Nonpareil Te Gong Huang Shan Mao Feng Green Tea

Thanks to Angel at TeaVivre for a new batch of samples for review. Always my pleasure :)

This is a wonderful nutty green! Sweet creamy corn and fresh peas. Slight floral/fruity overtones. Light bodied but enough flavor to satisfy. Very nice :)

I just got my teas from Teavivre today! They’re all green except for one white. Traditionally, I have not been a huge fan of straight greens, but decided that maybe different preparation or harvests or types could be the difference in what I like and dislike, so I’m always game to try more, and see if I can find something that I really like.

I’ve had this kind of tea in the past and it has not been my favourite, but I read some reviews and decided if a change in preparation was in order. So I used the whole sample packet, in my normal steeper from DAVIDs, filled up as much as I could get, and did a minute and a half to two minute steep with water that had cooled off at least 5 minutes…maybe longer.

The resulting brew is still a pale liquor, but it has a bit more flavour than I’m remembering from the past versions of this tea I have had. I’m actually drinking it unsweetened too. I’m not finding it bitter or anything. It is actually fairly smooth!

I stink at describing the tastes of vegetables like peas and artichoke and whatnot, so I can’t really say what it tastes like other than smooth and simple and mild. I am detecting a slight creamy feel, too. I may even resteep this.

I’m not one to have straight greens, but today seems like a good day for this. It is nice and sunny and relatively warm out today. It seems very fresh and crisp. Seems right.

Thanks to Angel at Teavivre for sending me the sample to review.

The Nonpareil Te Gong Huang Shan Mao Feng (also from Teavivre) is a very delicate and subtle tea. I was a bit surprised, actually, to find that it reminded me more of Bi Luo Chun than the Mao Fengs familiar to me!

The leaves are considerably lighter in both weight and color than those of any other Mao Feng I’ve tried. The infused leaves even look a bit like infused Long Jing! In some ways, this tea reminds me of how critics sometimes describe music as “poetic”. Others may describe poetry as “musical”. So, too, here, the best metaphor I seem to be able to come up with is Bi Luo Chun!

Nonpareil Te Gong Huang Shan Mao Feng is a very good tea, but it may not be what Mao Feng aficionados are necessarily looking for. I used exactly the same parameters as for Organic Tian Mu Mao Feng: 4 grams in 17 ounces of water at 79C for three minutes. The liquor was quite pale, not at all green, and the flavor was not really vegetal or hearty at all. Again, very subtle.

A sales associate at an unnameable tea emporium often criticized for its pushy sales tactics informed me (not sure if it’s true…) that the Chinese throw out the first two infusions of their teas because they prefer a more subtle flavor. This tea will definitely satisfy anyone who prefers white tea to green, and probably anyone who discards the first two infusions of all of their teas!

I am not saying that this tea is wan or weak or tasteless, but it definitely is more subtle than heartier Mao Feng varieties. It all comes down to taste, and what you happen to prefer. This tea is definitely worth trying.

(Blazing New Rating #37)

Yet another sample from Teavivre. I still have a lot more of these to go. This tea (which name is too long that I’m sure to forget by next morning) definitely has a flavour profile to my liking. Chestnut notes are very obvious as mentioned in the description. It tastes surprisingly close to the “Premium Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea” from Teavivre, but overall it has a slightly lighter feel. Yum.

Backlog:

LOVE! I love most of the teas from Teavivre and I really can’t think of a tea that I didn’t enjoy from them. Some I liked better than others – as it is with all tea companies that sell more than one tea. This one is really good. Mao Feng teas are one of my favorites of the “ten famous” teas, and this is a really good Mao Feng.

I brewed a couple of infusions of this tea for this review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/06/18/nonpareil-te-gong-huang-shan-mao-feng-green-tea-from-teavivre-2/

I found that I liked the second over the first and I think I could have probably gotten a couple more infusions out of the tea.

The tea starts out rather delicate, but be patient with it because over time the flavors develop and your patience will be rewarded! Sweet. Notes of fruit which is a little surprising because usually I experience earthier/grassier/vegetative notes from a green tea but not always a fruit note. Here, I tasted a fruity note that was somewhere between green grape, apple and honeydew melon. Nice.

Nutty flavors arrive in the second steeping, as does a slight vegetal note. The second infusion I noticed less of a grape note and more of a melon-like note.

A very good tea. You can’t go wrong with Teavivre!

The color of this tea is quite clear with a hint of green. The flavor of the tea is buttery with slight fruitiness and a subtle nutty flavor on the end. All in all, a light crisp flavorful green tea.