21 Tasting Notes
Still young, but very generous, the astringency is mild, smokey, still some herbal notes, a bit of sweetness, a bit of wet musk; it has character written all over it. No surprise, when you know, the leaves are coming from wild, and not so young, trees…makes you dream of Old Man Willow.
Preparation
Very nicely aged sheng; dark and beatiful leaves; strong, positive feel. Tasted it quite some time now and, in general, it really has a strong effect on people, as in laughing kicks, yawning, singing etc. Thus, the name is well chosen, happiness, but watch out, it’s a warm gun :)
Preparation
Only 3 pearls needed for one gaiwan, now that’s called efficiency. Steep time can go up to 10 minutes. Very enjoyable drink.
Preparation
I have found all of Mandala’s teas to be superb.
At Mandala Tea we had gone through a couple of different sources for organic dragon jasmine pearls. Each time, I wasn’t all that excited, though we sold alot of them because they were better than anything people had experienced before. When I locked in on this source, even I was pumped. And we’ve been acquiring our jasmine pearls from them for 4 years now. I keep trying other ones, but they leave me wanting good tea flavor or are overpowering in their jasmine (likely because of being sprayed with oils rather than authentically scented. So glad that you enjoyed these, Peter! Thank you for the review and thank you, too, John!
Comparing Shou Mei and Bai Mu Dan. Gold diggers better take last one, as the color is very doré, as the French say. The Shou Mei has a more fruity touch, but this is a good bargain. The aftertaste of the BMD, as rappers call it, is very charming and long-lasting.
