81
drank Four Leaves Ripe by Mandala Tea
807 tasting notes

Full review on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 12th of November 2012.
This is a great young pu’er.
I feel it could mature more but a great starting point with notes of leather and berry.
There is also a buttered toast element growing here.
A great starter Shu!

mrmopar

i have a sample of this garret sent me i think it will be in a cup this weekend!

Garret

MRM.. had you got the cake sample or the loose leaf sample? I can’t remember which I sent you or Azz, either. Whenever I do a ripe pressing, I usually set aside 20- 50 lbs of the material to sell as loose leaf. Interesting how they age differently.

MRM.. had you got the cake sample or the loose leaf sample? I can’t remember which I sent you or Azz, either. Whenever I do a ripe pressing, I usually set aside 20- 50 lbs of the material to sell as loose leaf. Interesting how they age differently.I did not have enough material of the “year of the dragon” tea to have as looseleaf and pressed it all into cakes. However, I did get over 200lbs of the material for my latest pressing (pressed last week in china) and saved 50 lbs for loose leaf after pressing almost 400 250gram cakes. Haven’t named the new one yet. i wait until it’s pressed, have a few mindful session with it and let it tell me what it should be called. Can’t wait to have you both try it.

Azzrian

Hi Garret – Mine was loose leaf. :)

Garret

ahhh… ok, thanks! Yes… the cake has aged much differently, more speedily when it hit the 2 year mark. I’ve got one customer out in CT who buys 4 of the cakes every month. it’s the only tea he says he’ll drink until they are gone :) He brews it super dark. Kicked coffee almost two years ago because of it. glad I got lots pressed… I just counted them the other day, I have only 60 of the 250 gram cakes left :(

Azzrian

Haha sounds like he better make a big purchase soon! :)

Garret

Amen to that, Sister! I have held back two tongs of it just for my personal stash. I should also have you try the golden gong ting that I have. I bought all I could in ‘07. It is from ’05. Delicious. I have another very very small batch ripe tea coming in soon that is very close in quality, just younger (2011)… good heavens where am I going to keep all this? The vault that we store our pu’ers in is getting cramped. Smells like heaven though. It really is a vault. Our biz is in a 1970’s built bank and we can keep just the right humidity and temp in the vault for optimal storage. Now we are going to have to build another suitable place for storage!!

Azzrian

That actually sounds quite neat and perfect for temp! I imagine finding another location won’t be easy but its nice that your business is growing so much! :)

Garret

Very nice! Actually, we are moving our headquarters to a different city and should open there in mid-january. The woman who purchased our wellness center is going to continue having a tea shop located here in Winona (as well as a food co-op and several coffeeshops) so we’ll actually have a 2nd shop! Our new shop is where we will be building a whole new vault for storage. We get to build the new shop to our specs so that’s fun… And I have a place to store alot of my teas in China, as well, so we won’t need to build our vault super huge. I don’t know how this all happened, all I wanted to do was drink tea. then I wanted to share tea. And now… well… here we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Azzrian

Dang! Way to go! I didn’t realize you sold your wellness center. It sounds like this is a big evolution for you! Kudos!

Garret

Yes… I have been doing bodywork/wellness consulting for 16 years now. It is strange to let go of this part of my life and the wellness center, too. But the woman who is taking over is super perfect. She will do very well here and we are happy that she is the one who has the place now. And she is into tea so this really helps all our customers in this city that they will still be able to purchase here!

As we get the new place up and running, I will still do one or two bodywork sessions a week, I’m sure. I love to do bodywork so much and can’t imagine life without it. and of course, my passion for health, wellness, healing, meditation are going no where, I will continue to help no matter what I am doing. Life is one big experiment, tweak a few variables and check the outcome.

What a wonderful opportunity to be able to have a body and see what we can do with it. Oh yes, and a wide-open heart, too :)

mrmopar

hi garret you gave me a cake sample.

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Comments

mrmopar

i have a sample of this garret sent me i think it will be in a cup this weekend!

Garret

MRM.. had you got the cake sample or the loose leaf sample? I can’t remember which I sent you or Azz, either. Whenever I do a ripe pressing, I usually set aside 20- 50 lbs of the material to sell as loose leaf. Interesting how they age differently.

MRM.. had you got the cake sample or the loose leaf sample? I can’t remember which I sent you or Azz, either. Whenever I do a ripe pressing, I usually set aside 20- 50 lbs of the material to sell as loose leaf. Interesting how they age differently.I did not have enough material of the “year of the dragon” tea to have as looseleaf and pressed it all into cakes. However, I did get over 200lbs of the material for my latest pressing (pressed last week in china) and saved 50 lbs for loose leaf after pressing almost 400 250gram cakes. Haven’t named the new one yet. i wait until it’s pressed, have a few mindful session with it and let it tell me what it should be called. Can’t wait to have you both try it.

Azzrian

Hi Garret – Mine was loose leaf. :)

Garret

ahhh… ok, thanks! Yes… the cake has aged much differently, more speedily when it hit the 2 year mark. I’ve got one customer out in CT who buys 4 of the cakes every month. it’s the only tea he says he’ll drink until they are gone :) He brews it super dark. Kicked coffee almost two years ago because of it. glad I got lots pressed… I just counted them the other day, I have only 60 of the 250 gram cakes left :(

Azzrian

Haha sounds like he better make a big purchase soon! :)

Garret

Amen to that, Sister! I have held back two tongs of it just for my personal stash. I should also have you try the golden gong ting that I have. I bought all I could in ‘07. It is from ’05. Delicious. I have another very very small batch ripe tea coming in soon that is very close in quality, just younger (2011)… good heavens where am I going to keep all this? The vault that we store our pu’ers in is getting cramped. Smells like heaven though. It really is a vault. Our biz is in a 1970’s built bank and we can keep just the right humidity and temp in the vault for optimal storage. Now we are going to have to build another suitable place for storage!!

Azzrian

That actually sounds quite neat and perfect for temp! I imagine finding another location won’t be easy but its nice that your business is growing so much! :)

Garret

Very nice! Actually, we are moving our headquarters to a different city and should open there in mid-january. The woman who purchased our wellness center is going to continue having a tea shop located here in Winona (as well as a food co-op and several coffeeshops) so we’ll actually have a 2nd shop! Our new shop is where we will be building a whole new vault for storage. We get to build the new shop to our specs so that’s fun… And I have a place to store alot of my teas in China, as well, so we won’t need to build our vault super huge. I don’t know how this all happened, all I wanted to do was drink tea. then I wanted to share tea. And now… well… here we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Azzrian

Dang! Way to go! I didn’t realize you sold your wellness center. It sounds like this is a big evolution for you! Kudos!

Garret

Yes… I have been doing bodywork/wellness consulting for 16 years now. It is strange to let go of this part of my life and the wellness center, too. But the woman who is taking over is super perfect. She will do very well here and we are happy that she is the one who has the place now. And she is into tea so this really helps all our customers in this city that they will still be able to purchase here!

As we get the new place up and running, I will still do one or two bodywork sessions a week, I’m sure. I love to do bodywork so much and can’t imagine life without it. and of course, my passion for health, wellness, healing, meditation are going no where, I will continue to help no matter what I am doing. Life is one big experiment, tweak a few variables and check the outcome.

What a wonderful opportunity to be able to have a body and see what we can do with it. Oh yes, and a wide-open heart, too :)

mrmopar

hi garret you gave me a cake sample.

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Bio

Most of my reviews will be “snippits” of full reviews that can be found at http://sororiteasisters.com/
Posted every evening at 6 EST.
I usually try to post the exact date that the full reviews will post however sometimes post dates need changed so it may not always be correct. Generally the dates are correct however.

About Me:

Most of my reviews, although not all, will be quite favorable of the tea. This is not because all tea is excellent, but more so because I generally will not waste my time on an inferior tea. If I do not care for a tea I won’t continue to drink it let alone spend time reviewing it. If you see a review by me you basically know it is a quality tea. Granted it may not suit your specific taste buds, we all like different things, but as for a tea on the whole it is a good one, from a good company.

I am a spiritual advisor by profession.
I have two “young adult” children.
Four cats and three dogs.

Some of my hobbies include gardening, essential oil therapy, natural perfumery with essential oils, and cooking.

I look for complexity overall in any tea, dimensions to the flavors.

I believe tea should evoke a feeling, thought, emotion, or attitude.

I enjoy most all oolongs, blacks, whites, and greens.

I always love to try a good yellow tea.

I favor unadulterated teas but I do have my longings for a good flavored tea now and then so I don’t rule them out by any means!

I enjoy green rooibos don not like red rooibos.

Find me on facebook and twitter – Azzrian Visions

Location

Kansas

Website

http://www.azzrianvisions.com

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