Organic Taimu Maojian Green Tea

I’ve been trying to drink more green tea these past few weeks because my allergies have been so bad! This is a light delicious cuppa (see previous notes). I like the nuttiness of this tea.

Had a cup of this tea with lunch. This is definitely one of my favorite greens from Teavivre. It’s so nutty and delicious! It’s amazing to me how my tastes have changed, because I’m pretty sure that early in my tea journey I would have tried this one and not thought that it was anything special. Now I appreciate the subtleties of green teas so much more than ever before.

Mmmmm… this is delicious. I think this might be my favorite of the samples Teavivre has sent me. And of course it serves me right that this is currently out of stock since I took so long to get to reviewing this one. This will come back on stock soon, right? right??? Puppy dog eyes

I’m always surprised how flavorful the teas from Teavivre can be even when the liquid is so lightly colored. It’s a lovely light color though. Pale yellow-y green. Like new spring. :) The smell and flavor is like a cross between gyokuro and chun mei green. This brew is sweet and green and nutty with a overall sense of savory goodness. It’s completely smooth with no drying sensation whatsoever. It also complements my homemade spicy shrimp fried rice amazingly well.

Yum. So smooth and sweet and savory… Time for steep 2!

Backlogging, and based almost entirely on my notes

Experience buying from Teavivre http://steepster.com/places/2857-teavivre-online—

Age of leaf/date of brewing: advertised as spring 2011. Received fall 2011, brewed up days later.

Appearance and aroma of dry leaf: < No notes here >

Brewing guidelines: 3 small TSP, 2 cups H2O (from my notes it looks like I did two completely separate brewing ‘sessions’ with this tea, one day apart); < I have no notes on what teapot I brewed this in, but I likely used my glass Bodum >; stevia added; standard Chinese green tea steeping times and temperatures; four steepings for the first session, three for the second.

Color of tea liquor: yellowish (“like a lite beer”).

Flavor of tea liquor (by steeping): (based on both sessions) 1st: mild, but good, standard vegetal flavor (no weird or off flavors); 2nd: decent; 3rd: good (notes say “Definitely good: better, sweeter, reminds me of a Dragon Well”); 4th: mild flavor.

Appearance and aroma of wet leaf: looks and smells like any quality, fresh, standard mid-grade green tea: “lots of good buds, many leaves (some torn), and a few stems (no bud-sets).”

Value: again, great value for a decent green tea at Teavivre (my notes show $2.27 / OZ)!

Overall: I don’t have many notes on this tea, but overall I remember (and based on my notes) that this was a decent tasting green tea (I drank it about six months after it’s harvest). I should be getting a sample of a similarly named green tea (Organic Tian Mu Mao Feng) from the 2012 spring harvest, soon, so I’ll be curious to see if I like it any better (they currently list this tea as out of stock, so I don’t know if they plan to get a new harvest of this exact green tea or not).

Second tea of the morning…….

I received this sample a several weeks ago from TeaVivre and have been putting off reviewing due to my seasonal allergies. It is hard to taste things very well when your sense of smell is off. I am a little sad it is out of stock, but am hopeful that there will be more for the next season.

This is nutty, and more vegetal than the Premium Dragonwell. There is the slightest hint of bitterness, but it works to cleanse the palate. It is a surprisingly refreshing tea, and there is not a hint of aftertaste. I would never have guessed that the lightest amount of bitterness could work so well in ones favor. It can be a good thing, when in the right amount. I am sure it will be a great resteeper, and I will thoroughly enjoy the sample. I hope to add a few more notes on this one because it is so interesting how flavors I thought were not of interest to me actually are! Thank you, again, to TeaVivre for the opportunity to sample this one.

190 water, about 2 tsp tea in a 15 oz mug. 3 minutes. No additions.

So, I have had this for a really long time and I’m just now getting around to trying it. Sample provided very generously by Teavivre!

Steep notes: 3-4 tsp. leaf to 500 ml. water in my Breville at below parameters.

I really wanted a black tea tonight but for some reason I didn’t have any in my cupboard. I mean, I did, East Frissy and David’s Breakfast blend are in there, but I wanted something…not breakfasty? I don’t know. I’m fickle, it’s cold and rainy and windy and I wanted some warm, no frills (no dessert!) tea.

So in this one went. The dry leaf had almost a malty smell to it, which is a characteristic I normally find in Assams and which made me very happy. Dry leaf looked like long spindly blades of grass.

The steeped liquor is a yellow green and has a vague buttery scent. Taste wise, I get buttery and nutty. The nutty flavor especially lingers as an aftertaste. It’s very smooth, though, and slightly (pleasantly) astringent.

I like this – it’s a very delicate flavor that would go well with dinner, as I find most green teas do. It works well for night when you just really don’t want anything heavy.

This is my last Teavivre tea to review. Then I’m onto random things again.

I think this might be my second favorite of the greens I’ve tried by this company. The scent of it was fresh and especially sweet. Inviting. It brewed up to a shade of pale greenish yellow, and smelled almost fruity aside from the usual green tea scents. The taste is very naturally sweet and delicious. Even at such a short steep time, it’s strong and complex. But I still prefer the more bitter and smoky Chun Mei.

Once I go through the rest of these green teas Teavivre sent me, I’m gonna have to have them all again together and really decide which one is my favorite.

The characteristics of this tea pretty much define everything I love about a lot of the greens I’ve tried so far. I love the sweet, vegetal taste with a hint of nuttiness of this one. The dry leaf smelled to me a lot like hazelnuts for some reason…but then again I don’t think I have a clear idea of what a chestnut smells like so that could be it.

Also I always have enjoyed wondering about brewing instructions only to be pleased with the results. I wasn’t expecting a green tea that brews just fine at a high temperature! But it works out just fine.

I am enjoying the flavor of this lovely green. A beautiful color and aroma. I was very generous with the amount of leaf and the steep time was about 2 minutes. It also has that gorgeous green tea energy that many love. This would make a great every day.

So I’ll preface this by saying a few things…

1) I was at work when I first tried this and,

2) I’m not terribly good at describing the subtle tastes of things like wine or coffee or tea and,

3) I’ve been more a Japanese green tea drinker in the last few years than a Chinese one.

With that said, I did delve into this green tea, one of three that Angel from Teavivre sent. I picked this one because of the reference to chestnut flavours…though I’m fairly uncertain what chestnut actually tastes like.

The dry leaf is dark green in colour, and sort of thin spindly leaves. The smell is clean and earthy and a little roasty toasty. Brewed, they expand and turn into a mossy green colour. The liquor was pretty pale and yellow, and still smelled much like the dry leaf. The taste was crisp and clean, and reminded me a bit of a green oolong. There was a little roasty toasty flavours though. There was a barely noticeable astringency, but I wouldn’t say bitter by any means. I think that the main flavours I picked up were vegetal, and reading about asparagus as a flavours, as odd as it is, I think I can make that out, but I’d never know it unless I read others saying that.

My preparation was electric kettle boiled water, left to rest about 3-5 minutes before adding thee strainer with he tea leaves, of which I used about two bamboo spoons wort. The tea is so lightweight and thin that it was a little difficult to get a good measure. Steeped about 2 minutes in between running back and forth from customers.

Overall, I like it and will be interested to see how it compares to the other greens and oolongs I got from Teavivre. I’ll be interested to see if I can discern any subtleties in them.