Huangshan Furry Peak

Oh! This tea is lovely! So very lovely!

The astringency is quite unlike any other I’ve experienced. It affects the mouthfeel in a way that I don’t think I’ve ever really experienced before. At the very start of the sip, I notice a silky softness, and almost immediately afterward, I start to notice the slight twinge of astringency touch the tongue, reaching out toward the inner cheeks and toward the back of the throat. As the astringency dissipates, I notice sweetness. A beautiful, delicious sweetness that is oh so delicate, reminiscent of the delicate taste of spun sugar.

While the aroma of the dry leaf is really quite vegetative, the flavor is not quite as vegetative as this aroma would lead one to believe. There are notes … subtle notes … there, sort of like sweet, buttered lima beans. Very mild.

A really incredible tea, One of the most memorable that I’ve tried from Peony Tea S. yet.

PS: Quite tasty when enjoyed with a Honeycrisp apple.

I have never had a tea like this before! A huge thanks to Derek from PTS for sending this my way!

The leaves in my clear gong fu pot are gorgeous. They are bright green and they dance ! I have never tried a leaf that looks like this before – the leaves are like tiny snap peas in the shell. They seem to stand on end as they steep – I am mesmerized by them in the same way I am entertained by flowering teas.

The smell is like a creamy, fresh spring oolong, but the taste is totally different. It is very much a green tea. The tip of the tongue gets hit with an astringency that slides to the sides of the tongue and leaves a sweetness in its wake. I get some butter in the smell, but not in the taste, although the texture is smooth and almost creamy.

“feel the recurring sweetness well up and linger in your throat.” This really does happen! It’s the same quality as licorice root – so I can see this being a very soothing tea for a sore throat.

As an every day tea, this one is a bit too astringent for my liking – but it is very high quality and a nice treat when I need a break from my pu-erhs! Thank you Derek :)

Thank you LiberTeas for sharing this one with me!
A very nice naturally sweet green!
Full review will post Feb 4th on SororiTea Sisters but here are my snippits:

As I lifted the cup I picked up a lovely buttery aroma, almost like butterscotch candy due to the sweet aroma being also quite strong. Such an inviting sensation!

There is a wonderful silkiness to the mouthfeel which is brothy and thick.

The color of the steeped leaf is the palest hue of gold.

Ohhh this is nice, it seems a lot bolder than the other huang shan mao fengs I’ve tried so far. It almost smells like a Dragonwell.

Definitely sweet, almost reminiscent of a green oolong with the way it is so floral. There’s also a bit of vegetal notes to it too, not really sure quite what.

Thanks * Liberteas*
Very clean. Slightly Vegetal. Cooling. Thirst Quenching. A lingering smoothness to coat your throat. An overall lovely green! Very pleasant and satisfying!

A couple months ago, the Peony Tea S. very kindly sent me three teas of theirs, in exchange for answering a few of their questions regarding shipping times and conditions. All teas arrived promptly and in excellent condition and were all of such obvious quality I have been reserving first sip of them for occasions I could give brewing this their due attention! And reviewing them is slightly intimidating as well, my vocabulary feels stretched.

A warning first: I think I used not enough tea on this first brew. I went by teaspoon count and should have gotten out the digital scales, I think going by what I have left I did not use the 2 grams per 100 ml recommended, I was too careful of not breaking the tea and spoons counted were not filled enough. So my judgement of this today is not optimal. But I am sure I will forget this advice if I don´t write it down so here goes, the first preliminary tasting. Don´t skimp on the recommended weight. I used my favorite mineral water, it´s light on minerals.

The dry tea is absolutely beautiful, long vivid green little pods of leaves curled upon other little leave buds. The scent is absolutely fantastic, a wonderful green tea (duh. duh. I said I was challenged by trying to review this) scent which reminded me of spring in some cliffs right by the Atlantic in Portugal (Arrábida mountains, if you really want to know) – a scent very clean and free, maybe with hints of thyme or this type of rosemary or cypress.

1st steep – brewed up, while the scent notes change a lot and the thyme-rosemary notes go away, I get a sea note. It was slightly astringent and slightly sweet and very lovely. It brewed up very pale gold. Ethereal, the adjective used by the seller´s description, is a totally perfect description of this. This was my favorite steep (is this a sign I screwed up the next steeps?

2st steep – this brewed up quite a bit richer. Color deeper, with a slightly green tinge, and at the same time more astringent and sweeter and the sea note even more pronounced. Theoretically it should have been superior in everything to the 1st steep, but I still loved the best the first steep without being quite able to explain why (I warned you writing these taste notes was challenging!). That is something I will try to analyze next time I make this tea.

3rd steep – By this time I had figured out I had used too little tea, so only half a cup. Very very pale, very very delicate, astringency seems to have gone and amazingly even sweeter.

Drinking tea this pure and fresh is a fascinating lesson, so much easier to understand the reaction of tea to time and temperature, to see clearly in the size and shape of leaves the tea bush annual cycle. It might also be addictive. A lovely tea.