On a hot summer day there are few teas that I can quench my thirst with. On the light bodied side there’s Huang Shan Mao Feng, and on the more intensive side there’s Xin Yang Mao Jian. Mao Jian has an interesting leaf for a green tea – it’s needle shaped with dark green tone and abundant white buds which makes leaves stick to each other easily.
Although I enjoy this tea most of a time in tall glass style during my working hours, for the sake of tasting I prepared it in a western teapot fashion. According to the instructions I used 4 gr with my 250ml glass teapot and steeped for 4 minutes at 85 Celsius.
What I got was a bright golden-green infusion with deep vegetable elements lingering at the top along with some smokey notes which brings out a clear association with Lapsang Souchong. First sip presents itself with somewhat brisk medium body, smokey element in the middle and sweetish finish. Both smokey and sweet notes linger in the back for some time. Following sips bring out the complete picture of this tea with prominent spinach-eggplant vegetable note and a slight salty-like sensation combined with a touch of vegetable bitterness. The tea itself quenches thirst and has a good palate cleansing property.
What’s especially noticeable with this tea is that it keeps its characteristics (barely evolves) as it cools down.
I got this tea on pre-order at a bargain price, now I wish I got more.
Flavors: Pine, Smoke, Spinach, Sweet, Vegetal
