweet note to my pu’erh haha. This pot is now officially dedicated to shu!

So I just gave my new tea pet his first rinse too in this session haha hoping to slowly season him over time too, he is a small pig fyi. This actually is the first time I’ve had Noble Mark brewed up in small quantities rather than a mug! And let me tell you – it is delicious!!! The lovely woody notes are stronger, but the smoothness keeps it from getting overwhelming. There is a certain creaminess about this too. I can’t wait to have this tea all day in my little pot, it’s off to a good start! And yes there is a sweet aftertaste, not sure if that is remnants of the oolong or from this tea, but regardless, it tastes lovely!

Guess I will be getting a cake of this in the near future to continue to feed my yixing pot :D

Here’s a link of the setup:
http://instagram.com/p/wmlk_NusG2/

Having a beautifully silky cup of this to unwind before bed..looks like Steepster is still frozen so that is all I will say haha. Still my favorite pu. See previous notes on this amazing tea! Upped rating.

This is the first tea I tried from my recent first Mandala order, and while I don’t feel like writing an in depth note tonight, this is an AMAZING shu!! Probably the best I’ve had so far. Its light, silky smooth, and zero fishiness! I get mostly a light woody flavor, a touch of wild mushrooms, and definitely a creamy mouthfeel. Still has some sweetness to it though. A wonderful tea to have on a cool, rainy night. I am loving this and feel wonderfully relaxed, even with there being caffeine in this! I’ve only had 2 steeps but it is so good. Parameters: ~15s rinse with boiling water, first steep 20s, second steep 30s, probably a 10-12oz cup, I could even do smaller cups in the future.

Overall, I am digging this. Very pleased with Mandala so far, I have special dark and the lincang to try now as well as 2 samples! A great way to wind down along with a good book :) rating may increase after drinking more of this tea as well.

Method: rinse 10-10-15-20 and dump. Steep 20-30 and drink. 5 g, 5 oz, 200 degrees

You can still call me Dr. Sheng, but this is making me all woozy. I just did a little group long distance yoga with friends, and I’m drinking this on my new shou exploration. I’m digging it. Once you rinse the excessive earthy flavors off the shou, they end up tasting pretty good, smooth and mild.

I guess I needed to get here in my own time, but baby, I’ve ARRIVED :p

First of all. I need some moral support. I’ve only been drinking my loose pu’erhs because I can’t bring myself to break apart my new pu’erh cakes!!!! They’re just so pretty and perfect, all wrapped up with so much potential!!!

This video is making me super sad LOL
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=th86Ge4fFJs

So this tea…

Method: 1tbsp, 8 oz, 30 sec (1 minute) (1 minute), 208 degrees, brew in mug strainer

Dry Leaf Aroma: Earthy, but with a chocolate note that’s very enticing

Flavor: it tastes a little musty, but smooth, and I’m enjoying the chocolate notes. I guess that earthy sort of note is just the usual for many pu’erhs?

I’m just gonna leave this here for now:

Not sure what to make of this. I didn’t follow the instructions because the steeps seemed SO LONG. I did do the three 10-second rinses, then went with this -

Method: 3 g, 3 oz, 208 degrees, 20-30-30 (40-50-60) (60-60-70) seconds, ru kiln gaiwan and Dr. Who mug

Dry Leaf Aroma & Brewing Aroma: Smells earthy

Flavor: Steeped 20-30-30. Blended all those into one mug. Mug 1 tastes earthy. I don’t get much else. It’s a little overwhelming for me. Mug 2 is 40-50-60 seconds blended into one mug. It’s not bad, but I’m not in luuuurve. Then there’s mug 3 with 60-60-70 second steeps. The earthy aroma calmed down and this has a smoothness.

I’m trying really hard to find more complexity and other aromas and flavors, but they aren’t readily apparent to me. I’ll try this again using Mandala’s exact instructions.

One thing I do know is that I think this needs longer rinses, for me anyway.

I simply have to start this off by saying that this tea is awesome! I know I say that about most of the teas I drink, but this one was ESPECIALLY GREAT!! I received a sample of this tea along with my tea thermos from Mandala Tea. When I smelled the dry leaves, my first reaction was “Dried apricots!”. I brewed this up in my tea thermos, and drank it on my way to work (about 30 minutes of sipping). It tasted slightly woodsy (maybe nutty) and fruity (apricots, I think). This tea didn’t get the slightest hint of bitterness, and it retained its sweetness for the entire length of this long steep. Most of the green teas that I have made in my tea thermos are incredibly bitter for the first steep, then become less bitter in the following brews. This tea was amazing from the get go! I made 3 thermos-fulls and they were all as tasty as the last. I think that this tea shall be my go-to tea for my thermos!

First time with this brick. I grabbed an 8g chunk for 5oz yixing clay pot.

One sniff of this beautiful purplish brown brew, and I’m transported in my grandparent’s house attic, full of old books and vintage furniture.

Yes, if I had to find one word to describe the scent, it would be “vintage”.

I have a liking for earth and leather in shou, and this one has both. Reminiscent of spongy forest soil and wet autumn leaves.

It is smooth and very sweet. I get notes of coca, with a powdery texture. The finish is minty fresh, hints of camphor that disappear in later steeps.

A nice warming feeling develops. Very “easy” shou, not overpowering and very forgiving.

Another wonderful tea from Mandala.

This was such a bargain for 250g of delectable tea!

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #10
Another fantastic pu-erh from Mandala. They are all so different. I used a teaspoon of this one so there would be a little left for someone else to try and just filled the mug not quite to the top. The first cup was all leather, in the tastiest way possible. The most leathery pu-erh I’ve tried. It wasn’t really chocolate until the second very dark cup and lost most of the leather flavor. It’s interesting that it changes so much from cup to cup. I wish I had more to say about this one but I’ve been writing tasting notes sometimes days after I’ve tried a tea, whenever I get a chance. I’m not doing these teas any justice!
I’m very happy I’ve been able to try a few of the Mandala pu-erhs! I love to figure out what I like. It seems most of the teas in the teabox have two teaspoons left, so when I send the teabox on, there will only be one teaspoon left of things. I’m not even sure if I’ll have space to add teas, but I’ll figure it out.
Steep #1 // rinse // 5 min after boiling // 2 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min

Brewed in an all-too-infrequently-used yixing pot…a delicious afternoon.

Drinking this exactly as I always have (because why mess with something so good!?)
10 sec steep/rinse

30 sec 1st steep: Mineral and dark baked quick bread, with walnut and caramel.
As I’m sipping, my youngest is skipping through an Adventure Time dvd, trying to locate a specific episode, so this tasting is being accompanied by the AT theme song…over and over. Is it just me, or do the new episodes of that show just not stack up to the old ones? I’m much more of a “Regular Show” appreciator now…. Haven’t had a cup of this in awhile, and I really did miss it. So good!

45 sec 2nd steep: Oh, do I love the colour of the second cup (as always). The scent is completely brown sugared quick bread, all crusty and caramelized on top. The taste is nutty, with a mineral end note. I love how it leaves my mouth feeling so bright, with the aroma being so deep… a contrast I really appreciate.

60 sec 3rd steep: tingly tongue and gorgeous cup colour. So light and refreshing, this cup is on the end note, but with that dark chocolate lead in that just knocks my socks off. Cocoa powder and almonds… mmmmmmm……

I haven’t logged here in awhile. Life has been busy, but also, in my home the computer seems to always have someone sitting in front of it (I’m going to have to make more of an effort to steal a bit of time and log what I’m drinking).
I made this tea this morning (it’s out of my ifjuly supply of awesome tea), and to say that I’m loving it would be an understatement. I followed ifjuly’s instructions that came in the baggie of this sample (her little notes with each tea are my favourite…), rinsing, then 30 sec. steep, followed by 20 sec. additions after that. She also added in a bit about it being good with a tad of milk and sugar…. So, I jumped right in and tried it like that, even though I’d never do that on my own, but only because I’d trust that woman with my teacup anytime. ANYTIME! Needless to say, it’s delicious that way. Which, thinking about it now, of course it would be, since the characteristics of pu-erh are so ‘baked good’-like to me.
This tea is amazing. Comforting and so yummy.
Thanks, ifjuly for once again making my tea experience incredible.

So I asked for and received this tea as a Christmas gift. I figured since it is such a young tea I’d just store if for a few years before opening it, so I put in away and didn’t even try it. Now it’s July and I keep reading how awesome this tea is. Then I read how it’s almost sold out and I think to myself what if I’m missing out on one of the best teas one can buy? So… I tried it…

After a short rinse I smelled the leaves. This is one of my favorite parts of the tea experience, second only to the cha qi of the tea. My first impression was whaaaaaaat is THIS!!! I had never smelled such a scent from a tea before, smoky, sweet, floral tones. I did a short steep of 10 seconds with ~200 degree water and sat down for a taste. The smokiness of this tea is abundant with rich flower essence, undertones of straw and sage. By the end of the first session I was already feeling the cha qi which I did not expect. The cha qi was a very introspective experience for me, blurring the edges of my consciousness yet focusing and brightening my present experience. As I was half way through my third steeping I realized that this tea has virtually no bitterness at all, a rarity in a sheng and something I cherish in a sheng as well! I’m sold… this tea is damn good! I bought 2 more to age while I put this one in my tea for a special occasion stash. Truly a wonderful tea, and only in it’s infancy! I can’t wait to taste it when I’m 60! Hahahaha, if I can hold off on drinking it for that long! ;)

TTTTB

This is a rather standard black, albeit one that tastes rather delightful. It comes across as smooth and woodsy nuanced…takes sweetener well and holds up to multiple steeps without issue.

It’s comfortable and tasty and I’d happily drink it again…but I’m not sure if I’ll go out of my way to buy it.

This is really a great roasted oolong! The tea has good warmth with notes of honey, distant smokiness, and a rich base of… well… deliciousness! My wife loves this one, I could not keep her out of it! My first 50g I got probably only got 4-5 cups worth as I rotated this with other teas. Well, she just went straight for it every time until it was gone! I’ve reordered this one several times and have even kept a pack hidden from my wife to see what flavors it will develop after a couple years. Certainly this is one of the better oolongs I’ve tried.