Rehoot Review – 10 year Retasting the 2012 Noble Mark Shou from Mandala Tea

Today’s tea is a retasting of the 2012 Noble Mark by Mandala Tea. I started buying a lot of puer in 2013. Now that it is 2023, I’ve had teas in my storage for 10 years. A lot of shou back then had more of a mushroom profile. Or it was the bad fishy kind or mini touchas that tasted like cardboard dirt water. Noble Mark showed me good puer and got me to fall in love with the inky, creamy, and earthy flavor of fermented puer. Storage As I mentioned earlier, this cake has been in my storage for… Continue reading, hoot!

Zendo and Haiku Ripe Puer from Mandala Tea

Back again with more incredible Mandala Tea shou puer! For today, I have mini touchas of 2020 Zendo and Haiku ripe puer. Mandala Tea ripe puer game is always strong and they ship fast for those in the US as they are in Minnesota. Mandala Tea’s 2020 Zendo Ripe Puer The material from Zendo is from Mang Fei mountain in Yongde county, Yunnan. I have the mini toucha as my sample, but Mandala Tea sells this tea also in 100 gram cakes and loose leaf form. Zendo’s leaves have an earthy and black licorice scent. For both shous, I went… Continue reading, hoot!

Antwerp’s Placebo and Scarlet Fire Shou Puer from Mandala Tea

With the temperatures dropping, I am excited to get my shou game on! I love how shou warms me up on cold days, along with its comforting rich flavor. Today is a pair of shou from Mandala tea, who have some of the best shou and are based in the US. Both Antwerp’s Placebo and Scarlet Fire are available in cake (100g-200g) or mini tuochas – samples today are all mini tuochas. 2020 Antwerp’s Placebo Shou Puer Antwerp’s Placebo Shou is 2017 Menghai material, processed in 2018 and then pressed later. The mini tuocha has a sweet earthy scent. I… Continue reading, hoot!

2021 Seven Steps Sheng Puer from Mandala Tea

Mandala Tea has a number of incredible sheng that I hold dear to my heart, but also hold up as quality tea despite me drinking them very early in my puer drinking journey. Today, I got a sample of 2021 Seven Steps. I found the 2020 Seven Steps on their website, maybe this is a new one or a mislabel? Either way, this sheng is said to have some high tea energy, so let’s rock! Leaf and Steeping Method Seven Steps Sheng smells of amber incense and bruised apricots. My gongfu ratio is 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of… Continue reading, hoot!

We Bulang Together and 108 Shou Puer from Mandala Tea

Mandala Tea keeps coming out with excellent looking puers and I got a handful of samples that came with my tRuth cake, as well as from tea friends who also love Mandala Teas. I grabbed We Bulang Together and 108 Old Tree, so let’s give these teas a go. Mandala Tea’s 2019 We Bulang Together Shou We Bulang Together is 2019 spring material. I am drinking the 2019 loose material, but Mandala Tea has the same maocha pressed into cakes in 2020. The leaves smell earthy and like a wooden bookcase. For both shous, I used gongfu style ratio of… Continue reading, hoot!

2020 tRuth Shou Puer from Mandala Tea

2020 tRuth shou is a limited edition, charity, and tribute cake by Mandala Tea. This shou puer is made up of Menghai material and only 200 cakes were pressed in November 2020. All proceeds for this tea goes to the Women’s Shelter and Support Center in Rochester, MN. I purchased my cake in December 2020. I would prefer to let this shou rest longer, but since this a limited edition tea, I’m giving it a drink so you readers can get the heads up before it disappears. Leaf and Steeping Method The leaves have a soft earth scent with a… Continue reading, hoot!

2009 Menghai Dayi Yellow Box Tuocha Shou Puer

I purchased 2009 Menghai Dayi Yellow Box Tuocha Shou Puer way back in early 2013 from Mandala Tea. This tuocha and a cake of 2012 Wild Monk were my first puer cakes, believe it or not. As I am crazy and hoarder-like, I never sampled my 2009 Menghai Dayi. There is nothing special about it other than was my first shou cake. It was only $12 for this 100gram tuocha. I did open the box and examined the tea. A part of me chickened out on how official this tea looks – it’s got paperwork and holo stickers. Examining the packaging, I… Continue reading, hoot!

2012 Noble Mark Shou Puer from Mandala Tea

Everyone likely remembers their first. Way back when, and likely you can dig through this blog’s early posts, I bought my first puer cakes through Mandala Tea. Garret is super awesome and helped me out, and it is when I bought their 2012 Wild Monk Sheng puer. I quickly sunk further down the pu-hole and bought samples of all Mandala Tea’s house puer. Noble Mark is one of my first favorite shous that caused me to stock up to later. I didn’t even review this tea on Oolong Owl despite it being one of my favorites. I did review Special… Continue reading, hoot!

Mandala Tea’s 2014 Temple Stairs Ripe Pu’er – Tea Review

Mandala Tea’s 2014 Temple Stairs Ripe Pu’er – this review is overdue. My Mandala Tea 2012 Noble Mark review is also overdue, I’m too busy chugging it than writing about it! I have this pu’er in both loose and cake form. For this review, I’ll be drinking the loose material as I’m trying to finish it, haha! Dry Leaf Temple Stairs Ripe Pu’er smells like roasted chestnut skins. Steeping Instructions I used around 8 grams for my 100gram-ish gaiwan. I did two rinses and steeped starting at 10 seconds, adding time as I went on. Tasting of Mandala Tea’s 2014… Continue reading, hoot!

Nine Lotus Green Tea from Mandala Tea – Tea Review

I recently did a small Mandala Tea order as they had a bunch of new teas roll in (2013 Young Tea Nugget!!). I’m usually not one for new spring green teas, but this particular green tea caught my eye – Nine Lotus Green Tea – so it sneaked into my shopping cart. Sneaky sneaky teas! Mandala Tea‘s Nine Lotus Green Tea is a spring 2015 tea from Jui Hua Shan, Nine Lotus Mountain in Anhui Province of China at an elevation of 3,500 feet. This tea is cultivated by Buddhist Monks! Dry Leaf Nine Lotus Green Tea has a super cool leaf – they… Continue reading, hoot!