Temple Stairs 2014 Mini Tuocha

Tea type
Pu'erh Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Bread, Fruity, Leather, Spices, Caramel, Chocolate, Earth, Nutty, Smooth, Chestnut, Creamy, Hay, Sweet, Warm Grass, Wet Earth, Mineral, Citrus, Pleasantly Sour, Wet Wood, Bitter, Dark Chocolate, Dark Wood, Sweet, Cocoa, Coffee, Barnyard, Brown Sugar, Grain, Dark Bittersweet, Vineyards
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Ag
Average preparation
Boiling 0 min, 45 sec 6 g 6 oz / 189 ml

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37 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I recently saw that Shae wrote a note for a mini tuocha and the wrapper looked familiar… that I might have it in my Mandala mini tuocha grab bag.  I did indeed have some of this wrapper design in...” Read full tasting note
    95
  • “Pulled from TTB 2022, shared by Inkling. Oh wow, oh wow. I nearly bought one of everything from Mandala’s website after my first sip of this. I’m still probably going to go back and buy a few...” Read full tasting note
    98
  • “I haven’t been feeling the gaiwan love for several days and have been wanting easier teas to drink, so thank you Kawaii433 for sending this mini tuo cha my way :) Grandpa is the theme of the week...” Read full tasting note
    93
  • “Additional notes: It is still hands-down the best mini tuocha to this girl. It really never disappoints. The brew is a very dark color shou with a pleasant nutty aroma, the taste profile is always...” Read full tasting note
    95

From Mandala Tea

“Temple Stairs” – Mini Tuocha (bowl shaped cakes) pressed in March 2014
average weight with wrapper is 5.1 grams each

Morning arrives soon and with it,
the monkey mind.
In this moment, I’ve this tea -
a training ground upon which I find my center.

We are pleased to present yet another Mandala Tea exclusive ripe pu’er. This creamy and smooth two leaf blend was created using grade one material that was spring-picked and ripened in 2012 and 2013. Not only were both pickings from plantations that are pesticide free, but the two growing areas (at Bada and Mengsong) are far from any cities or air pollution. This is 100% pure tea and some of the finest ripe tea available. We also note that the leaf was expertly cared for in the process of fermentation, yielding a perfectly ripened leaf with full integrity. Teas from these areas are famous for their uplifting nature as well as their qi raising goodness. As this tea warms your lower dan tien (in laymen terms – the “energy bank account”), you will note hints of cocoa in aroma and taste. Flavors of sweet root vegetables with hints of dark brown sugar dance on your tongue alongside the clean and well-rounded essence of minerals.

Conventional wisdom among pu’er drinkers is to avoid mini tuochas because they are often comprised of junky leaves and chop destined for tourist shops or shady weight loss websites. Conventional wisdom isn’t wrong for the most part. For every twenty different mini’s we try, maybe one makes the “would drink again” cut. So why did we press mini’s along with our 100 gram cakes?

Because they are so convenient (video demo) and have an undeniable “awww cute” factor…just look at them! We have many customers who only drink ripe pu’er when in this handy form and part of our curated mini-tuocha assortments. Travelers, campers, and extremely busy people don’t need to sacrifice quality for convenience. This is our exclusive top-shelf mini for the people.

Climb the Temple Stairs and find your center.

About Mandala Tea View company

Company description not available.

37 Tasting Notes

95
4170 tasting notes

I recently saw that Shae wrote a note for a mini tuocha and the wrapper looked familiar… that I might have it in my Mandala mini tuocha grab bag.  I did indeed have some of this wrapper design in that bag, and upon unwrapping the tuocha, I noticed it said 2012 and 2013Bada and Mengsong and made in 2014.  The description for this one says that as well, so thanks to Shae, I figured out what one of the mini tuochas actually is!  Maybe most of them say what they are on the wrapper…if I’d actually unwrap them and steep them up. 
Anyway, this is delicious.  Quite dark for a tuocha.  Notes of coffee, dark chocolate, bready, and none of those pesky negative puerh qualities.  Usually I would say a mini tuocha does not have enough leaf that I would normally use to my tastes, for a full mug of tea but this one passes the test!  It is dark and rich enough! I wanted to mention ‘walnut’, while not trusting myself, but I notice derk mentions walnut, so now I can trust that. The fourth steep was fading in flavor a bit, so I’d probably only steep three mugs in the future.  High quality for a mini tuocha, just as Mandala attests. Both derk and Kawaii433 say this is the best mini tuocha, and I might agree! I’d buy these but like Shae recently found out, not possible. Such a nice discovery in my sampler. I really need to go through and see if my detective work (with the help of Steepster) can figure out the other mini tuochas…
Steep #1 // 1 piece for full mug // 17 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // 14 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #3 // 7 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #4 // just boiled //  10 min

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98
2170 tasting notes

Pulled from TTB 2022, shared by Inkling.

Oh wow, oh wow.

I nearly bought one of everything from Mandala’s website after my first sip of this. I’m still probably going to go back and buy a few somethings.

Started with a 15-second rinse, followed by a couple minutes rest, and then a 10-second steep. Increased steep to 10-20 seconds in subsequent cups.

This somehow reminds me of both a candle shop during the holidays and an outdoor flea market. It’s leather and spices, I think that’s the connection. It’s so comforting and familiar.

If anyone has recommendations for others like this, please share! I’d love to find something similar since I know this is no longer available.

Flavors: Bread, Fruity, Leather, Spices

Preparation
Boiling 6 OZ / 177 ML
derk

Yeah, that’s a good one. Maybe Garret at Mandala can recommend something similar from his collection.

Shae

Oh that would be wonderful! I’ve been looking at the site trying to find something similar.

mrmopar

I think the 108 would be one as well as the new Alchemy. The materials sound like very good sourcing.

Shae

Ooh thank you! Looking those up now.

mrmopar

Yeah no worries. Mandala does some fine shou for sure.

tea-sipper

oh I have a mix bag of Mandala’s mini tuochas – I will have to see if I have any of these and steep it up.

tea-sipper

I’m drinking this now! I think many of Teavivre’s ripes are like this one.

Shae

Oh I will check theirs, thank you! I’ve got the Mandala mini tuocha sampler in my cart. Plus a full Verdant cart. What’s one more?? There goes my tea budget, oh goodness! XD

tea-sipper

haha yes. Now I’m imagining an actual “full cart” of tea, like in a grocery store.

Shae

I think that’s exactly how I imagined it as I was typing! I think my order would at least fill one of those little baskets, no problem.

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93
1541 tasting notes

I haven’t been feeling the gaiwan love for several days and have been wanting easier teas to drink, so thank you Kawaii433 for sending this mini tuo cha my way :) Grandpa is the theme of the week I guess.

I must first point out the aroma because I know there are a lot of cocoa lovers here: cocoa and walnut. The tea is clean and alive for a shou. It’s very mineral and complex, with bright and dark layers moving around in a kind of creamy suspension that later turns oily. It’s like drinking a walnut tree, wood and fruit. Hints of cocoa, healthy dark soil and leather all elevated from the walnut grove floor by a pervasive brightness and light sugarcane sweetness. Clean camphor cools then warms the throat and chest. I feel grounded and calm. Definitely the best mini tuo I’ve had.

Preparation
Boiling 5 g 16 OZ / 473 ML
Kawaii433

yvw Derk. I liked them best too out of the mini toucha variety package so I went ahead a got a bunch of them instead of the mix but I haven’t got around to trying it again. I’ll try this one grandpa style :D.

mrmopar

Ya Derk, don’t make me have to come out there to get your address. The Eot stuff arrived and I snuck it in you know….I actually met Derk. Fantastic person to have tea with!

derk

Kawaii: I hope they’re still around this fall when I’ll be doing a shou purchase.

Likewise, mrmopar. I would love to have tea in small groups more often. It was a refreshing experience. And your secret is safe with Steepster ;)

Kawaii433

Derk, I try to keep them in stock so when you want more, I should have them :D.

derk

Thank you for the offer, Kawaii.

Kawaii433

Had a bunch of different types of mini discs and mini touchas the last few days and comparatively speaking, this one is a star. It always helps me to drink them back to back or side by side. #NewbieStill

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95
379 tasting notes

Additional notes: It is still hands-down the best mini tuocha to this girl. It really never disappoints. The brew is a very dark color shou with a pleasant nutty aroma, the taste profile is always complex to me, minus the heavy unwanted tastes of other shou(s). Hints of hay, chestnut, chocolate, earth, comforting natural sweetness like burnt sugar or caramel. Silky, creamy texture.

Extremely comforting on a cold day.

Typical gaiwan procedure: 212℉, 5s rinse, 10s, 20s… Etc. Drank it all day. Lasted many steeps.

Flavors: Chestnut, Chocolate, Creamy, Earth, Hay, Sweet, Warm Grass, Wet Earth

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 5 OZ / 150 ML
tea-sipper

oh this DOES sound like the best mini tuocha.

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86
318 tasting notes

Shou sample I got in the mail from Steph on the Slack chat! This is a very clean shou with a strong mineral note. Like every shou I’ve had from Mandala it is very good.

Flavors: Mineral

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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307 tasting notes

I guess I have had this tea for that long. I just got my first tea art press by kamjove yesterday an was eager to try it out, but not so eager to figure/decide which tea I wanted, so I settled it this oldie but goodie. I really should be more versatile, I’m still getting the white2tea club but it’s starting to pile up because I lack the time.

208f,150ml/tuocha/steep x 12+
If you let the leaves rest between steeps, there’s more flavor and color to be had, but If you decant and steep right away, you need a longer steep time per steep

Garret

Funny… just drank the Temple Stairs mini-tuocha this morning before meditation. I usually do the rinse with boiling water for 10 to 15 seconds and then let sit for about a minute and smell as the aroma changes during that time. After that, I usually just do 2 to 1 minute steeps followed by one long steep at 5 to 10 minutes. If I’m in the mood for super rich and dark, I’ll do the rinse and then more boiling water for 5 to 10 minutes. All depends on my mood. Thanks for writing up your experience with this.

Grateful,
Garret

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86
15019 tasting notes

If i’m ever going to get to 50 teas, i need to get my drink on with my puerh more often. I had been trying to get to at least ONE session a week but that sort of fell by the way side. So today i figured i should try. Pulled this one out because i am a mandala fan and can’t bring myself to use up my special dark. heh. This should make for a very enjoyable morning.

Garret

Too funny to see this just now, Sil! I started my day by climbing the Temple Stairs, too! I make wishes that it made for a good start of your day. Enjoy!

Sil

yay! thanks Garret!

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83
258 tasting notes

This was a really good mini tuo. It opened up completely on the second steep (5 sec) after a 20 second rinse and a 5 second first steep.

The main thing that I came away with is that it tasted very clean and silky, creamy, and smooth. A very easy drinker. I can see why they decided to put this tea into a mini tuo. It is a very easy toss, steep, drink type of tea.

Flavors: Creamy, Smooth

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 118 ML
Lion

I love this tea, and have a 200g cake of it. They sent me some of these mini tuos as a sample with it and I dare say the cake is even sweeter and smoother than the tuos. I agree with you that this tea is really clean and smooth.

mtchyg

Oh, I imagine the cake is probably better! Sounds amazing. :)

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80
526 tasting notes

These are really cute mini tuos. I grabbed one to brew in the morning; because, it was something quick, fast, and easy. The small little guy carries a light fermentation and a dry scent. I warmed him up in my gaiwan and prepared for brewing. The little tuo gave off a warm fresh soil and forest aroma. I washed the tuo once to get it nice and ready. The leaves take about two steeps to fully expand. These wet leaves carry a sweet but daunting earth scent. The liquor is heavily black with a deep red. I mean like black black black when I say this. You couldn’t even see light through it. The flavor is very good. This is a perfect on-the-go daily Shu drink. There is a pleasant drying sensation with a light mineral tone. The black liquid is heavy with earth and fermentation tones. There was a background oak and pleasant sour flavor in later steeping. The odd thing is that a slight tang or citrus tone follows the drinker throughout the session. This is a nice brew; however, it was very “dusty”. I mean that in the sense, that you must have a nice strainer to gongfu this. I was spitting out tiny leaf dusting throughout the whole session. This still was a nice little tuo, and it would be perfect for gongfu on the go.

https://instagram.com/p/8a5H6XTGWs/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Flavors: Citrus, Earth, Mineral, Pleasantly Sour, Smooth, Wet Wood

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec
Garret

Thanks for writing up your experience with this tea, my friend! Even though the tea is sifted before we press, there are places in the batch where it might be, shall we say, dustier than others. Sounds like you had one of those. So far, I haven’t run into one like that.
Not to wish time away (it’s going fast enough) but 2 more years and this blend is going to be quite special. That’s why I pressed so many of these mini’s and also the 100 gram cake of it. So happy you had a positive experience (for the most part) with the tea. Again, thank you. G

Haveteawilltravel

I’ll have to try the cake out :) I prefer cake over tuocha any day.

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1113 tasting notes

Oh snap, this is fantastic!
Normally the touchas that I get that are ripe are super dark, but this looked like it was coated in dirt :)
^ that is a good thing

This tea was a little hard to break up so I just made a tornado in my gravity steeper with the water and this guy :p
The result at 15s was wonderful… however, I screwed up once again and started this after 9pm so I only made it to steep 10 or 11; better known as 4 bathroom visits (I was told it is just as accurate)

I hope to find more toucha to be this good :)

Daylon R Thomas

I thought you would like this one. :)

Garret

This was high grade leaf we used to make these mini-tuochas. Most of the time, leaf used for minis is not of good quality and I wanted to create one that was super clean, super high quality. I’m working on another mini pressing soon. I’m happy you enjoyed this.

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