Wild Arbor Buds

thank you thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sharing this tea with me! Seriously – this tea is AMAZING. There is enough for one cup and MANY resteeps I’m sure! I have never tried a tea like this before – perfect for my indecisiveness tonight.

How to brew… I looked on mandalatea’s website and followed their instructions to start with 1 minute and add 15 seconds for each subsequent brew.

The liquor is very very light. The smell is heady and piney, with an herb-like texture that reminds me of lavender. I’ll admit, the smell kind of turned me off – but when I sipped it – WOW.

The front of the sip is like pine wood but as it reaches the back of my mouth it becomes so SWEET and almost syrupy – I can’t help but take another sip. The taste at the end of the sip is not piney at all, it transforms almost into a marshmallow texture and flavour. Such a unique change in a split second – I am loving this!

I am falling head over heels in love for good pu-erhs – this is such a treat to try!

I’ll update this note as I resteep. :)

I sampled this – quickly – at the end of a day – a few weeks ago and never logged it so I RE-tasted it today and have a little time to jot down my thoughts…

This is slightly sweet and floral but a bit black peppery and pretty PINE-e.
The after taste is a bit bark-like but more like pine-needles…with a hint of sweetness.

I do like this white pu-erh.

After posting about the Wild Fresh Buds from In Nature this evening, I know that I had tried a very similar looking tea from Mandala tea, but, when I looked for it on here, I couldn’t find it. I don’t know if somehow it got lost in all the updating that is going on, so, I decided to post about it again… so consider this a backlog.

This is a sweet, mellow Pu-erh. Here is my full-length review of it: http://sororiteasisters.com/2012/04/08/wild-arbor-buds-white-pu-erh-leaf-buds-from-mandala-tea/

(This sample was generously provide to me by Mandala Tea with my order. Thank you Garret.)
Dry Leaf: Has a spicy aroma with a light wood aroma think pine or cedar.
Wet Leaf: Has a spicy aroma the wood aroma was very faint.
Liquor: Was clear
Taste: This tea was very light think “white tea.” There was a spicy aspect to this tea that warms you up. When I say spice think pepper. There is a light wood I get like pine or cedar which can give that earthiness some may describe it. But, for me it’s a woody taste.
Vessel: 100 ml or 3 oz. gaiwan and sample we will call 5 grams. I brewed it gongfu style and brewed it about 15-18 times I would guess. Sorry, I didn’t keep track. But my number should be close.
Overall Opinion: My score is a 90, I have not had enough of this tea to know the good,the bad, and the ugly from this type of tea. What I can say is this tea is very intriguing. The texture of this tea as you steep it out is soft and smooth. After I was done steeping this tea I threw it in a container with water and put it in the refrigerator and cold brewed it and actually had nice iced tea the next day. So, amazingly enough this tea is great hot or iced. As for the people who always need to add a sweetener to their teas this one works well with honey in my humble option. I am more of a guy that keeps things plain but I had a hunch that a dab of honey would work fine with this tea and wanted to try it out for all the people who have sweet tooth’s out there. I also want to add this is a very forgiving tea. I am very curious on how this tea will taste aged.