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 10 years. That said, it experienced the woes of different storage as I learned, from a box in a dresser, cookie jars, and pumidors – in both hot SoCal and cold Seattle climates.
I describe my shou storage as IDGAF. It’s in a shou pumidor. Not heated, and sometimes I throw a boveda in. This cake isn’t in a bag, just wrapped in paper and shoved into the pumidor. I’m not concerned with aging the majority of these shou cakes, just keeping the flavor and no mold.
Dry Leaf and Steeping Method
The cake isn’t dented that much as I had a large stash of the maocha and drank through all that first.
The 2012 Noble Mark cake smells like wood bark, old paper, and a bit sour (likely too cold).
I used my usual gongfu method of 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, and quick infusions with boiling water. After a rinse, it smells of India ink and wood. This tea brews up beautifully clear too!
Retasting of 2012 Noble Mark from Mandala Tea
First, Second, and Third Infusion: Noble Mark is creamy, bone broth sticky with a buttery lip feeling. The flavor is sweet, dark wood, and inky, with a high percentage of dark chocolate. Some sips have a umami like roasted nut flavor.
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Infusion: 2012 Noble Mark opened up well here, tasting smooth smooth deep rich dark chocolate with ripples of bitterness. Some waves of aftertaste are bittersweet chocolate, others are chestnut shells, and others are just straight ink.
Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Infusion: In the final infusions, the taste is soft and sweet, like melted sweet chocolate, and a breath of ink after. There are also mineral sweet and milky notes as it fades.
In my previous review, I got more infusions, but I also used more leaf.
Comments
2012 Noble Mark from Mandala Tea, in my storage for 10 years, hasn’t changed too much. It’s continuing to be a dark, smooth shou that is a pleasure to drink. There is a development of an aging scent and an inky rich flavor. In the end, this cake is still really good and balanced. Unfortunately, you are likely not going to find this tea unless someone sells it in a personal de-stash. However, Mandala Tea still has excellent puer, especially shou, and they are located in the US for fast shipping in North America.
