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Just an additional note to my previous review on this since I finished my order of this tonight. I really enjoyed it and will keep it on my cupboard. I hope some of you pros will review this since I’m far from having “absolute taste” hehe. There is so much here in these infusions and only know “This tastes so good” vs “Bleh”.

Having said that… This tastes so good. ^^

Speaking of " absolute taste" it reminds me of a series Alice in Paris (Amazon prime) which I adore where I learned the term. She discovers at a young age that she has the ability to detect ingredients in food. I’m far from it so thank you all for your reviews, it helps me so much what to look for when I do try the teas you all like.

Have a great night.^^

I prepared in a 110ml porcelain gaiwan at ~200F, 5g, rinse, 10 steeps – 10/13/16/19/22/25/28/31/34/37.

Dry leaves are dark green and light green, has a woodsy aroma. Light pale amber liquor. I got it on sale and I’m glad I did, it’s a good sheng… To me, it was like a step up in boldness from some delicate shengs with many of the same notes.

Some seaweed, marine, floral, wood, smoke notes. It’s complex as it evolves steep to steep. On the 4th steep on, a little drying on my tongue going on, astringency. It wasn’t overwhelmingly bitter to me. It’s delicious and pepped me up some hehe.

Update: I’m using the last of this today 2/18/19 and this time I prepared it 7g in 10 oz, rinse 10 seconds and steeped it for 30 seconds, the 2nd steep for 1 minute. I prefer it this way much more.

I’m a sheng over shou Pu’er person and I particularly like this type. It didn’t let me down. I had it before bed last night and unfortunately, it outlasted me. zzzzz. It still had a lot of flavor after the 15th steep. The dry leaves smell earthy, a pretty silver/gold/brown coloring. It began with stonefruit and apple notes which continued throughout. The apple got lighter as I progressed, it was loaded with many stonefruit notes, like apricots-peaches, slight honey-like notes and at the latter end of the infusions, floral notes became more pronounced. It’s pleasantly sweet but never got syrupy, became slightly but pleasantly astringent at the 9th steep. It had a long-lasting finish. Stayed with me until I brushed my teeth for bed :P.

Porcelain gaiwan, 5g, 200˚ F, 15 steeps: rinse, 10s, 13s, 16s, 19s, 22s, 25s,28s, 31s, 34s, 37s, 40s, 43s, 46s, 49s, 52s

I debated making a review on this because eastkyteaguy did such a great review on it. Far better than my inability to pick out taste notes hehe. However, I just had to because I absolutely loved this.

Sticky Rice is one of my ‘things’ in life, and I’ve tried all kinds and this one is by far the best. I always thought it was best with green tea and I like the pu’er ones too but their description is right in that it goes very well with Oolong, if done right, of course. I really have nothing to add to his focused and thorough review (which convinced me to try it hehe) except that I loved it. It’s just the right balance of everything, not overly sweet, well-balanced, and has a ‘Je ne sais quoi’ about it. For me, it’s a keeper.

porcelain gaiwan, 5g, 110ml, 194°F, 10 steeps, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 1m5s, 1m10s, 1m15s, 1m25s, 1m35s, 1m45s

The free sample came in a resealable ziplock bag. Looking up the tea, here’s something a little different… Oxidation: 90% and Roast: 0.

The leaves are dark, rolled up with a sweet floral aroma. The liquor is a clear but dark amber, almost pu’er-like, with a honey-like aroma. The taste is superb with honey-molasses-like flavors but with light floral, light spice notes. It’s medium-bodied, but it’s rich and has a super smooth mouthfeel, and a long finish (I still taste it and I finished a while ago). The prominent molasses, honey, malt notes absent of bitter notes makes it a wonderful wake-me-up tea.

Porcelain gaiwan, 3.6g, 80 ml, 90°C/194°F, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 1m5s.
Note: I split my sample in two, so I can try it again at a later date so that’s why I didn’t have the typical 5-6g.

The liquor has a bright amber-ish color. It’s aromatic with a light orchid and strong honey aromas. The tea leaves are dark green. I was reading the interesting story behind this Hu’s tea “The Big Dark Leaves” on Mandala’s site while sampling this. How Mr. Hu saved the ancient tea trees during the 2008 financial crisis. Pretty interesting stuff. ^^

Back to the tea hehe… Although the aroma was a strong wild honey smell, the taste of honey was light, delicate. Very mellow floral, wood, sweet notes. I enjoyed the first and the 4th steep but the 2nd and the 3rd were very bitter. My dad, if he was alive, would have loved it, it reminded me of this “delicious” soup he used to make, made of bittermelon. I ate everything he cooked except that soup lol, no matter how much he tried to gaslight me saying how “delicious” it was. He was born and raised in the Philippines so he cooked all of their authentic dishes but that was the only one that I could not eat, no matter how much rice I put in it.

So this tea isn’t for me, although I’m generally a sheng over shou type of Pu’er person. It’s just a little too bitter. If I ever get another sample, I’ll try to lower the temperature and play around with the brew & see if I can make those honey notes sing instead of the bitter notes.

Yixing gaiwan, 7g, 205F, 15/25/35/45 and debating to continue. :P

I had quite a heavy dinner, a taco salad with lots of salsa and guacamole.

So now, I’m just chillin’ and am enjoying this “sticky rice pu’er tea” tonight. It’s rich, although not too much depth because after the 4th infusion, the majority of the rich flavor is gone but the rest of the infusions are still flavorful, just a much lighter flavor. It’s earthy, leather notes but not too overwhelming, and that’s a good thing for me because I don’t like the heavy leather taste. It’s a little nutty, has brown sugar notes throughout with a very light sweet finish. Not sugary sweet. Some dark chocolate notes (especially in the beginning) could be sugarcane sweetness, not sure and then transforms into a more creamy light milk sweetness on the 4th or 5th steeping. Throughout the steepings is a very delicate glutinous rice scent that I love. It’s a good balance but I wouldn’t mind even more of the sticky rice flavor personally.^^

Porcelain gaiwan, 5g, 212˚ F, 7 steeps: rinse, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 85s

This is the last of my Iron Goddess Charcoal Roasted Oolong from Mandela. I’m not really into charcoal anything, even Burger King hamburgers hehe. Having said that, I would take any charcoal roasted oolong over a charcoal hamburger any day… And well, I did enjoy this sample very much.

The aroma is interesting, it’s definitely the roasted aroma that one smells whenever you sample charcoal roasted teas but it has hints of cinnamon and other spices. Kind of reminded me of this one coffee (Mexico’s Cafe De Olla) with the cinnamon and light piloncillo notes. Mandela’s description is one of raisins and sweet caramelized onions so maybe that is where those notes actually come from. I couldn’t detect the onions at all. I did over steep on the 4th infusion (cry) and so that may be why. A good opportunity missed again.^^

Overall I enjoyed this tea. It is mellow, smooth and lightly sweet with a good finish.

Really love the smell of this tea after the first few infusions. It has an outstanding rich roasted aroma along with the smell of dark chocolate, lightly roasted nuts, a touch of floral. I always thought that I enjoy the smell of tea more than the taste, this is one of those teas. I have no complaints about the taste either. It is very smooth, mellow and has a mild sweetness, no bitterness, light minerality.

I’ve had a few samples of this and I’m always pleased as it’s a well-balanced tea, in that the roasted and floral notes complement each other instead of compete against each other. I was surprised when I first sipped it in that it’s not quite full-bodied as I thought.. Because the liquor is an intense dark color and although flavorful, I’d still call it more a medium-bodied tea. Less astringent as well compared to many of the other Da Hong Pao that I’ve tried, it’s very pleasant for an after dinner tea. I can see why some prefer this as their daily tea and is very popular on TeaVivre’s site. The first few times I tried this was at about 195-200℉. It’s much better (to me) at 212℉, hence the rating change.

Yixing, 212℉, 110 ml, 8g, 6 steeps: rinse, 15s, 25s, 35s, 60s, 100s, 160s

Had to go to the DMV today. Yeah, no matter what city or state, it’s always the most inefficient operation ever. lol

I wanted something special so I chose the Nonpareil Taiwan DaYuLing High Mountain Cha Wang Oolong Tea. The type of tea that is flourishing waaaay the heck up there (2500m+), away from it all, where its cooler year around. The type of tea that is quite expensive but hey, it is DaYuLing, and a great one too ($36.90 for 50g).

Tightly dark green nuggets, large leaves when unfurled. It has a noteworthy aroma with a mixture of orchid, vegetal, fruit, sweetness. Smooth, silky, calming. Sweet, creamy, buttery, some chestnut, umami, gardenia/floral notes, seaweed/marine notes towards the end. Balanced and well-rounded, complex yet subtle, lingers at the throat and back of the tongue well after you finish your steep, a comforting effect. Full-bodied, thick mouth-feel & in the throat.

Gaiwan, 7g, 212℉, 110ml, 8 steeps: rinse, 30s, 30s, 50s, 70s, 90s, 120s, 150s, 180s