93

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.

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 1 min, 0 sec
Geoffrey

If you’re ever passing through MN / Twin Cities in the future, send me a PM. I’d be happy to invite you over for some gongfu cha. I think you’d be great company to drink with. The number of people working to develop a really nice tea culture here is growing. Cheers!

E Alexander Gerster

I have to give a special thank you to you Geoffrey, since it was your great posts that intrigued me and made me want to go outside my comfort zone… I would love to visit MN sometime. It is one of those places that I have never had the opportunity to visit, and I would love to see how the tea culture is growing!

Geoffrey

Thanks! I’m glad to know that the stuff I write about my tea experiences is appreciated and opened up something for you. MN can be a wonderful place to visit for a variety of reasons, so I would say, by all means, consider doing so sometime.

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Geoffrey

If you’re ever passing through MN / Twin Cities in the future, send me a PM. I’d be happy to invite you over for some gongfu cha. I think you’d be great company to drink with. The number of people working to develop a really nice tea culture here is growing. Cheers!

E Alexander Gerster

I have to give a special thank you to you Geoffrey, since it was your great posts that intrigued me and made me want to go outside my comfort zone… I would love to visit MN sometime. It is one of those places that I have never had the opportunity to visit, and I would love to see how the tea culture is growing!

Geoffrey

Thanks! I’m glad to know that the stuff I write about my tea experiences is appreciated and opened up something for you. MN can be a wonderful place to visit for a variety of reasons, so I would say, by all means, consider doing so sometime.

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I have been drinking tea for most of my life, and enjoy learning about Tea Culture from all around the world. I learned early about Russian and British traditions first, since my parents came from Europe, followed by the teas and culture of Ceylon/Sri Lanka and India. Since I have been a practicing Buddhist for the better part of 25 years, I have strong ties to Asia, and have slowly been learning about the teas from each part of the world I encounter. It is a wonderful and interesting journey.

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Raleigh, North Carolina, United States

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