Mao Feng

I wasn’t all that impressed with the last Mao Feng I tried, which was from Teapigs. A box I’d had previously was seriously nice — pale green liquor, very grassy flavour. The more recent box was yellow-brown and very bitter, without a hint of the tea I remembered so vividly. That’s why I bought this, in an attempt to rediscover a variety of tea I used to love.

First impressions with this one are much better. The dry leaf smells sweet and almost hay-like. Brewed, the liquor is a very pale yellow-green. I waited for the water to cool, and gave it a carefully watched 2 minutes. It was worth the attention, because I feel I’ve been rewarded with a palatable green tea.

The taste here is sweet, wonderfully nutty, with a vegetal note lurking in the background. It’s one of the nicer green teas I’ve tried recently, and there’s not the slightest hint of bitterness or astringency. This surprised me a little, given that the leaves are more grey-black than green, but there you go. The nuttiness becomes more prominent as the tea cools, which is nice. That’s a characteristic of green tea I can really get behind. All told, a really pleasing tea. I only have a sample tin, but that’ll be enough to be getting along with. I only really wanted to reaffirm my feelings about Mao Feng, and I’ve certainly done that!

Tea Palace, I have such fond memories of their shop in Covent Garden. I am always reminded of them when I come face to face with one of their teas. To give people a quick low down – I visited London with my husband for our anniversary one year and it was a very nice day trip.

So this Mao Feng, it has some silver tips present though it’s mostly dark green and brown curly leaves with some sticks/stem present. It has a sweet, floral scent.

Once steeped this tea is sweet and thick with dry nut, grass and floral tones. Also is slightly bitter. It’s somewhat perfumed too which comes through stronger on my second bowl.

I like Mao Feng though it’s far from my favourite green tea. I always found it to be dry and perfumed, too much for my personal taste. This is easily drinkable and enjoyable but it will not be a tea that I will purchase. In terms of quality this met average expectations, the leaves post steep have brown/red discolouration with some holes.