Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
The historic Huang Shan Mao Feng is well-known as one of the ten famous Chinese tea. This Ming Qian Huang Shan Mao Feng is a kind of pre-ming green tea. Pre-ming tea has strict requirement of the picking time and its making standard, thus the bird-tongue appearance could been perfect formed, as well as the brisk flavor. Both of which are favored by tea lovers.
Our Nonpareil Huang Shan Mao Feng Green tea is Te Gong grade. Te Gong refers to two Chinese words: 特(tè) and 贡(gòng). 特 is short for 特级, which means the tea’s grade is nonpareil; while 贡 is short for 贡品, meaning that the tea was used to be paid as tribute to the emperor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What a pleasure it has been to try Teavivre’s newest green teas from this spring. They taste so fresh and wonderful!
This Nonpareil Te Gong Huang Shan Mao Feng Green Tea – quite a name! – is lovely. I am a fan of Mao Feng Green teas anyway, they’re one of my favorite of the ‘ten famous’ Chinese teas. I enjoyed two infusions from one measurement of this tea, and I found both to be quite good.
The first infusion was delicate in flavor at first, and I found that the flavor developed as I continued to sip. I’m not sure if this is because the tea was cooling slightly or because the flavors developed on the palate after taking a few sips. Either way, this is a tea that requires a patient palate, but don’t worry, that patience will be rewarded soon enough!
It is a beautifully sweet flavor with notes of fruit. I don’t often experience fruity notes with green tea (usually I experience grassy or vegetal notes, but not so much of a fruit note as this Mao Feng offers), and it reminds me of a combination of sweet grapes, melon and apple. There is no tartness to these fruit notes, so think only of the sweetest grapes and apples, with the lush, juicy taste of a sweet honeydew melon. This is a tea you want to slurp to get the most out of these fruit notes! Aerate the tea on the palate and you’ll be happy with the result.
I added thirty seconds onto the steep time for the second infusion. This cup offers a deeper flavor with even more sweetness. You definitely want to take this tea for a second steep! There is a lot of flavor to this second cup. Sweet with nutty flavors, and the fruit notes are still there too. This time, I taste less of the grape and more of the melon. There is a little bit of vegetative taste that comes through now too, but there is more fruit than vegetable to this cup. It’s a very refreshing cuppa!
Of the two infusions, the second is my favorite, but the first was certainly worthwhile too. I enjoyed both and what I liked best is that both were so different from one another – it was like taking two adventures with one tea. An exceptional Mao Feng!
