Dexter Send Message

325 Followers / 166 Following

100
drank Mandala Tea Silver Buds Raw 2011 by Mandala Tea
1040 tasting notes

Rambling for a minute first then will get to the tea. I’ve been trying to get my sample box under control. Sip down all the bits and pieces that I have. Was wanting to continue that tonight, but not in the mood for flavored “candy” tea. This was in that box. Garrett from Mandala generously included a sample of it with my last order. Have I mentioned how AMAZING, AWESOME, INCREDIBLE their customer service is? I’ve dealt with a lot of good, even great online customer service from the various tea companies, and Mandala stands out even from those great experiences. If the rest of the teas I ordered from them are anything like this one, I’m going to be a regular customer for a very long time.

I’ve never drank a plain raw pu’erh before (I know there are several in my cupboard, I just ordered a few to see what I thought and hadn’t gotten around to trying any until tonight).

OMG!!!!!!!!!! I don’t have the words/vocabulary/palate to explain how good this is. I didn’t really have any idea how to go about steeping it western style, it looked like a green tea to me, so I did 80C for 2 minutes. Either I got lucky or this tea could be even better than this (nahhhhhh that’s NOT possible). I like the ripe pu’erhs that I’ve tried. They are earthy, musty, bold, kind of in your face. This has the same flavor profile but is much more delicate and subtle. I LOVE this.
If you are nervous about all the nasty things you’ve heard about pu’erh or if you have tried a shu and couldn’t get past the “dirt” taste, I recommend you find something like this. Great Great tea.

EDIT: I just wanted to add that steeps 2,3, and 4 of this were equally amazing. Not much difference between 1,2,3 steep 4 has lost some of the Pu’erh earthiness and is more mellow, but still good. I’ve had a really good night with this tea.
1 comments
Edit
Mandala Tea
Delete

Thank you, my friend, for taking the time to write about your experience with this tea. I am also extremely grateful for your kind words regarding our customer experience. I truly appreciate. We will do whatever we can to help make anyone’s tea experience a great one. All the best!!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

People who liked this

Comments

Mandala Tea
Delete

Thank you, my friend, for taking the time to write about your experience with this tea. I am also extremely grateful for your kind words regarding our customer experience. I truly appreciate. We will do whatever we can to help make anyone’s tea experience a great one. All the best!!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

C.S. Lewis – “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”

I needed to update my profile. I joined Steepster 03Mar13. I am just amazed at how much my tastes have changed since then.
When I discovered loose leaf tea about a year and half ago, I didn’t know anything other than my local Davids and Teavana/Teaopia. Stumbling onto Steepster CHANGED EVERYTHING.
Hello, my name is Dex I’m a tea addict.
I’ve been through the “I need to try every single tea out there” phase. I really hope the worst of that has passed. I’ve learned enough to know that I only need to try HALF of all the teas out there. LOL
When I started this journey, I was all about the flavored rooibos and fruity tisanes. Don’t get me wrong there is still room for dessert (chocolate/caramel/nutty) Rooibos teas in my cupboard and I still do enjoy them, BUT I am quickly learning to appreciate the some of the straight teas of the world.
Big bold (but not icky)pu’erh is suddenly my favorite, followed by woody/roasted oolongs. I’m just starting to explore straight black teas, and have found some that I really like.
Generally speaking I’m not into greens at all, only like the occasional green oolong, and white teas are just too mild for my tastes (unless they are fruit flavored). I still enjoy really good fruit tisanes, but am now cold steeping them.
I don’t like floral/herbal blends, and mint anything is not on my preferred list.
I am still exploring new teas, adapting to my changing tastes, understanding more every day how little I really know about tea. Ultimately I would love to find approximately 50 teas that I just “can’t live without” and always have them in my cupboard. That might not be practical, but that what I’m searching for. It’s going to be a fun journey.

All in all, I love this site. I’ve met some wonderful people, and have gotten to try some amazing teas because of them. It really restores your faith in humanity when you get a note saying “oh by the way I sent you some tea”. Wonderful, generous, people here.

Location

Manitoba Canada

Following These People

See More

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer