Temple Stairs 2014 Mini Tuocha

I recently saw that Shae wrote a note for a mini tuocha and the wrapper looked familiar… that I might have it in my Mandala mini tuocha grab bag.  I did indeed have some of this wrapper design in that bag, and upon unwrapping the tuocha, I noticed it said 2012 and 2013Bada and Mengsong and made in 2014.  The description for this one says that as well, so thanks to Shae, I figured out what one of the mini tuochas actually is!  Maybe most of them say what they are on the wrapper…if I’d actually unwrap them and steep them up. 
Anyway, this is delicious.  Quite dark for a tuocha.  Notes of coffee, dark chocolate, bready, and none of those pesky negative puerh qualities.  Usually I would say a mini tuocha does not have enough leaf that I would normally use to my tastes, for a full mug of tea but this one passes the test!  It is dark and rich enough! I wanted to mention ‘walnut’, while not trusting myself, but I notice derk mentions walnut, so now I can trust that. The fourth steep was fading in flavor a bit, so I’d probably only steep three mugs in the future.  High quality for a mini tuocha, just as Mandala attests. Both derk and Kawaii433 say this is the best mini tuocha, and I might agree! I’d buy these but like Shae recently found out, not possible. Such a nice discovery in my sampler. I really need to go through and see if my detective work (with the help of Steepster) can figure out the other mini tuochas…
Steep #1 // 1 piece for full mug // 17 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // 14 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #3 // 7 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #4 // just boiled //  10 min

Pulled from TTB 2022, shared by Inkling.

Oh wow, oh wow.

I nearly bought one of everything from Mandala’s website after my first sip of this. I’m still probably going to go back and buy a few somethings.

Started with a 15-second rinse, followed by a couple minutes rest, and then a 10-second steep. Increased steep to 10-20 seconds in subsequent cups.

This somehow reminds me of both a candle shop during the holidays and an outdoor flea market. It’s leather and spices, I think that’s the connection. It’s so comforting and familiar.

If anyone has recommendations for others like this, please share! I’d love to find something similar since I know this is no longer available.

I haven’t been feeling the gaiwan love for several days and have been wanting easier teas to drink, so thank you Kawaii433 for sending this mini tuo cha my way :) Grandpa is the theme of the week I guess.

I must first point out the aroma because I know there are a lot of cocoa lovers here: cocoa and walnut. The tea is clean and alive for a shou. It’s very mineral and complex, with bright and dark layers moving around in a kind of creamy suspension that later turns oily. It’s like drinking a walnut tree, wood and fruit. Hints of cocoa, healthy dark soil and leather all elevated from the walnut grove floor by a pervasive brightness and light sugarcane sweetness. Clean camphor cools then warms the throat and chest. I feel grounded and calm. Definitely the best mini tuo I’ve had.

Additional notes: It is still hands-down the best mini tuocha to this girl. It really never disappoints. The brew is a very dark color shou with a pleasant nutty aroma, the taste profile is always complex to me, minus the heavy unwanted tastes of other shou(s). Hints of hay, chestnut, chocolate, earth, comforting natural sweetness like burnt sugar or caramel. Silky, creamy texture.

Extremely comforting on a cold day.

Typical gaiwan procedure: 212℉, 5s rinse, 10s, 20s… Etc. Drank it all day. Lasted many steeps.

Shou sample I got in the mail from Steph on the Slack chat! This is a very clean shou with a strong mineral note. Like every shou I’ve had from Mandala it is very good.

I guess I have had this tea for that long. I just got my first tea art press by kamjove yesterday an was eager to try it out, but not so eager to figure/decide which tea I wanted, so I settled it this oldie but goodie. I really should be more versatile, I’m still getting the white2tea club but it’s starting to pile up because I lack the time.

208f,150ml/tuocha/steep x 12+
If you let the leaves rest between steeps, there’s more flavor and color to be had, but If you decant and steep right away, you need a longer steep time per steep

If i’m ever going to get to 50 teas, i need to get my drink on with my puerh more often. I had been trying to get to at least ONE session a week but that sort of fell by the way side. So today i figured i should try. Pulled this one out because i am a mandala fan and can’t bring myself to use up my special dark. heh. This should make for a very enjoyable morning.

This was a really good mini tuo. It opened up completely on the second steep (5 sec) after a 20 second rinse and a 5 second first steep.

The main thing that I came away with is that it tasted very clean and silky, creamy, and smooth. A very easy drinker. I can see why they decided to put this tea into a mini tuo. It is a very easy toss, steep, drink type of tea.

These are really cute mini tuos. I grabbed one to brew in the morning; because, it was something quick, fast, and easy. The small little guy carries a light fermentation and a dry scent. I warmed him up in my gaiwan and prepared for brewing. The little tuo gave off a warm fresh soil and forest aroma. I washed the tuo once to get it nice and ready. The leaves take about two steeps to fully expand. These wet leaves carry a sweet but daunting earth scent. The liquor is heavily black with a deep red. I mean like black black black when I say this. You couldn’t even see light through it. The flavor is very good. This is a perfect on-the-go daily Shu drink. There is a pleasant drying sensation with a light mineral tone. The black liquid is heavy with earth and fermentation tones. There was a background oak and pleasant sour flavor in later steeping. The odd thing is that a slight tang or citrus tone follows the drinker throughout the session. This is a nice brew; however, it was very “dusty”. I mean that in the sense, that you must have a nice strainer to gongfu this. I was spitting out tiny leaf dusting throughout the whole session. This still was a nice little tuo, and it would be perfect for gongfu on the go.

https://instagram.com/p/8a5H6XTGWs/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Oh snap, this is fantastic!
Normally the touchas that I get that are ripe are super dark, but this looked like it was coated in dirt :)
^ that is a good thing

This tea was a little hard to break up so I just made a tornado in my gravity steeper with the water and this guy :p
The result at 15s was wonderful… however, I screwed up once again and started this after 9pm so I only made it to steep 10 or 11; better known as 4 bathroom visits (I was told it is just as accurate)

I hope to find more toucha to be this good :)