Superfine Keemun Mao Feng Black Tea

Thanks again Teavivre for the samples! Always a wonderful mail day when a Teavivre package arrives (well the package arrived a while ago anyway.) Teavivre has quite the collection of keemuns now. Five of them. The thing is, I think all of them could taste similar depending on how they are steeped… they seem sensitive to steeping! The leaves here are longer and wirey, so the leaves are physically different from some of the other keemuns Teavivre carry. I didn’t follow Teavivre’s instructions this time around. Six teaspoons is a lot of tea… though that is for 17 ounces of water and my mug is 12-13 ounces. They also suggest 194 degrees for 3-5 minutes.

Steep #1 // 2 tsps. // 15 min after boiling // 3 min
The cup here is very light in color but there is such a lovely fragrance before I even take a sip! Perfume in the best way possible. It has subtle flavors that I would attribute to Keemun, as well as something that reminds me of the muscatel from Darjeeling. There is also a squash flavor. This one reminds me of a Keemun blended with Darjeeling. But it would obviously be a different cup brewed differently…

Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min
…and it is. This cup is much darker in color and the taste is more like a Keemun, however that flavor can be described. Not sure, but I love Keemun. This cup is so different from the first cup that it could be more similar to some of the other Keemuns Teavivre has. Neither cup had much smoke as none of the Keemuns from Teavivre do. I also tried another Keemun from them the other day and the results were entirely different than the first steep session. They are constantly changing but if I love all of the Keemuns from Teavivre then it really doesn’t matter.

With Steepster being mostly down this week, I haven’t logged any teas, so get ready for quite a few notes from me! I’ve decided I don’t want to wait anymore for the site to be perfectly fixed. At least we can read the latest notes from the link on the explore page.

I ordered a sample of this tea in my last order, because I thought it would be fun to try another Keemun. I am really liking Keemun. This one was really different. It had a nice cocoa aroma, but when I tasted it, I was blasted with this smooth stone fruit flavor…maybe plum? Whoa! Fruity! There was a hint of smoke, but it was very subtle. This was pretty delicious, and not what I expected. I think overall, I prefer other Keemuns, but this was a nice departure from the usual.

Tea of the morning……

I was so excited when Teavivre decided to offer a Keemun Mao Feng. This is one of my favorite varieties of tea. Of course, this one does not disappoint. It is not as smokey and earthy as the other variety I keep in my cupboard. This one is much more refined. I get notes of honey, cocoa, and loveliness! I am definitely keeping this around.

A huge thanks to Angel and Teavivre for this sample!

As Teavivre continues to add new teas to its ever-growing repertoire, I am always anxious to try them and see what the young company is up to. The black teas are my favorite so I was eager to take this one for a spin!

When I opened the sample package, the strong aroma of the black and slightly curly leaves was quite interesting. It was faintly nutty, a bit fruity, and a lot like bread.

I brewed the leaves at 195 degrees for five minutes. The steeped result was a reddish gold liquid. The aroma was again nutty and fruity with a bread attribute.

The taste of this selection was slightly sweet. All rolled up in the flavor was nuttiness, a very subtle fruity flavor, and that lurking bread quality. When you put it all together, it reminded me of a tasty piece of fruit and nut bread. The tea was extremely smooth with no astringency. The sweet and soft aftertaste lingered quite pleasantly on my palate.

This is another delicious tea from the folks at Teavivre. For a company that is only three years old, they really have their finger on the pulse…or, should I say, tongue…of this tea lover. I will definitely be adding this great new entry to my shopping list in the future!

I chose this as a sample with my TeaVivre (I think it may have been one of my free samples? I don’t remember :P) order. I don’t have much experience with Keemuns, but I’ve liked all of the ones I’ve tried so far. I thought they were supposed to be smoky, but I actually don’t think I’ve tried a smoky Keemun yet. Weird. The leaves of this tea are super thin and twisty. I had a hard time separating out a teaspoon as they all wanted to stay tangled together! :P Dry scent is very sweet and malty with dried apricot, yums! I did a 3-minute steep.

Brewed, the tea smells like rich, deep dried fruits with honey and molasses. I also pick up on a little bit of floral. Oh my, this tea is a wow moment! I think this is the smoothest, creamiest black tea I’ve ever had. The main flavor is creamy, smooth grain with honey dancing around it. In the background, I pick up on that deep, rich dried fruit flavor combined with a bit of molasses or burnt sugar. There’s maybe the tiniest bit of floral somewhere in the middle, but it’s not enough to make me love this any less! When I first started drinking this cup, I noticed a little bit of bitterness, but it seems to have dissipated as I continued to drink.

Thanks TeaVivre for yet another delicious black tea! Love you gals! :)

This tea has the aroma of wet wood and hay. It has an earthy rich flavor that is malty with a hint of fruitiness, peach maybe. I am not the biggest fan of fruitiness in black tea, but this one I liked.

This sample came to me from caile – thank you so much
The leaves are very thin, slightly curly. i wanted to “pet” them,haha
Western method Teavivre’s parameters
2tsp 8oz 195F 4 min (Teavivre recommends 3-5)
dark, wine notes along with some bread cake, no smoke.
decided to add1tsp of maple syrup to see if it would make it bread cake. and it did. like raisin bread cake. so good. delicious.
Resteep @6min was a little weak. I wouldnt bother. I have enough to try gongfu.
Thank you for sending me sample , i truly enjoyed it. Will pick up on BF sale(OMG i already planning BF sales)

Delicate appearing black and gold dry leaf; fragrant like a field of fresh clover hay. Wet leaf smells deliciously sweet like honey.

Taste is flavorful with winey, fruity and floral notes combined with a wee bit of leather. No smokiness that I can detect.
Re-steeped well, and very lovely to drink.