Emerald Mao Feng

Thanks for this one, Michelle! Water cooled, 2-3 minute steep, this one seems so basic. A bit vegetal and nutty but I wish there was more flavor here. I wouldn’t call anything about it “roasted” like the description says. Not much else to say. Maybe I should have used more leaves? A green tea has to be really good to make me reach for it!

It feels odd to sit down and write about tea. It has been a few months, and my tea-writing skills feel a bit rusty.

I picked up this Emerald Mao Feng at the end of the year Teavana sale when I uh, had a bit of fun (okay, a lot of fun). This was my first time breaking into this tea.

This tea is a light tasting, not overly vegetal green tea. I don’t detect the sweetness that others have mentioned. It has a clear, smooth taste, not harsh or unpleasant. A nice green tea, but not one that is making me swoon. I think I still prefer Teavana’s Emperor’s Clouds and Mist to this tea. I may try it at a shorter steep next time, to see how a one minute steep compares to a one minute steep of EC&M.

This evening, I needed to detox myself and my apartment. Being sick for a week really puts you behind on house work. Which I was throwing away old food, cleaning dishes, putting up clothes, etc., it seemed fitting to keep a mug of this nearby. Seven or eight resteeps (who counts) really flushed a lot of gunk out of my system. The apartment looks better, I feel better. Can’t complain!

I am striving to get these reviews written as soon as I can, which means it may initially be missing some data which I hope to supply later.

Experience buying from Teavana online http://steepster.com/places/2822-teavana-online-atlanta-georgia

Date of Purchase/Age of Leaf: Purchased at their 2011 end-of-year sale at a discount, and brewed up my first pot right away; no information on date of harvest available (I don’t like that they can’t—or won’t—tell me the harvest date on their green teas, and I don’t like to admit it, but it’s honestly a little annoying to me).

Appearance and aroma of dry leaf: I was in the store a few days prior to buying this tea online, and when I looked at it and smelled it, I thought it was a Huang Shan Mao Feng (it’s not a part of Teavana’s name for this tea, but it looked like one to me). I asked about it, the sales associate looked it up, and she verified that it was indeed a Huang Shan Mao Feng (HSMF). Having said that, this tea looks and smells like any other HSMF: wiry, slightly twisted leaves, with a somewhat sour smelling vegetal aroma overlaid with some smokiness (Although I generally like the appearance and the taste of HSMF, I don’t really care for the smell of any of them).

Brewing guidelines: Glass Bodum pot with metal infuser/plunger. Stevia added.
……….1st: 170; 1’
……….2nd: 175; 1.5’
……….3rd: 180; 2’
……….4th: 185; 2.5’

Aroma of tea liquor: < later >

Flavor of tea liquor: Sweet, mildly vegetal, and surprisingly smooth; I don’t think there was any smokiness, either (my wife does NOT like smoky green teas, and so she normally does not like HSMFs, but she liked this one). No astringency or bite in it what-so-ever. Yet, I don’t think it had great flavor on the forth steeping.

Appearance and aroma of wet leaf: The leaf in this tea was not as impressive as the leaf in the Golden Jade (it had a few broken pieces), but it was still clearly from a quality pluck; standard vegetal aroma.

Value: This tea is a steal at 75% off the original price (what they state as $9/oz.) → $2.25/oz.

Overall: I suspect that this tea is some slightly lower grade version of their HSMF Reserve (which goes for $10/oz.), and that they don’t want to discontinue this tea, so they just renamed it, and put it on sale (they did not carry this tea until their end-of-year sale. Interesting, huh?). One piece of evidence to support this: the picture for both teas is EXACTLY the same on their website. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter. What matters most is that this is an exquisite tea for those who want a sweet green tea without the normal vegetal/astringent notes that are commonly present in Chinese green teas. And it is sweet. I look forward to brewing it up as a treat every now and then this winter.

Was looking at greens on Adagio and had a craving for something smokey, I thought of pulling out the Yunnan Emerald Buds but remembered the last time I burnt it and grabbed my tin of this instead. This was one of the last teas I picked up from the Heavenly Tea sale, we had bags of it arrive midway through the sale once most of the retired teas were sold. The large bags were labeled Huang Shan Mao Feng but we weighed it out and printed labels with Emerald. The supposed reason behind this is that one of the “gardens” we work with had an excess of this tea and asked if we wanted to include it in our sale.

So yes I would say its a lower quality version of HSMF though the leaves are whole they are smaller (usually a good thing) and greener, they are also less twisted and golden hued and taste less creamy and nutty. I don’t think they can hold up to being brewed 5-7 times like the Huang Shan (I’m only on three). However I do think this is sweeter and when I tried it in the store it seemed like a sweet smoke, but I don’t get than at home. What I do get is sweetened roasted nuts like they sell at fairs. There’s really no salinity and I can’t pin point a particular nut. There’s also some veg but its light, maybe sugar snap peas. Don’t feel like assigning it a number right now, its very drinkable (which is good as I probably have 6 oz to go through) but its nothing spectacular.

I bought a full 8oz tin of this tea at an end-of-the-year sale (in January 2012). I really enjoyed it! It’s a great, simple green tea. (I like my green tea unadulterated, so no additions for me.) This tea has been discontinued, so when I finished the tin I next bought Huang Shan Mao Feng Reserve (from Teavana) as a replacement, and the two taste very similar.