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this is really resteeps from the other day. I put the leaves in the freezer until I could get back to it. I was feeling very slow moving this afternoon and then remember it so I poured a little hot water over it to wake the leave up and went on its much more mineral and mushroom flavors now and that quite nice for this sticky warm afternoon! Its not inspiring me to work much though so maybe I need new infusion of something fresh?

This is one of 3 free smapels I received from greem terrace. I was waiting until I had quiet time and no allergies to start sampling. This one surprised me with how delicious and logn lasting it is. I brewed it gonfu style (in a tiny western style pot). I was surprised by how vegetal and floral the dry leaves smelled. They traveled so far and tightly wrapped I thought they would have little aroma but they smelled like kale, Meyers lemon and something floral. The first brews 30 and 45 sec were a very light liquid with a fair amount of that kale scent. The taste also kale and kelp with some lemon. The leaves didn’t’ fully unfurl until brews 3-4 and then the milky flavor also started to develop with the lemon dropping out. Surprise is brews 5-6 were sweeter and a bit vanilla with cream then more of the florals which continued to develop. Brews 5-6 floral almost jasmine like with a hint of kale scent and still creamy and sweet. 7! and *! less creamy still sweet and floral. I had to do 9 to see and still an oolong scent and sweet flavor. I brewed a 10th and it still had some sweetness and overall green tea flavor but I had drunk so much tea by then I set it aside and I’ll do a second sampling soon to be sure. This is one very pleasant and long lasting milk oolong. Not as much milk/cream as some but I am loving the green floavor and scent!

Hmm somehow my note deleted itself. This was a surprise to me, I ordered the mandala sampler for 2 of the teas and this was included. Its a different Pu’er than I am used to, when rinsed the leaves had a strong mushroom scent but it quickly faded. The first brews were light and creamy with stronger vanilla developing and a slight sweet/hay taste. The first brews were not as dark in color as I expected either but the third and fourth were a bright brick color. At this point more fruit came to the palate, fig and plum as the vanilla faded. The final brews (5 and 6) the mushroom started to reappear. I was using half the sample with a 2 oz at a time of water and combing 2 brews in each small cup. This is a nice gentle Pu’er on a day when all other decisions were wrong this one was a good one, you can’t go wrong with it. Its the kinder glentler side of ripe Pu’er

Does anyone in the us want to try this tea? I don’t like it enough and I have a lot of it. I want it to be gone so I can get something else!
Its my second black of the day and I need something to wake me up, it works well for that and I think those who love floral and tropical would love this tea

Oh dear Monday is going to be hard. So I opened up this lovely comtainer of vanilla tea and floated in the scent for a few moments enjoying the bourbon and vanilla clouds, then brewed up a strong cup to start the day. No matter how long I steep it, this tea stays smooth and doesn’t get bitter. The vanilla clouds remain over the cup, I added some mesquite honey for an extra treat and I’m hoping it will get me grounded and energized to deal with the day.

I just had to buy the ripe pu’er sampler from mandala. It arrived at a perfect moment. I just arrived home from a depressing day-I spent the entire day getting my tooth repaired right before a big birthday celebration. It felt like I got older and suddenly my teeth were fragile and the dentist was having issues and there was bad traffic etc. So that night I just looked at the samples but after the party I had to brew up year of the dragon. I was born in the eyar of the dragon! I used 1/2 the 7g sample in a small tea pot (western style). I rinsed and then brewed for 30/45/50 etc about a 4 oz serving at a time (so a mix of eastern and western styles) and ..wow the perfect thing! It has some of the hints of chocolate and vanilla from my birthday cake in the first brewing. It has that fantastic orange/brown color to the liquid which I love. The 2nd and 3rd brews still have the hints of chocolate and vanilla but with some cream and fruit sneaking in. By 4 & 5 its more fig and plum (or pear I couldn’t decide) and just a hint of mushroom. The last brewing was just light more scents than flavor but for @ 3 grams that was a long way to go! As a “dragon” I think I am going to have to own some of this in the future! it aslo helped to calm me down and sooth the pain and swelling in my mouth from the all day tooth repair. I have to be patient, try the rest of the sampler before I declare it my all time favorite ripe pu’er of course I have only tired a limited number of them but I could stop here! For those who like the dense thick pu’er this is not one of them, its lighter and glentler less “coffee like” than some, but that’s what I love!

Sadly its a sipdown, no more gunpowder in my little cupboard. I always have liked gunpowder but I don’t buy it much. This is a mild various with just a hint of smoke and wood, more vegetal, and sweet tastes. If you brew it longer you get more smoke but also more astringency! I’ll buy this again some day but hopefully I’ll find other gunpowders to sample first. I love watching the little balls explode so I tend to overbrew!

Home at last after hot hot dry and then damp and full of pollen and an endless drive (the usual 3-4 hours became 6-7) then we have this weird weather with hot and humid and rain?? Rain in so cal in summer? So I’m having more of this wonderful tea that tastes higher drier and cooler than the climate here. I will have to look for tea drops for next time as I could barely get hot water (never boiling) on this trip. And horrors, my electric tea kettle seems to be leaking from somewhere!

The weather threw a wrench in my palns so I’m drinking teas that aren’t what I really want either. I have a big box of this but its nto a favorite. Its very floral I think the scent overtakes the flavor making it less pleasant to drink. Today its hot and sticky and so the tropical scent seems to go with the day and I’m having my first steep of this. I get a lot of nice flavors if I don’t’ breathe through my nose! Some fruit, a hint of coconut and a decent tea blend base but I wish I didn’t’ have to smell it! The flowers make the actual product nice to look at with yellow and blue accents. Steepign it at a lower temp helps avoid the bitterness I had in earlier cups!

I finished the last of my 1 oz of this tea today during an extremely rare summer thunderstorm. This tea was not what I thought it would be initially. It is best cool. Dry, it has strong tobacco and carob notes, its a mix of gold and brown leaves that is quite pleasant to look at and smell. I tried brewing it various ways but settled on 2tsp. I get 1 decent resteep out of the leaves this way. The tea when hot has a faint whiff of chocolate the taste is like the hot carob we had at camp with a little smoke and perhaps some pine and sweetness which must be what the vanilla is contributing, it is dense like coffee and I think this would be a good coffee drinker’s tea. As it cools (and the batch I cold brewed) I get some scent but no taste of vanilla perhaps masked in the strong carob. The second steep is not as coffee like, the sweetness is gone but there’s more tobacco and carob taste. I tried adding avocado honey to this cup and the molasses like sweetness really compliments it.