Flowering Black Tea Cones

This sample was a gift from an anonymous Steepster friend! I’ve really enjoyed Mandala’s black teas so far, so I’m happy I get to try another one. This is sort of a flowering tea, the long Yunnan tea leaves are tied into a cone shape which then unfurls into a little blossom when it’s steeped. The cones are a little over an inch high, and striped with black and gold. The website recommends 2-3 cones per 8 ounces of water, so I used 3 cones and then used about 10 ounces instead just to be sure.

When I looked into my steeping basket, there were cute little anemone-like creatures in there! This is a simple but yummy tea. It’s quite malty with a thick and smooth texture. There’s a little bit of that Yunnan savory note, but there’s also a touch of dark and sweet molasses. Tasty and very easy to drink! :)

A little while back, my sister went to the opening of a William Ashleys store and came back with a cute little teapot (http://instagram.com/p/wOp7cPvJV5/). I have been trying to think of the perfect tea to use in it first and today I finally recalled the flowering tea cones Sil gave to me a few months back. And so, I got to brewing (http://instagram.com/p/wOqO1avJXl/).

Now as I sip on the tea I am surprised at how good it is because usually I have found the flowering teas to be more about the looks than the taste. This one actually delivers. It has a slight astringency that underlies the taste but for some reason it seems to work in this case. It provides a nice contrast to the sweet maltiness and the fruity undertones of the tea. Yum.

I received a sample of this with one of my Mandala orders.
I really shouldn’t be writing anything about this tea. I’m still pretty sick – not sure how true my taster is. I’m just tired of drinking lemon tea, ginger, honey etc. Desperately needed real tea tonight.
This is real tea. I’m finding it really malty, little yeasty (bready), hint of chocolate. It’s doing the trick. I have more and will try it again when I can actually breathe.
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Thanks for this one Sil!

It’s my last tea of the night! I feel like I got a pretty good amount of stuff in today. I mean, no sipdowns but at least I tried a new tea and had fun doing unfamiliar things with familiar blends.

As for this one, I steeped it in my glass Octo mug so I could watch it bloom. I have to say, it’s definitely not the prettiest bloom. In fact, mine kinda came apart in the cup. Taste wise, it was somehow better than I anticipated; though I don’t know what I was anticipating other than it was not this. The tea was not the most mind blowing straight black, but it does have one thing really going for it: it’s very malty. And I do love malty blacks.

So again; thanks Sil! I think I’ll enjoy the last two blooms!

These tea comes are pretty little towers with visible prominent copper gold buds. Using 1 cone/100ml/95°C I ended up with a maple colour brew.

1 min. Grainy notes, malt, honey, plum.
Plum, honey, cocoa,light grain, and faint deeper tones of malt. ( much sweeter than my other one, but less spicy).

2 min. Malt, grain notes, cocoa, hints of currants.
Honey, light currant jelly, faint leathery notes, pepper, cocoa, faint grain notes, plum.

3 min honey and plum mix together in a tone that reminds me of apricot, grain notes are much stronger, cinnamon apparent, very faint cocoa and malt and a touch of tartness in the end.

4 min, mild grain notes, mild malt honey

6 min similar

These cones yielded a smooth honeyed tea with light grain, varying fruit, malt and mild cocoa tones.

Nicole asked me the other day how these compared to my other ones http://steepster.com/yyz/posts/252357. I would have to say that visually these ones are a little bit bigger and slightly more tippy. Taste wise, Mandalas offering is slightly sweeter and smoother whereas the other has a more intense deeper flavour, with stronger malt, chocolate, spice and tart fruit notes. It is also more tannic. It leaves a tingling on the tongue from spice, whereas Mandala leaves more honeyed notes. Both are really nice!

I have to thank Sil for these cones. It’s been nice watching them open in my smaller Turkish coffee glasses.

Method: 3 cones, 8 oz, 185 degrees, grandpa style

Dry Leaf Aroma: Black tea, a little malt

Brewing Aroma: I recognize something, but I’m not sure what it is. Dang it.

Flavor: Smooth, malty, not bitter. I will brew these properly eventually, but I purchased them to take to work specifically for this style of brewing because they are quick and convenient. I think I made a good choice!

Buy Nothing Summer Stash-down Time!

The only other flowering tea I have had was Numi from a gift set that I bought on sale for the glass pot it came with :D Those were pretty unimpressive and downright tasteless.

This I received as a sample awhile back in my Mandala order. I am on a mission this summer to try and reduce the amount of stash in my cupboard to make way for new and awesome things to try in the fall. So it is time for finally try this tea!

There were 7 cones in the little zip bag, but no instructions. I googled up a review from Oolong Owl that mentioned 2 cones in 6oz of water. My little pot is like 14 or 16 oz, so I went with 3. 2 would have been plenty.

Plain, the tea is a pretty basic black tea. It steeps pretty dark, so the “flowers” are not that viewable – spiky balls dimly viewed in the murky light of this stormy day. It reminds me of lakeweed, and I looked for magical merfolk, but nothing seems to be swimming around.

Sweetened, the tea livens up a bit, and is pretty good. After a small plain cup, and a small sweetened one, I made a latte with the last of the first pot. It’s acceptable, but not something that makes me sit up and take notice.

I’m brewing a second pot now to see if the leaves have anything left in them. I should have heated the water again though. I suspect the kettle cooled too much.

It’s not a bad tea or anything, but not something that would impress me to order it as a loose tea. And I like my little luxuries, but the idea of someone working to form tea leaves into a tiny flower by sewing them by hand seems like a ludicrous activity, the ultimate in ridiculous decadence. I’m not sure that makes sense when I’m drinking things that get hand picked but it just seems like it crosses some line in my mind.

So I’ll use these, and they are kind of fun, but I am not going to seek out flowering teas.

This is another tea from Nicole’s tea part. Thank you for sharing.

This was really yummy. Sweet, malty. It had a bit of the “chewy” taste that makes these yunnan teas so delicious. This tea to me would also be perfect iced. It is smooth and sweet and not too strong. I really enjoyed this one and will be adding it to the wish list to purchase the next time from Mandala. Thank you!

Sipdown and so very happy for Sil sending me a sample of this tea!
My family and I drove to Sonoma yesterday to attend my sister’s graduation and I think mother cried hehe. We decided to stay there and booked a hotel with breakfast soooo hot water for me it is! This was very easy to drink in a restaurant. Just drop the cones inside, let it steep, and pick it out with a fork. Luckily they were tied together pretty well so there wasn’t that many loose leaves floating around.

A really nice black tea! Nice and dark, and with a small touch of milk it tasted amazing!

Thanks again Sil for sending this to me!

Such pretty little things. Sweet, malty & smooth.

I steeped them today for the first time for a tea tasting party. I used 4 cones for about 16 ounces of bottled water. Left them in the little glass pot for probably 20 minutes all told.

I tasted it first at about 10 minutes. It was strong but not bitter. I steeped another little 16 ounce pot with 3 cones and tried it at about 5 minutes. It was obviously not as strong, but it was smoother. I honestly liked them both ways.

Everyone at the party liked this one a lot. There was one attendee who was new to our group and she mainly does bagged grocery store greens. She is now a Yunnan convert. :) We also did Harney’s Apricot Black, Butiki’s Rose Violet Calendula Oolong, Boston Tea Company’s Lemon Honey Chamomile Premium Rooibos, Mandala’s Morning Sun (which, by the way, is also fantastic with a spot of cream), New Mexico Tea’s Cream Earl Grey and Capital Teas’ Dragon Pearls. I had planned to do another 3 or 4 but we were all floating after these, even with small cups!