250 gram Mandala Wild Mountain Green Raw-2011

Tea type
Pu'erh Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Flowers, Lettuce, Camphor, Honeysuckle, Olive Oil, Rice, Rye, Stonefruit, Butter, Grass, Orchids
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Jason
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 45 sec 8 g 10 oz / 302 ml

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16 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Thank you Garret for your generosity in sending me this sample. It’s always difficult for me to review raw puerhs because I know often times they can benefit from aging and will improve over...” Read full tasting note
    95
  • “Garret kindly sent me a sample of this in my Mandala Tea order! I don’t have much experience with sheng, but this shows signs of good aging, I think. The liquid is slightly sweet and grassy, with...” Read full tasting note
    94
  • “This was generously included as a sample in my Mandala order. Today’s turning out to be a floral kind of day. I’m pleasantly surprised how heavy on the orchids this one is turning out to be....” Read full tasting note
  • “Quick Notes Thanks again to Amy Oh for sharing with me :) Dry Leaf- slightly sweet and grassy (hard to smell sample sizes) Wet Leaf- Bittersweet, floral, fruity(apricot?) Gong Fu Done at work using...” Read full tasting note
    86

From Mandala Tea

From the second highest mountain range in Simao comes the material we chose for this wonderful Mandala exclusive! The mao cha (sun-dried leaf) was picked from 200 year old trees growing wild and naturally. Surrounded by floral and fauna native to the area, these trees grow in a pristine and remote area, far away from roads and pollution. This is some of the highest altitude pu’er you’ll ever find.

While we certainly look forward to what the years will bring to this fine tea as it ages, we are excited to drink it now. It has a wonderful energy, partially due, no doubt, to the clean conditions it is grown in. We chose the raw material over 15 or so other mao chas from the same area because of its rich aroma with hints of camphor and orchids. We are sure you’ll find the rich flavor very enjoyable as you let this tea lie on your tongue and pick up the agave nectar notes along with a smooth grassiness. These is no doubt in our mind that we will source more tea from this same village for more raw pu’er pressings in the future. We are impressed and know that you will be, too. May we share a cup together soon!

About Mandala Tea View company

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16 Tasting Notes

95
2816 tasting notes

Thank you Garret for your generosity in sending me this sample. It’s always
difficult for me to review raw puerhs because I know often times they can
benefit from aging and will improve over time.

1st steep – 2 minutes: This tea is certainly ready to drink now which is great
for a raw pu-erh. It’s a lot more delicate and a bit sweet compared to other
shengs I have had. I’m picking up on a light camphor note and the orchid, yum! Clean and delicious with only a tiny hint of a sour quality (common with young
shengs). It will be very interesting to see what age does to this cake but I
don’t know if I’d want to wait 10 years to drink this. hee hee!

2nd steep – 60 seconds. This cup is a bit lighter due to the shorter steeping
time. Compared to the Mengku gifting raw it is quite delicate and light. I can
almost taste the pristine mountain air in each cup. Interesting that this is a
high altitude tea since it reminds me ever so slightly of an oolong. It’s even a
bit… buttery? I kid you not. how delicious.

3rd steep – 90 seconds. Flavor is still going strong. I really like the fact that this tea isn’t really bitter like some shengs I have tried. Now that the leaves have opened up I’m getting more vegetal notes with this one.

It’s so good and really a great value for the cake. I am getting one as soon as the tea budget allows, which will probably be next month if I am good.

Rating is based on my personal enjoyment factor which is very high!

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 1 min, 0 sec
Bonnie

I’m with you! Who can wait?!

TeaBrat

I have some definite impulse control issues – ha!

ScottTeaMan

here here.

Garret

Oooohhhh… I thought you’d enjoy that! I look forward to being able to get you some of the cakes that are getting pressed this week of that new mao cha that I got on this last buying trip!!

Tea is the one thing that makes me want to be immortal. I stand in my pu’er vault and I see all these cakes of tea, and I wonder “is it possible that I’ll still be alive and making my own tea when this cake is 50 years old?”

Here’s to good food, working out, tea drinking, meditation and a nice pour of organic tequila to keep me rockin’ and rollin’ for another 50 years. 95? That’s totally doable!

May you each live long and healthy lives!!!!

ScottTeaMan

Thank You…….you too!

TeaBrat

Thanks Garret! This was so nice!

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94
148 tasting notes

Garret kindly sent me a sample of this in my Mandala Tea order!

I don’t have much experience with sheng, but this shows signs of good aging, I think. The liquid is slightly sweet and grassy, with the tiniest hint of sour. I’m picking up a bit of a floral note in here as well, like a subdued oolong. I tend to get this interesting back of the throat scratchy feeling with some puerhs too, and while it feels a bit odd, I’ve come to associate it with good puerhs since it’s occurred with most good ones that I’ve had. I’m getting the throat feeling with this one! I also have lots of energy right now after 2 cups (about 8oz).

Thanks again for the sample Garret, and I’m hoping I have the funds to pick up one of these cakes up in the future! :)

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec
Garret

HI Claire! I’m so happy you are enjoying this. You and I seem to have some synchronous pu’er thang goin’ on since we met! I had this same pu’er today, too! I am shooting to do another pressing of the same leaf, from the same family next spring, too. I love that orchid flower hint in this tea… it definitely is reminiscent of some taiwanese high mountain oolongs. I look forward to what this will be in 5-10 more years! I’ve got a bunch set aside for just that sort of finding out :) Have a merry night!

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1429 tasting notes

This was generously included as a sample in my Mandala order.

Today’s turning out to be a floral kind of day. I’m pleasantly surprised how heavy on the orchids this one is turning out to be. Besides flowers, there is a strong note of richly buttered grass. The finish is sour, with an increasingly sweet aftertaste. This combination of flavours creates one interesting cup.

I did a long rinse and some 30 second steeps in my tiny glass pot, using about 200F water. Puerh preparation techniques are currently a work in progress.

EDIT: After a 30 second rinse, I did a casual western mug steep for 1min and it came out incredibly rich and syrupy sweet.

Flavors: Butter, Grass, Orchids

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 6 OZ / 177 ML
Stephanie

Ooh sounds interesting!

Crowkettle

It really is! It has this syrupy sweetness that I’m beginning to love. I may have to pick up a cake when life’s less hectic. :)

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86
187 tasting notes

Quick Notes Thanks again to Amy Oh for sharing with me :)
Dry Leaf- slightly sweet and grassy (hard to smell sample sizes)
Wet Leaf- Bittersweet, floral, fruity(apricot?)

Gong Fu Done at work using a Fuguang (which makes it harder to smell the wet leaf, but makes a great out of the house gong fu method).

1st 30 seconds – Sweet and delicate in the front with floral, vegetal, green/grass notes as it washes down. The taste becomes slightly savory before turning sweet and fruity again. Slightly refreshing.

2nd 40 seconds – Floral bitterness in the front with more apparent grassiness and slightly vegetal taste that slowly becomes sweeter and mellow with somewhat fruity hints while still maintaining its grassy notes.

Final Notes
At first I thought there was not aftertaste to it but I was wrong. The after taste linger quite a bit, but it starts very subtle (mostly sweet), but as the sweetness subsides you can appreciate a more floral and grassy taste.

Preparation
Boiling

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93
7 tasting notes

I recived this as a sample, and it seems Mandala knows my tastes, this came out very smooth, with just a touch of bitterness at the end, and now I need to order a full cake. With most puers Iv come to expect a very strong and almost musty taste but these are so smooth and unlike any I have had before its once again clear that alot of thought and care went into this product.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 45 sec
MagicDon

also as I drank it, a bit of fruitiness came through that was a very nice suprise.

Garret

So happy you dig this. I am starting to get into a hoarding mindset with this one as the number of cakes begins to dwindle. So excited about this tea. Both Jamie and I are eyeing up the stash of these and deciding how much we are going to buy for our personal collection. And you are definitely right with the fruitiness that comes through, I get that as well. I also like the floral notes present even in the dried leaf.

Try this: heat up the pot with hot water. Once the pot is heated up, dump that water out and then put the dried leaf in and cover. let it sit for a few seconds. As the heat transfers into the pot, it opens up the aroma of the dried leaf. If you haven’t done this before, give it a try. I do it with every tea now.

Enjoy, my friend!!

Garret

MagicDon

will do! thank you, hope I can get a few before you guys run out.

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1113 tasting notes

Strong sheng with some bitterness to it that bites back as I sip away.

This proves, once again, that sheng should be drank when they are ancient (at least by me that is)

The leaf looks mid-grade and not in the high range, but then again I only had a sample that was broken off of a cake.

Ubacat

Use a lower temperature to brew this (Between 80-90 C) and start drinking after 4th or 5th infusion. That should help. Probably just lowering the temperature will take away the bitterness.

Liquid Proust

I always brew my sheng at 188-192f… I just have an aversion for bitterness

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107 tasting notes

Tobacco aroma, like every other sheng pu’er I’ve encountered. One short rinse, then short steeps (10 secs) @190. There must be something about pu’er that just isn’t for me. When I read reviews and folks are describing all these interesting and different flavors, and all I ever get is tobacco, it’s depressing. But on the upside, there are an infinite number of varieties of tea out there for me to explore.

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88
64 tasting notes

tastes like greens, Veggies, flowers, and black

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100
673 tasting notes

this tea reminds me of lettuce

when I smell the dry leaves, I don’t smell anything.

when I smell the leaves wet, I smell a smell that smells like boiled lettuce :)

when I smell the brewed tea, it smells like boiled lettuce and flowers

when I taste it, it tastes like boiled lettuce and flowers

many thanks to mr. mopar for sending me this sample :)

Flavors: Flowers, Lettuce

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 0 sec 7 g 25 OZ / 750 ML

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818 tasting notes

Another tea from the raw sampler. This one was much more enjoyable up front, but too mild for me in the later steepings. I did a 10-second rinse and then steeped 10/10/15/15/25/25/35/45sec/1:30/2:30/5min. In the early steeps, I enjoyed mild camphor, fruity, and even a bit buttery notes. There was a bite to a couple of these steeps. After the bite receded, I was left with a mild sweetness, but nothing too exciting. I think I like Heart of the Old Tree better. Not bad, and certainly, the first steeps were good, but not memorable to me.

boychik

I want to try it w/ boil water. What was your temp ?

Tealizzy

I used 195 degrees. Good luck!

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