Mandala Tea

Still raining in San Francisco so I had to make some of my own Morning sun!

I liked the shape of these rolled leaves and have had good luck in the past with these spiral sort of shapes from China. The aroma of the wet leaves is very robust and almost smoke like and it’s amazing to watch them unfurl!

I decided to steep mine for 3 minutes basket style although this tea will need to have some gong fu experiments from me soon. :)

I am definitely getting the sweet flavor, kind of honey like with a bit of roasted sweet potato or carrot like starchy/thickness… it is reminiscent of a golden monkey to me, except bolder and more assertive. I’m getting a touch of smokiness, tobacco flavor here in the flavor as well. I tried this plain but then I ended up liking it with soymilk because the creaminess blends nicely with the other flavors. I liked this although a bit on the assertive and bold side for me so I think a shorter steeping time will be worth pursuing. I just gave my sweetie a sip and he says it smells very smoky and tastes like miso… I like miso actually. :)

I steeped this in my gaiwan and am blown away with how amazing it tastes. It has a delicious malty tone to it, sweet … but not too sweet. Very smooth, rich and robust. Notes of cocoa, but not an overly sweet cocoa taste. A fruit note in the background that is both sweet and sour. Slightly creamy, and absolutely wonderful… LOVE!

wow, I haven’t had this tea in a while. I couldn’t get it out of the bamboo tube and ended up pounding it on the counter, which was actually quite therapeutic.

I have decided I hate my local post office. I made an inquiry with the USPS 1-800 number about my lost package from Yunnan Sourcing. The post office claimed they called me and they closed the case but I never got a call! Even worse they don’t answer the phone. I can see I will need to find some kind of a mail service if I want to have any tea packages delivered in the future. It’s just so stressful and annoying to have to deal with this.

Anyway about the tea… my first notes on this were that I thought it was mellow and earthy but today it seems more assertive, smoky and bitter than I remember. It should be mellowing out more over time, I would think? Of course it could be I have just used more tea in my pot than the last time I tried it. I did break off a pretty big hunk and am keeping my steeps very short.

I must say this is a very energizing sheng, it’s uplifting and perking me right up!

I decided to use this tea to anoint my new YiXing teapot, I blogged about it over here if you want to see the photos.

http://sanfrantea.teatra.de/2012/06/10/YiXing-teapot-a-new-addition-to-the-family/

After 5 steeps of this I am feeling quite caffeinated so I think I’ll need to stop drinking tea for a while. :) See previous notes for more info.

I really wanted this because I am a sucker for this strange packaging – you get your pu’erh in a piece of bamboo, how cool is that? :)

I really wasn’t expecting much from this especially given the reasonable price. And raw pu’erhs can just be kind of sour, bitter and gnarly. I steeped some of this up earlier today in my gaiwan and totally forgot about it for 2 or 3 minutes. I was expecting a vile mess but it was nice and mellow!

So I’ve had four infusions with the tea so far, I did rely on shorter steeps for the duration of the experience. I was expecting this to be really smoky for some reason. It’s earthy and smooth with no bitter flavors but I can’t really describe the flavor profile of this tea! I think the bamboo steaming is definitely different (in a nice way). I might be getting some notes of light cedar, woodsy, here, slightly nutty and only a touch of mild astringency. I must think it’s good because I keep going back for more. :)

I steeped it six times and it shows no signs of slowing down. very good!

Most of the time I tend to like darker and more robust green teas, but there is something about this valley peak that I am really loving. It is light but has a great nutty flavor. I’m glad to have this back in stock! (see previous notes)

This came as a free sample from the people at Mandala Tea who also seem very nice, thanks for the sample, guys!

The shape and smell of this one does remind me of a dragonwell, but I’ve been very underwhelmed by dragonwells in the past. I was not too stingy with the leaf here and steeped it at 180 F for 3 minutes, regular infuser mug method.

I did like this one! It brews up to be a very light yellow color in the cup. I was expecting it to be wimpy but it really isn’t. The flavor is quite delicate but there is a also a delicious macadamia nut like richness about it with a sweet finish. yummy!

This is a beautiful cup to be savored and now it goes on my shopping list… heh heh :)

lovely 2nd infusion…forgot to log earlier…

This is one of the BEST Milk Oolongs I have ever had. Everything seems to be going right for this milk oolong and it offers a little something extra that others seemed to have been lacking (and I didn’t even know it until I had this one, it seems!)

It’s creamy and buttery, mostly, but it DOES have slight sweet and buttery grass notes and a spec of natural saltiness, too! There are hints of coconut, flowers, and maybe even celery. It’s very clean and lovely!

It’s also pretty apparent it wants me to do multiple infusions…so…I’m going to listen to my tea leaves and do that :)

Wonderful!

I do agree with LiberTEAs on this one…it sort of reminds me of a yellow tea! Mellow and delicate yet sweet and nutty…my fave part…it’s SMOOTH. Very nice!

This is an awesome Silver Needle – so fresh and light, but also so flavorful. It has pleasant woody tones, hay-like notes, and an overtone of sweetness that seems to wash over it all, making for a very soft, smooth delivery from start to finish. Very little astringency (next to no astringency!) and no bitterness. Just sweet, delicious tea.

I am really LOVING Mandala Tea!

In the description of this tea, Mandala Tea compares it to a LongJing. For me, though, I think I like this better than a typical LongJing! This is milder, sweeter and smoother. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good LongJing, but, there is just something special about this Ding Gu Da Fang. So sweet and light, it reminds me a bit of a Yellow Tea.

LOVE!

SIPDOWN TIME! This is a bit more “crusty” than the other cup I had…but it’s quite nice! Teas like this are making my day (as well as my many deadlines) possible!

Not as sturdy as some other “buds” have tried but the highlight of this one is the smooth and creamy aspect as it is still a black tea, of course. It’s quite soothing and delicious!

Oh My… I’ve been spending the past hour brewing multiple infusions of a little sample bag that was included with my first order from Mandala Tea. It said simply, “Milk Oolong” so I really had no idea what joy was in store. I had not read anything about it, had simply eyed the nice dark green rolled leaves, smelled the aroma of sweet grass, and thought I would use my little 100 ml glass oolong pot to do a quick tasting.

1st steep: quick 5 second rinse of the leaves, followed by 205 F water for 25 seconds. Nice Green/Gold infusion. Aroma is pure melted butter, with just a hint of coconut. Wow! Not super sweet, but just a pleasing creamy feeling in my mouth. And an aftertaste of passion fruit?

Ok, I am fascinated. I go for a second steep, thinking this is just a really nice Taiwan style oolong.

2nd steep: 205 F for 40 seconds. Big change! The color is now pure gold, no green. Aroma: butter, coconut and a hint more of floral tones. The flavor is even more intense. There is still that buttery creaminess, but the coconut is even more prominent, and I definitely taste tropical fruits at the sides of my mouth.

I am so impressed, I go to Mandala tea’s website to see what it is I am drinking. Sure enough, this is one great quality tea, and the flavor profiles match pretty close to what I was tasting. I start looking for the other flavors described in the next few steepings, and I have to say I am really pleased. This one is definitely going on my shopping list!

I have never had a White Peony Tea from Yunnan province, only from Fujian, so I was very interested in trying this version from Mandala Tea. Bai Mu Dan has a ratio of two leaves to one bud and so is more full-bodied than Silver Needle; and this particular batch has a wonderful depth of flavor and some unexpected pleasantness, but I get ahead of myself.

It has been very warm here, typical for December in Miami and I needed something light to brighten my spirits. I brewed this up in my glass gaiwan so that I could enjoy the beauty of the leaves and pale color of the brew. Approximately 5 grams or 1 heaping teaspoon in a 150ml (5 ounce) gaiwan.

1st steep: Spring water at 170 F for 90 seconds. (slightly longer than recommended) Very pale color, slight aroma of oak, wonderful light flavor that seems to be a combination of hazelnut, oak and vanilla. Subtle, complex and very refreshing!
2nd steep: Spring water at 170 F for 90 seconds.
Slightly more intense color and aroma. Flavors have deepened and lean more toward the woodiness, but with a surprising sweetness and flavor of dried apricot. You really get the terrior of Spring in Yunnan.
3rd steep: Surprise! Most White teas can’t yield much from a third steeping, but these leaves just keep on giving. This time I did 2 minutes with 185 F water, and the brew was really nice. Smooth, slightly sweet and still nice flavor. Just to try, I steeped the leaves one more time with a pinch of dried osmanthus flowers. Still nice!

One of the nicest things about this Bai Mu Dan is that it doesn’t have the slightly bitter bamboo flavor that so many of the others have. A really nice treat!

Yesterday afternoon I had a really pleasant time exploring the nuances of this Osmanthus Oolong from Mandala Tea. I know that I have professed my love of all things Osmanthus in other postings, and was looking forward to trying this version from Mandala. It certainly did not disappoint, and I look forward to brewing this in different fashions over the next few weeks.

I brewed using the parameters recommended, gong fu style but in my little 100ml glass oolong pot, so that I could observe the leaves and concentrate the flavors. The dry aroma gives only a faint hint of floral scent, both of oolong and osmanthus. The pale infusion brings out a stronger aroma, and the flavor is quite distinctive. Complex, yet subtle and light. The sweetness of Anxi oolong tempered by the dry champagne tones of osmanthus in the background.

In subsequent steepings, my little pot becomes quite full of the expanded leaves, which are quite beautiful to see. The full leaves show the light oxidation, which release their flavor quickly and show the care with which they were grown, harvested and processed. It truly is an interesting journey reminiscent of walks in a sunny garden. Does the subtle osmanthus flavor come from just the tea leaves alone, or do they somehow infuse the flavor? A very interesting and enjoyable tea!

Enjoying a new shipment of White Night this week. I was drinking it from my travel mug all week, but today had a chance to do a series of small steepings to enjoy the whole flavor and aroma.

Such a nice clean flavor. Getting more vegetal in taste after the second steep. The aroma is more of the sea in this batch, or perhaps I am just remembering the aroma as the last batch aged, getting better over time.

What a fascinating tea!

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I placed my first order with Mandala Tea, and all arrived quickly, nicely packaged and with extra sample tea as well. I had heard good things about Mandala, and Garret (the owner) and myself had exchanged a few emails through discussions here on Steepster. I am just amazed at the friendly, courteous and interesting people that make up the tea community in MN, and am glad that they have sellers like Mandala and Verdant Tea to introduce them to fine Chinese tea!

The White Night tea is like nothing I have ever tried before. It has the familiar earthiness that you find in Yunnan green and pu’erh teas, but is so light and sweet with an ethereal aroma. In German they say “Himmel und Erde,” or “Heaven and Earth,” which is truly what this tea brings to mind. And each time I thought my gaiwan of leaves could yield no more, another steep proved me wrong. The first 5 steepings were amazing, the next three still were very good, before I decided to retire the leaves to the compost bin.

Thank you for showing me how a white tea can have as much complexity and full bodied flavor, and need not be simply subtle and light.

[Edit: Garret, the owner of Mandala Tea, has looked into the questions I raised in this tasting note. His supplier has assured him that the tea is indeed from the Da Hong Pao bush, but light-roasted in a style that is similar to the one typically used for Dan Cong oolongs. This clarifies the similarity I mention experiencing between this Da Hong Pao and Mi Lan Dan Cong. See the attached comments for additional detail.]

This came as a sample with my order from Mandala. I was excited to try it as my yixing teapot is dedicated to Big Red Robe. I had waited until a couple of my tea friends were over, and we brewed this up as the fourth or fifth tea of the evening. As it happens we had just finished drinking a lackluster Mi Lan Dan Cong (Honey Fragrance Phoenix Mountain Oolong), and when the first infusion of this Big Red Robe was brewed up the most peculiar thing happened… One of my tea friends tasted it and exclaimed, “This tea tastes like it actually is what that Mi Lan Dan Cong was trying to be.”

I then tasted it myself. What!? Wait a minute, I thought, what is this? This tea, labelled and sold as a “light roast” Da Hong Pao, bore an uncanny resemblance to Mi Lan Dan Cong in its flavor, in its fragrance, and in the look of the leaves (when we compared the samples side by side). Could it have been a miscommunication? If we hadn’t just tried another Mi Lan Dan Cong immediately beforehand, I might never have noticed.

If it really is a Mi Lan Dan Cong, rather than a Da Hong Pao, I think it’s a pretty good quality one. This was unambiguously better than the Mi Lan Dan Cong oolong I tried from Asha, and also another Mi Lan Dan Cong oolong my friends brought over to try. The sample I tried from Goldfish Tea still wins out over this one, but I’d definitely be happy to drink this tea from Mandala any time. It’s really nice!

But now, let me leave a qualification on this…. If the tea in question really is a “Light Roast” Big Red Robe, I’m kind of perplexed. The leaves are smaller, the characteristic smoky/roasted flavor at the beginning is absent, and it’s just far from what one would generally expect from Big Red Robe. The only kinship this tea has with Big Red Robe that I can draw on is a fruitiness in it’s profile that bears some resemblance to the fruit notes in a Qilan Big Red Robe I’ve tried, which was the best example of this kind of tea I’ve ever tried. This tea from Mandala and that Qilan Big Red Robe aren’t in the same league at all, but it’s the only reference point for similarity I can draw. It makes much more sense to me that Mandala’s “Light Roast” Big Red Robe is actually a pretty good Mi Lan Dan Cong.

Anyway… maybe this will be cleared up at some point. Good tea, but made for some curious head scratching. [Addendum: In light of the insight that this tea is indeed Da Hong Pao, I am interested in trying it again and re-assessing it with that knowledge at some point.]

I love ginseng oolong, and Mandala’s offering is a good one. Had several infusions this morning. After about four 15-second infusions in the gaiwan, the ginseng coating fully yielded to the unfolding tea leaves. The flavor is as Mandala describes, “slightly sweet and always satisfying”. The expected licorice-root sweetness is present, especially in the beginning when the ginseng is dissolving, and especially in the aftertaste. It’s not as strong on the sweet side as some others I’ve tried, but that’s fine with me. I feel I can count on this tea to be reliably enjoyable.

I’m curious about the origin of the oolong used for this tea, and think I’ll probably ask the owner of Mandala Tea if he knows. I recently tried an exquisite example of ginseng oolong that was made, I believe, with high quality Dong Ding. That was superb! But cost-prohibitive. Also had the chance to try the same Dong Ding without ginseng coating and it was so good by itself that you’d wonder whether using it to make a flavored oolong was really a good idea…

Anyway, this Ginseng Oolong from Mandala Tea is delicious, and will be good to have with me through the cold Minneapolis winter.

Drinking this Mao Feng from Mandala Tea now. Quite different from the last Mao Feng I tried (from Goldfish Tea). The dry tea leaves of these two examples look remarkably different. The Goldfish leaves were uniformly greener and relatively straight, a bit like long thin pine needles. The leaves of Mandala’s Mao Feng are a mixture lighter and darker leaves, less obviously green, and generally wavy in shape. Looks like a very different processing method was used to finish each of these teas.

[Edit: Take note of the comments attached. I’ve been informed that the difference between the two Mao Feng teas I describe and compare is due to their being from two different growing regions: Yunnan and Huang Shan respectively.]

The dry leaves here have a potent and sweet, fruity aroma. Interestingly, that sweet fruitiness is not represented in the flavor. The brewed tea is actually much more savory. After five infusions in the gaiwan, I would say that the predominating flavor characteristic of this Mao Feng is . . . . split pea. Yes, the brewed tea tastes and smells very much like split pea soup. Bold, hearty, and slightly salty, but never in an unpleasant way.

Fascinating. This is so different from the last one. Whereas the last one had me scratching my head in an attempt to associate it’s flavor with something, this one has a flavor that I can positively identify. The aftertaste here doesn’t interest me as much as that of the Mao Feng from Goldfish Tea (that one captivated me). In some ways I feel like this Mao Feng shares more similarities with the Jing Shan green tea from Verdant Tea, than it does with the other Mao Feng I recently tried, which surprises and kind of bewilders me. For one thing, the leaves of this tea look more similar to the Jing Shan green. They also share a slight affinity in taste; on top of the split pea note here I perceive hints of the asparagus note that is often present in the Jing Shan tea. By contrast, the Mao Feng from Goldfish had a much less vegetable flavor, was generally softer, and perhaps more cooling than warming. This one feels warming.

I like this Mao Feng, and split pea is one of my favorite soups. I don’t know that I want it for breakfast, but I think it will be suitable for afternoon or sometimes early evening drinking, especially on cold days. The variance between these two Mao Feng teas is intriguing, and makes me want to try several more of them. I need to get some bearings on this tea.

Yum!! I am almost never in the mood for white tea, but this one is really yummy and full and nice. When I first tried it, I thought it was a Yabao tea, actually. Maybe because this is a silver needle from Yunnan?

If I am going to drink white tea, I am going to be drinking this one. The texture is full and round. A little bit of wood spice (like a rosewood chest of my mother’s), sweet and billowy like a light bit of marshmallow sugar. Also something that reminds me of warm, white, fresh washed linens in the sunlight.

This is a nice brick of younger Shou pu’er. I have actually picked up a brick of this for myself and plan on drinking some of it now for sure, but this is one that I think could age decently. Most people are confused by the word “musty” in relation to tea, but in high quality pu’ers there is an indescribable sweet mustiness that is hard to mistake. Needless to say it already possesses some of these qualities. The leaf size is large and it brews up lighter than some lower grade pu’ers that are so commonly found from most American tea companies. Sweet notes of honey remain even through the strongest brews. And of course, make sure to brew this one multiple times.

To sum up: Nothing too out of the ordinary but a nice, sweet and promising brick of Shou.