Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu’er
Where to Buy: Mandala Tea
Tea Description:
We are proud to offer our very own blend of ripe pu’er tea! We (and our customers) are very happy with the finished product. While we love this tea now, we can hardly wait to see what 2 or 3 more years of aging will bring to the flavor of this tea!
Also available in a 250gram cake!
The four leaves used in our ripe tea are from the Jinggu Tea Factory in Simao. The Jinggu tea factory used to be part of the CNNP state-owned tea factories. They started fermenting Pu’er in the mid-70’s and was the third factory ever to produce ripe pu’er!
The leaf used was spring picked and processed in 2009 and is quite ready for enjoying now. We chose the material and pressed the blend in April of 2010.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
One thing I love about Mandala, other than their excellent quality of tea, is their 5.00 shipping! Its just something note worthy as I know when I am considering trying a new tea company their shipping rates do matter. Also Garret at Mandala is one of the most guanine people I have ever spoken with. He takes time with people. That is something we need more of these days.
Four Leaves Ripe Pu’er is a loose leaf pu’er which for those of you starting your pu’er journey may find a little less intimidating. However you can also get it in a cake as well, which is a condensed version of the tea. Steeping instructions are right on the packaging.
I always give my pu’er an initial rise, okay not always but most always anyway. With this tea I did do an initial rinse.
The initial aromas from this tea when steeped are fruity, and leather. There is a sweetness lurking behind these initial aroma notes.
This tea has a crisp bright mouthful, which surprised me as I was expecting something more rich and earthier from the aroma of leather. The flavor of leather is there but the sip is thinner than I anticipated, thin but not lacking flavor!
The sweet berry note is also noticeable.
One note that jumped out at me that took me completely by surprise was a buttered toast flavor! I swoon at anything buttery!
Now don’t get me wrong, this is absolutely an earthy tea, pu’er as a rule is earthy but the other notes bring forth a delightful cheery cup.
I really feel this would make for a good starer pu’er although maybe not a for your very first pu’er. This would be like a level 2 pu’er. Perhaps starting with something flavored first then working up to this.
On the flip side it is not as complex or mature as many pu’er so for the more advanced pu’er drinkers this may not be as exciting.
There is room for growth in this tea but it is young and as much time yet to develop. It does however have a wonderful starting point and if you are one to buy and store pu’er for later drinking I would absolutely recommend grabbing a cake of this!
