Black Beauty

I won’t try to describe the taste – that has been very well accomplished by others, so I second them all. What I can add is that in today’s black tea face off, it easily beats Black Gold for me, as the bold but sweet flavor/no astringency combination is knocking my socks off. This will have to square off against yesterday’s Golden Needle, and I suspect it will win there too. (I am not a huge black tea fan, so, with the exception of some flavored varieties, yeah, I’m really just looking to keep one or two black teas around.) UPDATE: Very strange. Most black teas make me feel stressed and panicky, but no such effect with this one.

This is a lovely black tea. It’s different than my favorite Mandala black, Black Gold, but unique to itself. Very malty and fragrant, with hints of subtle sweetness.

I’m down to the bottom of the bag and I don’t think I saved enough for a full cup. It tastes much too light. I do still taste that dark, bittersweet chocolate but I know it can be better. Adding this one to my wishlist for whenever I decide to place my first Mandala order.

NOOOOO!! I thought this was a Lapsang. It smelled too heavily of campfire smoke, so I didn’t think it could be anything but Lapsang…. But no… It’s a wonderful black tea. And why am I screaming? Because I dumped a bit of it in my bone broth that is cooking from yesterday’s turkey leftovers. Shame, shame, shame. This tea is so smooth. A Keenum style but without the astringency. The aroma is of apricots and slight earth in the wet leaf. I’m currently on my third steeping and it’s still going strong. I hope my bone broth is amazing.

I wasn’t sure I liked this on first sip, but it’s grown on me as I’ve experimented with steeping times. I have brewed it with more leaf and longer steeping times to get 4 steeps out of it. It’s a subtle chocolate taste with some yeasty and nutty notes as well. I’m glad I tried it, but I think I prefer more robust flavors and a hint of astringency. For a soothing afternoon cup, it hits the spot and would go well with any holiday cookie!

This tea apparently has been around for a long time. I see reviews that date back 7 years ago. hehe My quick thoughts are that it was a delicious super roasted black tea. I drank it once the way Mandala suggested and gongfu cha style many times. Lots of notes of baked bread, dark cocoa, malt, dried fruit, stonefruits, chocolate, some mineral towards the end of the infusions. It was smooth and really easy to reach for and an easy sipdown. I’ll probably add this to my next order. I’m just now exploring their black teas since I enjoyed their oolongs and pu’erh tea very much.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a Keemun, Laoshan Black, or any other non- What-cha Golden Snail black tea (so good). I’ve forgotten how comforting they are in their cocoa-malt predictability, and subtle but rich profiles. I thought I was over Chinese black teas; it’s probably the time of year? Oolong is out, black tea and white tea are in- I need to draw a better year plan for my tea drinking habits so I’m not struggling at the height of tea-drinking season.

Anyways, this one is really red. Red is good. Red is warm. Red is Christmas. I’m drinking this in a festive red cup too. Lots of red happening.

I’ll write a more thoughtful note later.

(2017 harvest)

I could have sworn I’d already written a note for this one, but I can’t seem to find it. I absolutely love this tea. I’m drinking it while I work on a writing project, and it’s very comforting. It’s sweet, not astringent, but not weak either. It’s kind of starchy and chocolately and would go nicely with a pastry. In fact, I’m baking right now so I can have a little treat to go with this fantastic tea. It reminds me favorably of Golden Monkey, which is another absolute favorite Chinese black. I always dither over my morning tea decision, but I’ll probably have this one again tomorrow since I love it so much.

Another great tea from Mandala. The dry tea has a lovely cocoa-like aroma, and it brews up to be unbelievably silky and smooth, light but substantial. The cocoa notes are a major part of the charm, in addition to a fresh petrichor and mineral notes. It’s not one of those black teas that are big-bodied or particularly malty, but highly worth savoring slowly. I enjoyed this even in spite of the intense summer heat today.

(On that note, I have been at my dream job for two months today—it’s definitely worthy of a nice cup of tea to celebrate!)

Sipdown.

I drank this whole packet very quickly and I would love to order more of this. Continued to be chocolate and sugar and yummy. Re-steeped well and was forgiving of varying times and temperatures.