Mandala Tea

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Recent Tasting Notes

75

I’ve been wanting to try this one for a long time, and thanks to stephanie I finally can. :)

I really had this one hyped up in my mind. Its special and its dark, come on, how can that name not evoke only the yummiest stuff??

Now, the problem could be my high expectations, or it could be that in my haste to get a taste of this one, I didn’t rinse the leaves first. I steeped it 3 min, skipping over the whole gongfu hoopla and anxiously awaited it to cool off.

Well, hmm, its kinda stinky and flat tasting. I want to think this is my fault and see how a second steeps turns out. Or try the remaining unused leaf with different parameters (and a rinse!).

Then again, I wouldn’t want to break my tradition of disliking nearly every super-famous tea on here :p we’ll see ^^

UPDATE*** A second steeping for 4 minutes yields much less stink (rinsing is an important step!), but it’s not as sweet as I like my shu puerhs. It’s very earthy for sure, like fresh dirt (I don’t mean that in a bad way). I can definitely appreciate this one, but I’m disappointed that it wasn’t as grand as I had hoped.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Terri HarpLady

It’s been awhile since I drank this, but as I recall, I went pretty heavy on the leaf :)

Shelley_Lorraine

Thanks Terri, I might try that with what I have left. I have about two teaspoons and I’ll use them in a small mug, see how that turns out.

QueenOfTarts

Did you find this at all fishy like some puerhs? Curious about this one but am not fond of the fishy/stinky aspect.

Shelley_Lorraine

This one, for the second steep, was less stinky than other puerhs that I’ve had, but not by a lot. I hear people referring to bad quality puerhs as fishy, but imo, all shu puerhs have a pinch of the stink. Rinsing them first almost always takes the edge off. For me a good puerh is one that delivers an exquisite flavor to compensate for the smell.

QueenOfTarts

Thanks, Shelley_Lorraine! I will definitely remember to rinse before to help get rid of the smell.

Terri HarpLady

Shelley, you have such a great way with words! :D
Just sayin’…

Shelley_Lorraine

for kicks and giggles, my very first review of a puerh, logged on fb, days before I joined steepster:
I got a free sample of loose leaf black puehr tea with my green tea shipment and was hesitant to try it the first few days. But I finally did today. At first, I noted that it smelled like a wicked cow pie, but braved tasting it anyway (don’t know what motivated me). Then, as I told Eric at the time, I decided that it tasted like drinking fossilized caterpillar poop dug up from under a mossy tree. However, it left a strange malty sweet aftertaste, so I kept going back for more because each time I had to see if it was my imagination that it tasted so bad at first. And each time it tasted so bad. But now I can’t remember for sure, so I’m going to go brew another cup .

Terri HarpLady

Hahahahaha!!
It’s that aftertaste that hooks us! LOL

Shelley_Lorraine

i dunno though, in the comments of that post, I suggested that it might be drugged. ;)

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drank Special Dark by Mandala Tea
132 tasting notes

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92

I am beyonf frustrated! This is my 5th attempt at this tasting note! Where do they keep dissappearing to?! I’m about to give up! So as a result, the notes are getting shorter and shorter.
I got this tea from the lovely Stephanie.
Wow they were not kidding… this smells just like cocoa powder, and oh man! This is soooo dark. Like coffee dark!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20741867@N05/10892734496/

I wish I could have done the proper amount of steeps this tea deserves, but I had to cut myself off at 4:30 as I have to be in bed by 8:30 for work at 4AM. Having said that, I did manage to get 3 great steepings.
The first steep was definitely that bittersweet 90% dark chocolate taste. Yumm!
The second steep was more of a semi sweet 50% dark chocolate. This was probably my favorite steep. The last steep was creamy! More of a milk chocolate feel. I cannot wait to give this tea the time it needs to reach its full potential. I am looking forward to it! Thank you!

Also I forgot to post this on my tasting note from last night on my sTEAp shoppe black and white tea. I stopped by tjmaxx last night and found these gems! Delicious!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20741867@N05/10880969955/

Stephanie

Yay! I’m glad you liked it! Congrats on the Turkish delight too- looks delish!!!!!

BrewTEAlly Sweet

Loved it! Thank you soooo much!

BrewTEAlly Sweet

My picture didn’t post….of the tea I’m getting frustrated with steepster right now

BrewTEAlly Sweet

There I tried for the 7th time…maybe it’ll show up now

TeaBrat Amy oh

I know some people write their tasting notes in a word processing program and then copy into Steepster. I never have, but it is frustrating!

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97

Yep I still love this tea. This is my favorite oolong. This is the last of what I have right now, but I’m sure there will be another Mandala order in my near future…..

Garret

I love this one, too. We’ve been brewing it up quite a bit here in shop for sample tea and that sparked a buying frenzy. And now we await a crate of it, hoping for an arrival of VERY VERY VERY soon. There are slow boats from China, too, it would seem :)

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97

I LOVE Mandala tea, and this one is no exception. I haven’t been drinking a lot of oolong lately, they have been pushed aside by my new love of blacks.
I need to let this one back in. This is everything I think an oolong should be. It rich, roasty (without being too smokey), smooth and woody. IMHO This is everything I love about dark oolongs. I’m not getting any of the metallic taste that some have. I’m just going to stop buying oolongs, drink what I have then just restock this as my PERFECT oolong.
As always, thanks Garret for providing such amazing teas.

Garret

awwwww yeahhhhh!!! So very happy to read this, my friend! I started buying from this supplier about 3 years ago after the last one fizzled out. This guy continues to set me up with great Rock style wulongs, cleanly grown with no pesticides!! He has consistently supplied me with this top-notch tea.

Dexter

AND there is a consistent supply of it. That is great news – this is my PERFECT oolong. The search ends……

Courtney

Some of the Mandala teas sound amazing! Gui Fei is my favourite oolong to date. No matter how many others I try, I always come back to that one.

Dexter

Courtney – Mandala’s Milk Oolong it stunning, and their colored species it so floral it’s almost unbelievable. I’m more of a dark oolong type, but can totally appreciate how good those two green ones are. I may never buy pu’erh or oolong from any other supplier. Mandala teas just “speak to me” somehow, and Garret and his team have fantastic customer service.

ashmanra

Oo, thanks for reminding me that I wanted this in my next order.

Terri HarpLady

Yeah, baby, this is a wonderful one. I love me some roasty wuyi!

Kittenna

Dexter – I don’t know what causes that metallic taste in oolongs, but I know what you mean, and I find it really off-putting. It’s kind of like astringency, but not, and it really ruins in. Sometimes I wonder if it’s age-related, or a consequence of broken leaf.

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85

I brewed this both gong fu and western style. Very nice both ways. For me, I get more of a cinnamon smell then any real taste, but I do get a very “spicy” taste that is quite pleasant. I think I enjoyed it more gong fu, I was able to get 6 good infusions, but it works western as well for when I have less time. I have been very impressed by the Mendala teas I have tried…and this one is no exception!

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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93

This is such a light and refreshing tea. I totally agree with the other reviewers that it has a bit of a hay taste. I also get a really nice sweet taste as well. This is a sample that I got with my first Mandala order recently. This is a great tea to unwind with after a long day at work.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 1 min, 0 sec

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95

steeping this a few times today. Finishing off the last of one cake. Thankfully i still have one more cake of this and one from 2014. Probably the only sheng i’ve found worthy of cake purchase as i generally prefer shu.

Kawaii433

Mandala sure has some fine pu’er tea. I still have quite a bit of it. I missed out on this one. I prefer shu as well. I have been shying away from any sheng this past year or so.

Sil

i feel you! i had three cakes of this that i bought when i was new to puerh because i loved the slight smoke and smoothness of this one. I have no regrets as i always love drinking it. However with this in my cupboard i don’t need any other sheng haha

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95

8? Years later and I’m finally getting around to being nearly finished ONE of my two cakes of this one. One of the few Zheng puerh that I love, as shu is my first love. I had a few cups of this today as it was a miserable rainy day. Also I AM trying to work on getting through some of the puerh in my cupboard as I’m good with only having 2-3 in my cupboard even if it means missing out on some wonderful aged opportunities out there. Until the little one is older I can’t see myself spending the time on really enjoying them like I want to. Not that I couldn’t make time…but I suspect there are other things I’ll want to make time for first :)

Really enjoyed getting back to this one though…especially when it rained all day and was cold and windy. We ended up taking a drive to pick up tea from variaTEA just for something to occupy us since tomorrow is THE DAY. Ugh.

gmathis

Hope reentry day goes smoothly!

ashmanra

Ditto to what gmathis said!

Sil

thanks guys..it was awful but whatever haha.

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95

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95

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95

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95

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95

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95

Had a few steepings of this one today, in my continuing effort to get at least one puerh in every weekend when the husband is home. I was so relieved to find that I still adore this one immensely. Good thing too because I have the rest of this cake to drink…and then I have an entire other cake of 2012 and one from 2014 haha.

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95

one of the only shengs i really love. I’m more of a shu girl. I didn’t exactly have this gongfu today but i did a number of steeps over the course of the day as i’m trying to get through more of my puerh. I’d forgotten just how lovely this one is and i’m glad i have not 1 but 2 of these cakes as well as a 2014 cake :)

ashmanra

I need to try it then! I like shu bu5 I want to love sheng!

Sil

I don’t overly love she gets…always seems…less? Than shu. This sheng is a little Smokey but not…smooth and just has great flavour. It’s what makes me continue to keep trying other sheng but very few make me happy. I prefer shu nearly every day with its darker, smooth, rich flavours.

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95

Not going to write much on this one but suffice to say, I haven’t had this in 4 years…had it once, bought 2 cakes and have been hoarding it ever since because it’s one of the few sheng’s that i adore. Today i finally broke down and split one of the cakes apart to a) have a treat and b) make sure my storage of these cakes hasn’t totally made them suck.

Mission successful! still the delicious sweet, smooth, slightly smoky brew that i adore. whoop whoop!

Final count: 16

Sil

15 is about as low as I can go given the large quantities my puerh are in.

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95

sipdown. WOW. that’s all i can say, is just wow. This was from the great canadian travelling tea box, though i’m fairly certain this was one that dexter put in. I have been drinking this all morning. Seriously. the smoke is just perfect..and it’s sweet and delicious and every time i forgot what i was drinking and absentmindedly took a sip, i was immediately floored and kept exclaiming Oh! This may actually be one of the first cakes i get around to purchasing from Garrett…even before noble mark or special dark. Because this? this was really good. (though with my luck it’s all sold out or something…keeps happening lol)

Stephanie

:D I love this one too!

Garret

So happy to hear that you are enjoying this one!!! I pressed alot of these and still have more than 200 left, though I might get greedy and hold onto a few tongs for myself :)

I did just score a huge amount of the mao cha from the same producer. It is autumn 2013 crop. Really good. A little less on the smoke, but perfect, nonetheless. Likely, we will do a 2014 pressing of the spring mao cha!!

Sil

sweet! that means there may actually be come left by the time i get all my orders sorted out haha

OMGsrsly

Would you say there’s tobacco or leather flavours with this one too, Sil?

Sil

um………..

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drank Black Pearl by Mandala Tea
1598 tasting notes

Terri sent me these a few months ago, but for whatever reason, I haven’t tried them until now. :O I feel like I should be ashamed of myself or something for waiting!

I brewed these up without instructions as my computer wasn’t on yet, but I guessed that 4 pearls in 8 oz at 3 min would be ok. And it’s definitely ok. This tea is rich and malty, and just a touch sweet. I’m waiting for it to cool a bit more so that more notes will pop out.

Thanks again Terri Harplady for letting me see what the fuss is about!

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 45 sec
Terri HarpLady

Yay! Glad you like it, Cavo! :D

Sil

slacker!

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drank King of Bu Lang 2008 by Mandala Tea
15006 tasting notes

My dearest tea sister terri sent this sample to me and since I have been bad and bought a bit of tea, i decided i needed a sipdown today. Since my non puerhs pretty much all have several cups to sip them down (or giant Sil sized cups) I opted to enjoy this one this morning while i get ready to go run some errands before coming back home to try and work.

Only on the first couple of steepings but this is a delicious puerh. It won’t be my all time favourite from Garret but it’s not fishy, it’s slightly earthy but not overwhelmingly so. I don’t get the cinnamon that terri did but like i said..initial steepings. more to come :)

Edit: later steepings are deeeelicious! though i cheated after a few and just went for a long 5 min steep heh

Garret

I really enjoy this ripe tea. Went through a phase where I was worried that I was going to drink it all myself and not have any to sell :)

But now I am just pretty much obsessed with the Noble Mark ripe and have been for a year now! First tea of the day 95% of the time.

Thanks for writing this up!!

And thanks for being an all around great person, too!!

Sil

haha your welcome. You and your wonderful teas make it easy though. Hands down my favourite puerhs so far on my tea journey, short though it has been so far..

tea-sipper

Yeah, I have to work on some sipdowns, since I just bought MORE tea. ack.

Sil

haha yeah so did i tea sipper…so did i. The downside to finding out Fauchon, MF and Fortnum & Mason are around in canada because of the holidays!

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80

Yum! This is another sample from Dexter. So tasty, it’s exactly what I wanted. Perhaps I should have rinsed again but this works.

Three steps in my not-a-timolino, pouring it into my new pretty cup. I’ll do three more steeps when I’m done this one and take it to bed to accompany my reading.

I wanted to do a full gongfu of it tonight but my desk is a mess of computer so I’m drinking it standing in the kitchen while making and eating sushi. I’d link pics but I just have my phone. Maybe I can figure links out and put them in the comments. :)

OMGsrsly

8 steeps total tonight! I might grandpa style the remainder tomorrow, just because. It got super creamy.

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80

I am pretty sure this is the one sent to me by Dexter (I have so many puerh samples from you! Thank you!) It’s marked 2011 on the label.

Yeah, this one I like. There’s something about it that reminds me of forest. Plus a very sweet scent that comes and goes. And a hint of spice. I think I liked the other one better, though. The one I said I didn’t like. Whoops!

10s rinse, few minute rest, 10s steep.

This would be really good with a little cinnamon.

12s: Oh boy, this is really strong. I wasn’t really expecting that. Why, I don’t know. I have had this before. My tongue is tingly. I think I’d call this leather. Maybe. Possibly.

Actually, this is a very nice counterpoint to fresh veg, guac and salsa…

12s: More of the same, also lots of distractions playing with the cat.

12s: More tingly tongueness again.

12s: Still going strong.

I’ve had to refill my Zojirushi, whoops. This thing takes forever to boil.

Etc. I’ll edit, I suppose.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 g 5 OZ / 147 ML
OMGsrsly

I’ve had 4 more steeps and it won’t quit. Maybe it’s time to put it away…

boychik

rinse, maybe even twice ( sorry if you do and ignore it ;) shorter steeps,almost flash until you get accustomed to the taste

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