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MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #17
I’d agree with everything Veronica said about this one! Malty, with mild spice notes, and very raisin like! The cup is a mid-level strength… so I wish it were more malty and raisiny. Just read her much better tasting note. :D Sorry for the lame tasting notes lately, I’m NOT doing this tea box justice!
Just so everyone is aware, though this tea is good, I’ve tried a few other teas from Single Origin that I liked even more. Keep the Kaporet Kenya in mind as well as the Ginseng Oolong: super-brain-poweriest of all the Ginseng Oolongs. Maybe if I were sipping some now, my tasting notes would be better.

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #16
My first thought is that the Strawberry Rhubarb that I had in the infuser yesterday MUST have contaminated this tea…. though it usually doesn’t do that. And I steeped the Strawberry at JUST boiled and this one after 15 minutes… it doesn’t seem like that much flavor would carry over. Otherwise, if this tea has this much of a fruity flavor then I am amazed! Before taking a sip, there is a sweet floral fragrance coming from the cup. The brew color is very light. Someone mentioned sweet ripe plums with tangy skins, and that is accurate! But so much strawberry. I wish I knew if the flavor was contaminated. Such a light, smooth, syrupy cup, it’s fruit and caramel for me, no chocolate at all. The second steep still had a very light color, but the flavor was more astringent than anything else, which was odd, so I wouldn’t steep it that way again. The rating is for the first steep. If I like this one from Joseph Wesley, I’d probably LOVE all of their teas. They all sound amazing.
Steep #1 // 15-20 min after steeping // 3 min
Steep #2 // 2 min after boiling // 3 min

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #15
This was a decent Darjeeling, though they usually don’t go well for me. I’d say I like this one more than most. Oddly enough, this one tasted like butternut squash, just like the other tea I tried today. Creamy buttery butternut squash with hints of lemon. I probably should have used two teaspoons of 1 1/2 but I didn’t want to hog all of the leaves from the teabox… and my basket steeper was occupied anyway. I wish I had more to say about this one.
Steep #1 // 20 min after boiling // 2 1/2- 3 min

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #14
I could be wrong but I think I’m starting to taste that the high quality pu-erh has a mellower, sweet flavor than the lower quality pu-erh made with tiny leaves that has a very dark deep flavor. I like both types of pu-erh and I’m actually glad that they are different but I REALLY like the deep dark (I guess low quality) pu-erh. I could have been using too many leaves then though. Of course, I’m not finding any of that darkness with any of Mandala’s pu-erhs. Even with Special Dark that I tried months ago, I was surprised that I wasn’t finding it as especially dark as some other pu-erhs I’ve tried. Of course it’s a delicious pu-erh, but not necessarily dark. I’m just glad every pu-erh is slightly different from the next!

This one is very mellow and sweet, it tasted like butternut squash but there was a crisp, bright and fresh flavor to it as well. Even though there was hint of pond scent to the dry leaves, there really wasn’t any in the flavor. The second cup was much of the same on a slightly deeper level, but not really anything like dark chocolate. Never astringent, as pu-erh isn’t usually anyway.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 tsp // few mins after boiling // 2 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #13
I’ve heard lovely things about this one! The dry leaves are dark with hints of gold. Before taking a sip, the fragrance was chocolate followed by smoke. It’s a smoky chocolate tea! There isn’t much info in the description for this one but the milk chocolate flavor seems like there could actually be some sort of chocolate flavoring, but there isn’t. No dark chocolate here. There is a fresh, bright flavor, if that makes sense. Smoky chocolate with a bit of malt: seems like the perfect tea for me! The second steep wasn’t as magical.. it seemed to lose much of the chocolate and smoke.
Steep #1 // 1 tsp // 10 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #12
Another tea with just a little left in the teabox so I steeped another not-full mug. I love these types of white teas. The flavor notes sound DIVINE. The highest quality white tea can become a favorite, even if you don’t think you will like a white tea at all. Just give the best ones a try! Obviously a white tea from Whispering Pines would be delicious. The leaves are different colors, different textures. None of the usual fuzzy nonsense here… somehow this one is super creamy, tiny hints of sweet citrus… it’s almost like a lemon cream cake. Definitely one of my favorite white teas, right next to Verdant’s Bai Mu Dan which also happens to be in this teabox. The second steep was a little disappointing, but I left the leaves for 24 hours a probably steeped it wrong. The flavor just wasn’t nice on that cup. I remember Verdant’s Bai Mu Dan’s second steep was even more flavorful than the first and just creamy lemon…so distinct I remember it months later, so I guess I liked that one more. This one is in a nice metallic pouch, so I don’t think it’s due to road weariness.
Steep #1 // 25 min after boiling // 2 min
Steep #2 // ??

First steeping note for this tea? Shame shame! A few odd ingredients here, I’m not sure would work, which is probably why I didn’t try the sample I bought seven months ago. Yikes. I wasn’t sure chocolate and apple would work together. I also wasn’t sure what type of green tea was in this one. I really wish companies would list specifically which green tea as there is a big difference between a sencha or a hojicha in a chocolate blend. I didn’t see any bright green leaves, most everything was brown, so I’m guessing the green tea is actually a roasted one BUT the picture actually shows green tea leaves. hmm. There is no apple I can detect: just sweet creamy milk chocolate with a medium bodied base. Very similar to another Fusion chocolate tea, but I can’t tell which one right now. Just pure milk chocolate here! The second steep was just as chocolatey.
Steep #1 // 10 after boiling // 3 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 min

Thank you Maria for your awesome sale! I couldn’t resist. A surprising burst of flavors in this one! So I’ll just list them: Something vegetal, maybe cucumber with grassiness. The fresh grass flavor isn’t on the level of the usual green tea though, just enough to notice. Sweet melon: it’s been a while since I’ve had any melon, so I’m not sure which one… the green one. There are also creamy hints of lemon. But again, I’m shocked there is so much flavor here. I like it! It’s actually very unique from anything else I’ve tried. This is supposedly a green tea but it really seems like a white tea. I’d say it tastes like a green tea AND a white tea. Some mouth fuzzies, so I’d probably do a quick rinse the next time.
Steep #1 // 25 min after boiling // 2 min

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #11
The leaves here are dusty, dark and twisty and have a fruity fragrance. It’s always a surprise when the brew turns out so light. The flavor does have hints of fruit: I want to say blueberry but there is also a tiny hint of a bakey flavor and also tangy. Very sweet and juicy. I noticed the syrupy texture first and foremost. It’s very funny that this reminds me of 52Teas Blueberry Danish. The leaves are similar too… at least with my older pouch. It’s almost like most of the flavor of that tea could be in the leaf itself: sweet, blueberry and bakey. The second steep was almost the same as the first. No muting of flavors on that one. I’m not sure if I steeped this one correctly, but I wish I could experiment more. But it’s another tea from the teabox with one teaspoon left!
Steep #1 // 10 min after boiling // 3 min steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min

Edited to add: Oh my gosh, I just checked the price of this one on Harney’s site and now I’m wishing I didn’t dump out the last half inch of this from my second steep!

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #10
Another fantastic pu-erh from Mandala. They are all so different. I used a teaspoon of this one so there would be a little left for someone else to try and just filled the mug not quite to the top. The first cup was all leather, in the tastiest way possible. The most leathery pu-erh I’ve tried. It wasn’t really chocolate until the second very dark cup and lost most of the leather flavor. It’s interesting that it changes so much from cup to cup. I wish I had more to say about this one but I’ve been writing tasting notes sometimes days after I’ve tried a tea, whenever I get a chance. I’m not doing these teas any justice!
I’m very happy I’ve been able to try a few of the Mandala pu-erhs! I love to figure out what I like. It seems most of the teas in the teabox have two teaspoons left, so when I send the teabox on, there will only be one teaspoon left of things. I’m not even sure if I’ll have space to add teas, but I’ll figure it out.
Steep #1 // rinse // 5 min after boiling // 2 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min