Huang Shan Mao Feng A

This was a free sample kindly provided by jing tea shop in my latest order.

hmmm, I am pretty biased, Chinese green teas do not generally thrill me unless they’re bold like gunpowder or chun mee, I’m more of a Japanese green tea person so keep that in mind as you’re reading this review.

I steeped this tea for around 2.5 minutes at 180F. I must say the leaves smell wonderfully fresh. I got a very light tea liquor. The flavor is slightly vegetal with a bit of nuttiness, similar to a dragonwell. It has a really nice mouth-feel with a tiny bit of astringency at the end. Other people noticed smokiness – where? I am not finding it!

I wish I could think of something more exciting to say about this. I definitely did not hate it, but it also doesn’t make much of an impression on me. I think I will take the rest of my sample home (about 3.5 grams) and see what happens when I gong fu it.

Huang Shen Mao Feng from Jing Tea Shop

I was very curious about this tea in particular because I’ve very much enjoyed Norbu’s large-leaf green tea from Yunnan also called “Mao Feng”, but I suspected it was quite different from the ‘real thing’, and wanted to see what the original was like.

Medium green, thin twisty leaves

http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/5698368316/

5 grams in a 200mL pot with about 150mL of water, 150 degrees

First infusion 30 seconds, warm, sweet, a certain smoky/toasted/grilled vegetable background…..

2nd infusion 20 seconds, pale green liquor, the sweet warm flavor is still there, but the toasted vegetable flavor—not a bitterness, perhaps a touch of astringency in it—is dominant now.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/5697792635/

Ran out of time, so I added cold water and set the leaves to the refrigerator to try to get one more steeping out of them. But the resulting infusion, a day later, has a strong bitterness underlying a delicious fresh sweet vegetal flavor; I did not finish it. I also forgot to shoot the leaves after infusion, but they were pale minty green, long, thin, rolled almost into little cylinders.

I used a quite moderate tea-to-water ratio, and very cool water with short brewing times, all designed to moderate and minimize any bitterness. This is a tea that sat, sealed from the shop, for some months before I opened it, so it might have lost something re: freshness. Before assuming this just isn’t my cup of green tea, I’ll try it again—it took me nearly a year to ‘get’ Dragon Well, after all.

_{NOTE: I am writing this review after having brewed it up many times since I first tried it.}

Experience buying from Jing Tea Shop http://steepster.com/places/2780-jing-tea-shop-on-line—

Age of leaf: I received this tea in early June 2011 and brewed it as soon as I got it and many times thereafter (the tea is listed as 2011 early spring harvest).

Appearance and aroma of dry leaf: lots of straight, dark green gently curved leaves and buds (which seems to be characteristic of HSMF green tea); vegetal, smoky.

Brewing guidelines: I used my standard green tea parameters: loose in glass Bodum pot; four 8-ounce cups of water used; Stevia added to compliment flavor.
…………….1st: 170, 1’
…………….2nd: 175, 1.5’
…………….3rd: 180, 2’
…………….4th: 190, 2.5’

Aroma: slightly smoky.

Color of liquor: light yellow.

Wet leaf: lots of bud sets, and a number of buds, whole leaves, and virtually no stems: beautiful.

Blends well with: other smoky green teas, like green Yunnans.

Flavor: fresh, vegetal, smoky.

Value: This tea is a bargain for under $3 an ounce.

Overall: Of the four HSMF teas I have tried, I think this one is my favorite. Although this one did not have very flavorful third and forth steepings, overall I like the aroma, the look of the leaves (dry, wet, and while steeping), and the smoky green tea flavor—-all which seem to be characteristic of HSMF. Although for various reasons I currently drink this tea on occasion, I could easily drink this tea on a regular basis.