13 Tasting Notes
Really, I just love this stuff. Such a unique flavor, ESPECIALLY tasty when enjoyed iced, and a little goes a long way. This and Verdant Tea’s Golden Fleece (drool) are my top 2 favorite teas to enjoy at work.
Preparation
To be fair, I’m not a huge fan of Mate, but this one looked far too intriguing to pass up on my previous (and first!) order from DavidsTea. Coffee beans? White Chocolate? What’s not to love?? Ultimately, though, this tea fails to deliver (although if you’re looking for a great caffeine kick outside traditional coffee, look no further). Oh, and I should mention this is the “New and improved” blend as of the time of this writing. I wouldn’t say “don’t buy this tea”, and I do think it’s worth trying, but you should manage your expectations with this one. It’s a unique flavor experience, it’ll kick you awake, it’s just likely not something you’ll look forward to very often.
Flavors: Coffee
Preparation
After recently deciding to kick the ‘ol coffee habit (I’ve always wanted to but never quite possessed the required will power to end such a long-standing morning ritual [much as the tea ritual is FAR more rewarding on a variety of levels]) and really coming to love Mandala Tea, I decided to order this the other day not only because it looked incredibly useful, but because I knew that any help to kick the coffee habit would go a long way to making it a success.
In any case, it arrived just yesterday (along with a shipment of a few teas from Darlene’s Tea Port) packaged wonderfully and carefully, along with being insured. As always with glass/breakables I was a bit nervous opening it all up, but it was beautifully in one piece and even nicer-looking in person. Double walled glass is hard to beat!
The construction all around is great—everything fits nicely, the glass has a great weight to it, and the lid secures nicely (although as awkwardsoul aka Oolong Owl mentions [along with Mandala Tea themselves], it will leak if tipped/inverted).
Just brewed some Irish Breakfast Green for the morning and I’m anxious to go with Mandala’s Wild Arbor Buds this afternoon! Having previously been using the OXO Twisting Tea Ball, it’s nice to be able to really watch the tea leaves as they steep, and it makes the workday that much more enjoyable.
WOW! Very unique aroma and equally unique taste—this one is an instant favorite and a MUST try. Not to mention it can be infused more times that I could count! Steeped in a glass tea pot at the recommended 1tsp per 8oz at 1 minute, adding 15 seconds per infusion, with an initial 10 second rinse.
Preparation
Wow! My first experience with raw Pu’er and I must say it was delightful. While I don’t yet feel experienced or developed enough to offer all the interesting tasting notes and intricate details provided by most others around here, I will say it was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced and I can’t wait to enjoy it again! This time I went with 195° water, about 1tsp, brewed in a Gaiwan, 15 seconds per infusion, adding 30 seconds per in the later infusions (thanks to Oolong Owl for the steeping instructions).
Preparation
So happy that you are enjoying this one. Just got the first shipment of the Wild Monk 2014 cakes, too. The one you are drinking is the spring 2012 picking. I was able to get the autumn-picked 2013 mao cha from the same farm and pressed 500 cakes of it. Delicious now and will only improve with further aging in the storage vault. Thanks for writing up your thoughts. I’m just wild about raw pu’er. We’ve got some great teas in the works.
