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Huang Shen Mao Feng from Jing Tea Shop

I was very curious about this tea in particular because I’ve very much enjoyed Norbu’s large-leaf green tea from Yunnan also called “Mao Feng”, but I suspected it was quite different from the ‘real thing’, and wanted to see what the original was like.

Medium green, thin twisty leaves

http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/5698368316/

5 grams in a 200mL pot with about 150mL of water, 150 degrees

First infusion 30 seconds, warm, sweet, a certain smoky/toasted/grilled vegetable background…..

2nd infusion 20 seconds, pale green liquor, the sweet warm flavor is still there, but the toasted vegetable flavor—not a bitterness, perhaps a touch of astringency in it—is dominant now.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/5697792635/

Ran out of time, so I added cold water and set the leaves to the refrigerator to try to get one more steeping out of them. But the resulting infusion, a day later, has a strong bitterness underlying a delicious fresh sweet vegetal flavor; I did not finish it. I also forgot to shoot the leaves after infusion, but they were pale minty green, long, thin, rolled almost into little cylinders.

I used a quite moderate tea-to-water ratio, and very cool water with short brewing times, all designed to moderate and minimize any bitterness. This is a tea that sat, sealed from the shop, for some months before I opened it, so it might have lost something re: freshness. Before assuming this just isn’t my cup of green tea, I’ll try it again—it took me nearly a year to ‘get’ Dragon Well, after all.

Preparation
150 °F / 65 °C 0 min, 30 sec
Gingko (manager of Life in Teacup)

150 F is probably too low for huang shan mao feng. You can try much higher temperature and a little longer infusions.

deftea

So, how does it compare to Norbu’s Yunnan Mao Feng (which is no longer available)? Nice pics on Flickr.

teaddict

It has a much deeper toastier flavor than the lighter, more floral (camphorous, even) Yunnan Mao Feng. I prefer the Yunnanese version to my first experience with this one. Given my general taste preferences, I doubt higher temperature will please my tastebuds more here, but I’ll probably try a little more dilute and not quite so cool next time.

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Comments

Gingko (manager of Life in Teacup)

150 F is probably too low for huang shan mao feng. You can try much higher temperature and a little longer infusions.

deftea

So, how does it compare to Norbu’s Yunnan Mao Feng (which is no longer available)? Nice pics on Flickr.

teaddict

It has a much deeper toastier flavor than the lighter, more floral (camphorous, even) Yunnan Mao Feng. I prefer the Yunnanese version to my first experience with this one. Given my general taste preferences, I doubt higher temperature will please my tastebuds more here, but I’ll probably try a little more dilute and not quite so cool next time.

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Bio

I’ve been drinking tea for 30 years, but only bought 2 brands of 2 different teas for most of that time. It took me almost 30 years to discover sencha, puerh, and green oolongs. Now I am making up for lost time.

I try to log most of my teas at least once, but then get lazy and stop recording, so # times logged should not be considered as a marker of how much a particular tea is drunk or enjoyed.

Also debunix on TeaForum.org and TeaChat.

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http://debunix.net/recipes/Te...

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