Xin Yang Mao Jian Green Tea

Thank you, Angel & Teavivre for sharing a generous sample of this tea with me!
I sampled it this afternoon, using my test tube steeper & short steepings. The tiny long leaves opened up nicely & the resulting tea was wonderful, to my taste. The most noticeable quality was a light smokiness, a thick mouth, lush vibrant green taste, & awesome chaqi!
This tea is almost like drinking a raw puerh.

Go through my Samples Teavivre just sent me! Has a light vegetal taste. Its sweet spinach.

In a side-by-side comparison of this Xin Yang Mao Jian with Teavivre’s Lu Shan Yun Wu, the heartier, more robust and darker green flavor of the Mao Jian really came through. This tea is much closer to Wissotzky Signature Green (in sachets), which I fell for a while back. In contrast, the Lu Shan Yun Wu is like a cross between Long Jing and Bi Luo Chun. Well, sort of… I am quite sure that the profound distinctions between all of these teas would emerge in side-by-side brewings!

The flavors of today’s two teas are certainly very distinct, though the liquors did not differ that much in appearance. The Xin Yang Mao Jian was gold veering more brown than green, which I ascribe to the more cooked quality of the tea. I also noticed that the infused leaves look neat and tidy in the case of Lu Shan Yu Wu, but sort of disheveled and chaotic for the Mao Jian. The dried leaves in both cases looked well-groomed, with the Lu Shan Yu Wu having especially attractive little corkscrew shapes.

Mao Jian is another case, like Bancha in Japan, where the later crop is generally considered to be less desirable than the first flush—Mao Feng in the former and Sencha in the latter case. I find, however, that second flush teas (and this applies equally well to darjeelings in India!) have their own distinctive appeal. I don’t necessarily prefer a tea just because it is harder to come by.

In conclusion, Xin Yang Mao Jian goes on my shopping list, too!

The tea leaves are long and twisty, varying from dark to light green. This tea smells like tomato (especially the dry leaves- I find them extremely fragrant) and brewed it even tastes a little tomato-y. I am really enjoying this tea! This flavor holds well through at least one more steep.

I received this tea as a sample from Teavivre. Thank you again, this tea is super fresh!

Um, I go back and forth on this one. Some days I don’t know what I like. Am I or am I not into smoky green tea? It’s become like a deep philosophical riddle for me. Also, I think I steeped this slightly too long, so that’s not helping me decide.

This is from the european teabox. I removed a small sample from this, enough for a couple cups and sadly I ruined my first try (too hot water I think). This second cup suffered perhaps a smidgen from too little leaf, but I managed to not torture it this time!

It is a weirdly pale tea (too little leaf maybe), but with a lot of character. It´s weirdly thick, body-ish, and very very veggie. I get no bitterness at all, but I went coooooollll with its brewing temperature. Very lovely.

I tried this tea partly because of Project Unflavoured Green, and partly because it’s so pretty. The leaves look like little hedgehog spines. I like hedgehogs. (A lot.)

In the bag, the scent is definitely vegetal, but with a little more punch to it than the green I last tried. This seems more robust. The slightly savoury note carries through into the brewed tea, which smells vegetal and a little brothy, with a metallic undertone.

To me, the taste seems like a very accurate reflection of what I pick up in terms of scent. The aftertaste adds a light, toasted/smoky note to the whole.

Overall, definitely a pleasant tea, but not one that strikes me as very original or that appeals to my personal tastes beyond the ‘I wouldn’t turn down a cup’ level. This is more like something I would enjoy drinking with food than on its own.

Thank you for letting us try this, KittyLovesTea!

[Sample from the second round of the EU Travelling Box, spring 2014.]

This tea has a smokey, vegetal aroma. It has a smokey taste with vegetal and citrus flavors. I did not care for the mix of flavors of this tea.

Thanks for this fine sample Teavivre!
I’m generally a green tea drinker, straying into black, but also a lover of the whites (Silver Needles and Bai Mu Dan)
ALL for their distinct personalities.
This Xin Yang Mao Jian Green is a stronger green falling somewhere between a good Dragon Well and the quieter Bi Luo Chun. Next to The Dragon Well, It’s a hair more smoky than toasty, still brightly vegetal, with sweet hay notes, with some astringency but no bitterness.
This is definitely a green I want to keep in my larder as a nice counterpoint to the (always favorite) Dragon Well.