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I learned a lesson today. A letter opener is not the proper tool to break apart a pu-er cake. It took me half an hour and a coring knife to dig into this one. I don’t think I destroyed the cake too badly but I did end up buying a pu-er pick from Mandala…and more tea because I am a weak person.

I planned to drink this tea to comfort myself in case my hockey team decided to give me a migraine but strangely enough, they won. And I was still lucky enough to drink 5 steeping of this lovely tea. It has tied Bu Lang Gong Ting as my favorite. It’s ridiculously good. And my team won so YAY!

1st Steep-30 seconds
In spite of my mess-up with the breaking of the cake, the initial flavors of this tea is nothing short of mind-blowing. It’s a spicy, leathery and musky. I know that sounds a bit strange but those flavors together are just so perfect.

2nd Steep-45 seconds
I’m getting raisin notes. Very sweet and a bit smoky on the finish. So nice. The slight smoke cuts the sweet of the raisin notes in the best way possible.

3rd Steep-1 minute
Brown sugar, raisins and rum. That’s what I am getting from this steep. And boy oh boy is it perfect. Three of my favorite things in the world. This was a very cakey steep. Very sweet and syrupy.

4th Steep-1.30 minutes
Brown sugar, caramel and a fruity flavor that I can’t place right now. This tea keeps improving with each steep.

5th Steep-2 minutes
Fig! Brown sugar and fig notes. I cannot tell you how happy I was to come across a pu-er with roasted fig notes. I love anything fig so this was just PERFECT.

I love this tea. So much. It’s not even rational how much I love it. I want more and I haven’t even finished this cake yet. I may be a little obsessed with it. I am holding the leaves over for tomorrow because there was absolutely no fade to the brew. I’m just going to keep brewing until there is no flavor left.

That 5th steep is something I cannot get over right now. Is there any other pu-er out there with fig notes in there?

I experimented a bit with the steep time while brewing this tea so it’s probably a bit crazypants because it jumps all over the place. I think I will follow Garret’s suggested steep times from now on because it worked brilliantly with the Bu Lang Gong Ting.

1st Steep- 1 minute
Very mushroomy and earthy. It was pleasant in its earthiness and not at all overpowering. I think this may be the first earthy shu that I’ve liked.

2nd Steep-45 seconds
Still a bit earthy but with a nice leathery note. Very smooth.

3rd Steep-2 minutes
Yet again the third steep is my favorite. This steep was buttery with a bit of roastiness to it. I don’t know exactly what to compare it to but it brings to mind breakfast.

4th Steep-3 minutes
Still very buttery with a touch of honey. Perhaps a bit more intense than the 3rd steep.

5th Steep-1 minute
This was my final steep and it was lovely. It tasted like molasses. So very good.

I had to stop with this tea after the 5th steep because I tend to drink tea late at night. I know that’s probably not normal but I’m generally a not very normal person.

I loved Four Leaves. Perhaps not as much as Bu Lang Gong Ting but I think that one may be my benchmark tea. I really enjoyed the earthiness of this tea. If I was going to replace my morning cup of coffee—which I still need to be human—-this would be the one.

I just realized that I had a couple of samples left over from my Davids order that I still had to try. I figured I might as well try the rooibos blend today while I am taking a break from caffeine.

I don’t know why but for some reason it is just not working for me at all. With each sip, I get more and more overwhelmed by the mint. I can barely taste the rooibos, the vanilla or the chocolate. I would have loved more of the woodsy flavor mixed with the mint and the chocolate but the mint overwhelmed my palate. I have Read My Lips in my cupboard and it has the same flavor profile but with better balance of flavor.

Rooibos also tends to be a problematic area for me as well. It’s a love/hate thing where it doesn’t work for me more often than it does. The only rooibos blend I’ve tried and loved is Oh Canada.

I think this was my first ever transcendent tea moment. From the first sip, I was immediately in love with this tea. It was perfect. I was in utter awe while enjoying this tea. I am a former coffee drinker. You just don’t get that from coffee so this was a kind of milestone for me.

1st Steep- 30 seconds
Very leathery and, it’s going to sound strange, but there is also a note of parchment. I’m a book lover so this first steep worked very well for me. The smell of parchment and leather always brings happy memories. There was also a bit of bittersweet chocolate on the finish.

2nd Steep-45 seconds
The dark chocolate really came out. There was also a nutty hazelnut flavor. I loved this steep. I’m not a fan of Nutella but that is what it reminded me of. Maybe I just like it in tea?

3rd Steep-1 minute
The third steep is always my favorite for some reason. There was a lovely vanilla bean flavor with a brown sugar finish. In a way, it kind of reminded me of crème brulee with the brown sugar crackle on the top.

4th Steep-1.30 minutes
I got a lot of cinnamon. Very light and naturally sweet. There was also still a bit of the brown sugar flavor with some honey coming through. I love this steep almost as much as I love the 3rd one.

5th Steep-2 minutes
Honey. This steep was just one note but it was intense. And delicious.

6h Steep-3 minutes
This final steep was suddenly very fruity. Like peach. Maybe my taste buds are in a tizzy but it came out of nowhere.

Yet again, there came a point where I had to stop brewing this tea because it got late but I could have brewed this tea over and over again. This tea was perfection. Complete and utter perfection. I loved this tea. I wish I had bought more than an ounce of it because I could drink this everyday.

This was another sample with my Mandala order. My initial impressions of this tea weren’t very good. The dry tea kind of smelled fishy to me. I hate fish so I am really sensitive to the smell. It wasn’t intense but it was there and initially it was a turn-off. But I soldiered on and tried the tea anyway.

1st Steep- 1 minute
My first words after taking the first sip were “Holy Crap!”. The tea still keeps a bit of the off smell but the taste is a big ol’shocker. It’s chocolate with a nice cream finish. I spent almost a minute starring at my teacup in shock.

2nd Steep-2 minutes
It still had the “off” smell but this steep was full of chocolate with a bit of nuttiness. I am borderline in love with this tea already.

3rd Steep-3 minutes
This was my favorite steep. It was all Madagascar vanilla bean and whipped cream. Perhaps a bit of a slight peppery bite as well. It was just perfect.

4th Steep-4 minutes
This had a bit of salty/sweet going for it. It still had the vanilla taste but there was a bit of a salty finish to it. Reminded me of salted caramel. So good.

5th Steep-5 minutes
I brewed this final steep at 1am—bad idea but kind of brilliant at the same time. This is probably tied for my favorite steep. It’s much lighter but I am getting a great brown sugar flavor—with no sugar at all in my tea. The salty bite from the last steep also got a bit more intense. So it’s even more like a salted caramel.

I did not want to stop brewing this tea but it was 1am and I had to get up very early. This was quite the lovely tea. It did not give off the best initial impression but once brewed gave off the most lovely of flavors.

I have a huge backlog of reviews to post. It’s almost daunting.

I received this tea as a sample with my first Mandala Tea order—and I will definitely be ordering most of my pu-er from them from now on. I was planning on saving this tea for tomorrow but my hockey team lost badly and I needed something nice to cheer me up.

1st Steep- 1 minute
Smelled very grassy. Usually this is quite the turn-off for me. It did taste a bit grassy but with a nice smoke flavor that I loved. I am a Lapsang Souchong fan so smoke is kind of my thing. There was also a nice spicy note that I loved. The first steep isn’t usually my favorite but this is definitely a contender.

2nd Steep-2 minutes
I can’t decide if I am getting apple or lemon in this steep. Some sips it’s lemon and some sips it’s apple. I think I prefer to think lemon because I don’t like apple and I very much liked this steep. There was still some smoke but it faded a little.

3rd Steep-3 minutes
The flavor completely morphed. It lost all of the smoke and citrus—bummer because I liked it. But this beautiful clover honey taste took its place. There was a lovely natural sweetness about this steep. This is actually a contender for my favorite steep. To be honest, I would have thought this was a completely different tea from the previous steeps.

4th Steep-10 minutes—It was supposed to be 5 minutes but I forgot about it.
This steep was lovely as well. It was still honeyish but a bit of floral flavor had snuck in there. This is definitely not my favorite steep but it’s good enough. I could have probably steeped this one at least two more times even with my timing fiasco.

Overall-I really loved this tea. I am almost beating myself up because I had it in my cart to buy a cake but I went with another one. I’ll buy a cake of it someday. Not near close to now because I did buy six cakes. But I am happy that I squirreled away half of the sample for tomorrow.

I am noticing a noticeable mood lift that normally would not happen on days where my team loses—I’m pretty obsessed I don’t know if it’s the tea but I’m feeling pretty peppy right now and I am most definitely not a peppy person.

I added a bit of nutmeg, cinnamon and caramel syrup this time. It tasted like a caramel banana pie. So much better than the last time. I think I prefer it without all the extras because they kind of covered up the vegetal taste from the guayusa.