Keemun Mao Feng

Another sample from Auggy. I picked it today because she said she’s not really a fan, and because I’ve got a little bit of that heavy-head feeling that tells me I’m congested even though my nose isn’t actually stuffy, but there’s plenty of tea in the bag.

My first thought, smelling the brewed tea? ‘This is a Keemun?’ It smells a bit like an Assam, to me. Chalk it up to my inexperience with Keemun teas if you like, but it does. It’s malty and it smells a bit like oats to me, or bran, maybe…something that reminds me of the feed room and making bran mash for the horses we had when I was younger. There’s also a biscotti sort of smell, which is characteristic of my favorite Assams.

So, lessee.

Fresh pine, eh? I dunno about that. There’s a tartness there somewhere that isn’t quite making it over the hummock of mere suggestion into actual tartness, and I guess one could interpret that as pine. To me, it is lacking something essential to ‘pine’, so I’m having a hard time making the connection.

Brown sugar is the only other note they mention up top. I can get it, but only in the way that I can get pine — it could be there, and actually if that’s true it seems to me that the pair of flavors are inextricably tangled up together, but those are not two things that I would come up with on my own, blind, without being asked. Blind, I would probably ask if this were a blend. A blend of Assam, Ceylon, and Keemun. It’s not punchy enough to be an Assam, it’s too bright; it’s not very much like other Keemuns that I’ve had, and it’s far too malty and dark in its flavors for a Ceylon, and yet I can see qualities of each of them here.

I keep coming back to that whole grain flavor I tasted at the beginning. It’s in the aroma more strongly than the flavor, deeply inhaling, but it’s quite prominent. I like it. Unfortunately it’s probably the only thing this tea really has going for it in the interest department, and the tartness — while it isn’t bad — isn’t contributing positively here, either. It’s a solid tea, but not something I really need to have, and definitely not the replacement for Mr. Muntz.

This tea just doesn’t get a lot of attention from me. Mostly because it is my emergency backup tea that I keep at work. It’s good enough to have when I need tea but not good enough that I crave it enough when I’m at home. This is also a tea that, for me, benefits from a longer steep time. It keeps the note (of what I think would be the pine) smooth and not as tart tasting (though if I let it cool too much, there can get to be a little mouth-pucker taste going on). I think this would qualify as a medium bodied tea, though probably edging a bit towards thin. A bit earthy but more tree than dirt tasting earthy (and I think I’d go for more dirt because I think that’s a bit of what I taste with cocoa-tasting teas… maybe). Anyway, a good enough tea to have when I need something, but there are happier Keemuns out there for me.

I think I could like this tea quite a bit, but I need to spend more time with it.

The dry leaf smells like something between buttermilk and yeast to me, and there’s a lot of that flavor in the tea as well. At times I get a malty flavor and occasionally it sweetens into more of a caramel, but it’s not always present.

The description says that it contains pine notes, which to me would read as woody, sharp, and edging on bitter. I think I can taste it [how much of that is purely psychological I couldn’t tell you], but thankfully it’s muted. Too much of that would ruin this for me, easily.

If it weren’t for the occasional sweet flavors I get in this I don’t think that I would enjoy it overall. However, the melding notes and shifting flavors make it intriguing. This isn’t something that I’m going to drink all the time, but I like it and it warrants some extended experimentation.

Smooth and flavorful.

Hmm, stands up well to my tendency to steep forever (doesn’t get too tannic) and drink hours later at room temperature (still has a flavor)… Need to do more tastings.

It’s still a favorite, could hold it’s own against Jakee Muntz.

This tea is so mild for me that I can’t really taste any of the notes that others have tasted. I guess its an ok tea, but it just doesn’t do it for me. The plus is that I only bought an ounce of it from my health foods store. So when its gone I don’t see me buying any more of it.

I’m not really a fan of black tea, but as far as black teas go, this is pretty good. It’s not too overpowering and has a sweetness to it just as some others have said. I think this would be a good tea to introduce to someone who has been drinking inferior bagged black teas to give them a feel of how a real black tea is supposed to taste

Drank the last of my 4oz pack from earlier this year… It’s a nice tea, I’m tempted to call it my gateway to black teas. Before I tried this, I really couldn’t drink any black tea without some sugar or milk. Now I think I used to be crazy…

As always, Rishi has very accurate descriptions of it’s tea.

excellent tea! Can’t be the price of it at whole foods.

…and we’re live!