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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We don't know when or if this item will be available.

From Our Community

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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

493 tasting notes

had this mini tuo couple days ago.
Such a cutie. And delicious too. i think i liked it more than loose form.
Gongfu 100ml glass pot, 212F
2 rinses/5/5/10/10/10/15/15/20sec
its pretty resilient. Color is beautiful. taste sweet and rich, and creamy.
i have to pick more of them.
Thank you Garret for the sample, i enjoyed it a lot, as usual;)

http://instagram.com/p/vEIadkhwsl/

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Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
caile

Very nice!

awilsondc

I liked the loose better myself, but this is such a young tea. It will be interesting to see how it does with a few years on it.

Cheri

I had this in the mini form first, and I really enjoyed it. I also bought myself a full size cake.

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818 tasting notes

I’ve been enjoying quite a few steepings of this little tuocha while doing laundry and making scones. I made pumpkin pecan scones and they are yummy!!! I always feel like baking when the weather turns cooler. I think I’m getting more fermentation flavor with these little tuochas than I did with the piece of cake, if the barnyard note is fermentation flavor. I noted it in early steepings of the cake, but have noticed it lingers for awhile in the mini tuocha. Makes me a little nostalgic for the time of my life that I rode horses. It turns to a sugary cinnamon sweetness later, similar to the Ba Ka Ngoi cake I have from JalamTeas. You can’t beat the convenience of these mini tuochas though! I can’t wait to dig in to the variety pack!

Stephanie

YUM this one is great

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85
34 tasting notes

I have long heard the comparisons between shou and coffee, which often times imply a certain amount of personality rather than flavor similarity. This is the first shou I’ve had that upon smelling it immediately struck with reminiscences of my coffee drinking days. I’m not going to say it smells and tastes like coffee but there is certainly a common touchstone somewhere.

Yes, there is a slight bit of fermentation flavor in this, which dissipates so quickly you might forget it is there. Notes of cocoa and a myriad of other flavors and feelings hit while drinking this tea. It’s a great mini tuocha and something I am really happy was included in my order from Mandala as a sample. I might have to pick up a cake of this at some point to see how it progresses as I feel the 85 I am giving it might even rise further upon some aging and I am wondering what the difference will be between the two forms.

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84
19 tasting notes

Sampled this one for my afternoon tea session.
Rinse/pause/5/10/15/30/45/90/120/240
I was tempted to use two of the toucha but I decided against it as I only bought 2 ounces.

First steeping was reminiscent of what it smells like after a fresh rain, with overtones of mud and fresh earth noted.

I found the body was medium with a soft almost juicy mouthfeel. There was a nice qi present but not very caffeinated in my experience.
The longer I drank this sample the more earth and bold taste developed.
Later into the session there was a sweetness revealed that I didn’t notice at first.
Took it to about 8 steepings.

Flavors: Barnyard, Dark Bittersweet, Earth, Hay, Sweet, Vineyards, Wet Wood

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 45 sec 5 g 6 OZ / 177 ML

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87
1113 tasting notes

Thank you so much Cheri for sharing a couple of these minis with me!

Man, I love mini tuos. They are so adorable and convenient! This is a VERY tasty shou as well. Nice and clean with some creamy earthy cocoa notes. Quite satisfying. These are going on my Mandala shopping list for sure! YUMS!

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87
1758 tasting notes

This is a very tasty tea with the caveat that it still has a lot of fermentation flavor left. If you don’t mind a little fermentation flavor it is an excellent tea. There are some complex notes including chocolate or cocoa notes. It will be a while before this tea develops complex date notes. Its pretty good.

I steeped two mini tuochas, about 10g in a 350ml yixing teapot with boiling water. I gave it one rinse and then steeped it for 15 sec, 10 sec, and 15 sec. I was going to give it a second rinse but the first rinse was dark enough so the tuochas had broken up. It did not require two rinses.

Flavors: Cocoa

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 10 g 12 OZ / 350 ML

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91
359 tasting notes

My head hasn’t been quite where it should be at lately… So I’ve been drinking lots of shou.

For some reason, shou helps me find my balance. I’m very passionate about it, and wish to convert as many people as I can to it.

It gets a bad wrap sometimes. But once you get passed the misconceptions and open your mind to it, it’s so rewarding…

Of course there are bad ripe pu’erhs out there and you must find the right ones.

This is the right one.

So smooth and warming. Not heavy on the earthy and leathery notes, perfect shou to try if you’re a little afraid of them.

Temple Stairs is a go to tea for me, and tonight I’ve been sipping on both the tuocha and the loose version of it. (Thanks Sarsita for those cute mini tuos!)

Thank you Mandala for helping me find my centre tonight…

Terri HarpLady

This really is a nice little tuo :)

AllanK

I bought that last week, maybe I will try it tonight. Sounds good.

TheTeaFairy

Glad you like it too Terri :-)

Allan, can’t wait to find out what you think of it!

AllanK

Tea Fairy, did you buy the Temple Stairs cake too? I am waiting to try that too, got it with my order.

boychik

I’m the same way. When in doubt I drink shou! Any kinda pains or blues I drink shou! Not demanding and so much comfort it brings

Tealizzy

I’ve noticed Shou has that effect on me too. Is there a difference in the flavor between the different forms of this tea? Or are they all about the same…just the tuocha being more convenient?

TheTeaFairy

Allan, I did not buy ttge cake yet…

Boychik, right you are :-)

Tealizzy, I prefer just a little bit more the loose version, but not by much…they are very similar, but the loose one seems a little more flavourful to me. And yes, the tuochas are so convenient:-)

Tealizzy

Thanks, TTF! I have this tea on my wishlist from trying a sample of the cake…I’ll have to check out the other forms!

Garret

HI!! Temple Stairs!! I climb them every morning before meditation and yoga!! Love this tea.

Here is my take on what I have found over the years with loose vs pressed ripe tea: In the first year or two, I find that the loose ripe develops more quickly in depth, flavor, clarity. But after 2 to 3 years of being pressed, the cakes develop more complexity than the loose ever will.

Of course, there are a few considerations, first of which is the overall quality of the leaf and original ripening of it. Compression and quality of storage conditions will also affect how a tea ages. But for the most part, I find loose more appealing for year one and two. After that, it’s cakes all the way!

These mini’s are impressing the heck outta me already. Glad that I had 10,000 of them pressed!

And I agree about ripe tea and its soothing qualities. You just can’t go wrong with a good ripe tea, in my opinion. Does that make me sound like a typical “shou” salesman?

Terri HarpLady

Only if the Shou fits, Garret ;)

TheTeaFairy

Lol, you are everything BUT a typical “shou” salesman Garret, that’s why I adore doing business with you :-)

SarsyPie

I know I’m late to the party, but 10,000 mini shous?? That’s so awesome, G!

TeaBrat

I like shou also!

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