XIN YANG MAO JIAN

Felt in the mood for a green today. Grabbed this one from Teasenz. I have had Xin Yang Mao Jian before and liked it. This one looks different. The dry leaf is very dark green and is tightly rolled like long wiry stems. It is almost like pulling a birds nest out of the bag. Dry it smells intensely of malt along with a sweet and sour aroma like fresh cut dewy grass. Once brewed the scent becomes heavily green and leafy. The first thing I notice when tasting is the bitter. I hate using that word when it is a good thing as it is here. It is crisp and refreshing. This is also sweet. Imagine that. The last time I had a Xin Yang Mao Jian I still had the Splenda monkey on my back. Now I’m clean and monkey free (mostly) and I recognize this as sweet – (sweet!). This feels thick and almost syrupy by mid sip, before trailing off into a hefty green vine like aftertaste that lingers. A Nice tea.

Now be aware the package said to steep this 4-5 minutes with 2-5 g of leaf. I went on the high end of both. After drinking I noticed the website said to steep this ONE minute. I knew better but went with the bag instructions. I fully plan to have a go at this again using the short steep. It was good but potent today. I think the reduced time will make this a wonderful refreshing break from reality – and who doesn’t need that?

This one is pretty damn good, I’ve had it a while i think but it tastes very fresh still.
I can’t wait to get home so I can have it prepared a little better. I prepared this one all wrong because i’m at the dialysis clinic, brewed up with microwaved water eeww with a cheap strainer in a cheap cup its the best i could do because i wasnt prepared.
I let the water cool a good it before steeping the tea because i figured it was too hot then by the time i actually steeped it i figured it was too cool but i steeped it anyways.
i actually expected a bad cup of tea due to the steeping but i was surprised that it was still really really good. I totally hate microwaved water but this time i honestly
couldnt tell it was microwaved because the tea was so good.

The tea leafe aroma is oh so good to me, it smells sweet and savory and vegetal and a little floral and something else i can’t place, very comforting too smells like some unknown something from the past, something mt granny use to cook maybe i dunno lol I know it smells really good.

The tea leafe juice is really awesome! even tho the water may have been crap the tea was wonderful. I got lots of differents notes and taste from this one and it changed a good bit when cooled.
This one was BITTER and a bit Smokey but also Juicy and not astringent at all,Sweet(almost fruity sweet)and Savory, very green and Vegetal and a little Herbacious. I got 2 steepings of it this first time and those 2 steepings was soo different.
The first steeping is awesome and intense, with all the notes listed above, most of these notes were subtle and faint at the start of the cup while the tea was warm and seem to just grow more intense as i allowed the tea to cool, It was almost as if i had the leafe still in the cup that how much it changed just with the cooling of the first cup. At first when warm i got faint vegetal taste with a little sweetness and no bitter or astringency at all very nice also for some reason it seemed light or thin at first, as it cooled those notes became a bit more intense and bitter, it seemed to changed from delecate or thin to bold and full bodied if that make sense and it developed an interesting thick mostly bitter slightly sweet lingering after taste. This one was a bit different than some Mao Jian that i have had in the past and it I like it alot.
The second steep fell a bit short and was alot weaker than the first, it was more like how the first steep started with out ever growing much bolder or getting that pleasant bitter as it cooled, It did grow a bit bitter but just like before.

I do want to talk about the bitter of this one,First Bitter is NOT a bad thing in fact I really like the bitter in this one,it is NOT an eww bitter but a very nice yummy bitter(some folks do like that).
I’m not sure why but Bitter and Astringent seems to sometimes show up together in teas and I notice that some folks are easily confused by the two(like this lady up here who tasted my tea lol).
So this chic tasted my tea(cooled) and she was like "omg, that’s astringent!
I think not it is quite juicy and NOT astringent at all, it is BITTER but in a good way.

I’m not sure if i got the bold bitter because it was steeped using bad water or if thats just the way this tea is but i really enjoyed it still. A nice tea steeped wrongso it must be even better steeped right, i’m looking forward to having this the proper way very soon.

oh yeah I advise using a nice gongfu strainer for this one cuz it is a fuzzy one, i used a shitty strainer so it let all the fuz in my cup which i don’t really mind, at first the fuzzies were floating on the surface but as it cooled the fuzzies that didnt get drank up fell to the bottom of the cup and congregated in the middle looking kinda nasty like a hairy blob lol
So use a good strainer if you don’t like fuzzies in your cup :)

Also i got a happy feeling from this one now too, like a slight tea buzz, thats always a good thing in my book :)

Backlog:

These leaves are gorgeous. They’re long and slender and they look so elegant. They have a vegetative aroma that when brewed smells a bit like steamed spinach.

This is one of the finest Mao Jian teas that I’ve tasted. It’s sweet and not as vegetative as the aroma led me to believe. The vegetative taste is more like a steamed artichoke heart rather than the steamed spinach that I smelled as the tea brewed.

The sweetness starts softly, gently, and develops as I continue to sip. It is nutty, sweet, and it has a delicate astringency. A really awesome Mao Jian!

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/06/06/xin-yang-mao-jian-green-tea-from-teasenz/

Okay, tried a new brewing method with this one! Aaaaand I overbrewed it… just a little… add some hot water. Now it’s just fine. Hehehe.

I am picking up a lot of sort of smokey flavor in this one. It reminds me a lot of a Jun Shan Yin Zhen I’ve had before. It’s delicate and a little bit sweet and has a strong aroma and flavor of green beans and spinach. I am not gonna go into too much detail here because Amanda’s review is very well written and covers pretty much the same points.

I am so excited, as soon as my varnish dries I will have a nice new tea tray! Well that is not entirely true, I still need to find a cake pan or something along those lines to place under it to catch drips, but the part that the tea gear rests on is all finished. Hopefully eight coats of waterproof varnish are enough, because I am a little sick of the varnish!

Today’s tea is from Teasenz, starting off a week of looking at their teas. Starting that week is Xing Yang Mao Jian, a green tea from Xing Yang in Henan Province, China. The Mao Jian part of the tea’s name translates to Green Tip, describing its appearance, and according to Wikipedia, this tea has a 2,300 year history, impressive! Another interesting tidbit of information about this tea is its reputation of being China’s toughest tea, since during the winter they withstand the cold while the other plants have withered. But as much as I am sure all of you love learning about tea, you are probably here to know what this tea is like from an olfactory and gustatory perspective! When I snipped open the little pouch this tea came in and gave it a good sniff, the first thing I noticed is how brothy, almost meaty the leaves smell, how intriguing! Once I poured the leaves I planned on steeping into my official sniffing dish, the leaves still retained their hint of broth, but it became more of a vegetable broth with strong notes of spinach, nuttiness, and fresh vegetation. There is a faint finish of sweetness like roasted chestnuts, the aroma of this tea certainly has a strong presence, I could sniff it for hours.

Into the gaiwan the little leaves go! After a quick steeping the aroma of the leaves is still strongly vegetal with spinach, bok choy, and a hint of kale, but there is a much stronger sweetness now. There is still a bit of the broth aroma but it is faint, allowing the other aromas to take the lead. The liquid is sweet, almost fruity, with a hint of spiciness that reminds me of spicebush. There is also a vegetal aroma that is more delicate and quite nice.

The first steeping’s taste starts out very vegetal, almost a bitter green taste of kale, spinach, and bok choy, but that very quickly fades to a fruity sweetness. The fruitiness reminds me of very delicate pear nectar with a hint of spicebush. The mouthfeel is great, it is one of those teas that tickles the mouth from the delicate hairs that are present on the leaf, one of my favorite things about drinking fuzzy teas.

For the second steep the aroma is a blend of savory broth and sweet fruit. I hestitate to call a tea that is Chinese Umami, but this tea’s aroma has one of the most clear Umami aromas I have ever run into, that alone has the power to enamor this tea to me. Tasting the tea I notice there is absolutely no bitterness as before, no kale, just refreshing bok choy vegetal and savory broth that fades to a delicate nutty sweetness at the end. Letting the tea cool causes the taste to become even more savory giving it almost mushroom (I am specifically thinking of shitake) quality to the vegetal broth taste.

The aroma of the third steep is still brothy, but now there are notes of citrus and pepper. The taste is refreshingly light, savory bok choy (I should specify that is is definitely the taste of steamed bok choy rather than fresh) and light vegetal lettuce, this fades to a delicate peppery taste and a tiny touch of smokiness. If you let this steep cool you will notice a delicate sweetness at the finish.

For the fourth and final steep the aroma is faintly sweet and vegetal with a tiny hint of fruit and a tiny hint of pepper. The taste starts off sweet with a hint of cherry and a nice note of lettuce which lingers until the peppery finish. This tea is unlike any green tea I have had before, I will go on a limb and say it is unlike any tea I have had before and I love it! I sometimes forget how unique Chinese green teas can be since (usually) if I want a green tea I go for a Japanese green, but this tea reminded me how delicate yet complex they can be. My favorite aspect of this tea is how refreshingly savory it was, it is the perfect taste for when you want a tea that has a presence but not a sweet one.

For blog and photos (including the new tea tray!): http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/05/teasenz-xin-yang-mao-jian-tea-tea-review.html