Gongfu Sipdown (611)!
This was a free sample in my last Mandala Order, along with a roasted version of the tea. I had the roasted version last weekend and this was something I steeped up during the week. I actually expected, fully, to enjoy the roasted version a lot more than the greener version but I was just SO enamored by this tea – plus I actually remember what it tasted like; so I think this was the clear winner of the two.
I got around nine steeps from this – but that was pushing the envelope a little bit. I also paired it with the two Columbian mini mangoes that I got from the market. Those mangoes were the most amazing mangoes I have ever eaten; about the size of an egg, and just packed with very sweet, juicy, floral mango. I started with eating them while drinking the tea and the combo worked – but I did ultimately pause my session midway through to just finish the mangoes because they were SO GOOD that they needed to be appreciated all on their own.
Highly floral tasting oolong – most distinctly lilac. I used to have a lilac bush in my front yard, when I was a small, small kid living in Eyebrow, SK. I think I was like four or five years old. My favourite thing in the world was daintily picking the lilac petals off the bush and filling a mason jar with them, which I would then haul around with me to smell or feed to our labrador. Smelling the steeping leaves, after they’d initially opened up, REALLY put me right back to those childhood memories with the lilacs. In addition to tasting amazing, it was nostalgic as hell for me – and actually made me a little bit emotional.
Apart from that brilliant, full bodied and silky lilac note I also felt like there was a mix of orchid, gardenia, and elderflower to the infusions – but not as intensely as that lilac note. Very fresh, very “Springtime Flowers”. Mouthfeel was buttery/silky in general too; soft on the palate. There was a gentle sweetness throughout, but especially in early steeps before the florals hit their peak; sort of like a more delicate sugar cane note or a trace of the sweetness and coconut taste from coconut water. Very, very clean finish.
Mandala really knocks their greener oolongs out of the park – but this is something I probably wouldn’t have ordered for myself based on the description so I think I was just all the more impressed with how this sample steeped up. It was intoxicating, and lovely.
Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/ByDAZRUAD3_/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFvgaVmGC5o
(Something very peaceful about this song, but also a little haunting?)
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I think the production makes it somewhat haunting, it’s very spacey. That, and the vocal style. Nice song
Also, the mangoes sound awesome. It’s so rare to find good mango in Canada :/
Okay, so I think I have to buy this now.
I’m a big oolong fan but have never tried Mandala. I will have to give this a try. Enjoy your tea reviews, photos, and song pairings.
I think the production makes it somewhat haunting, it’s very spacey. That, and the vocal style. Nice song
Also, the mangoes sound awesome. It’s so rare to find good mango in Canada :/
Okay, so I think I have to buy this now.
I’m a big oolong fan but have never tried Mandala. I will have to give this a try. Enjoy your tea reviews, photos, and song pairings.