Traditional Mao Xie

I’ve really been enjoying straight teas over the past couple weeks, and just placed sample orders at Verdant and Mountain Stream. So, as I await for this new orders [that I definitely didn’t need to place], I’m trying some old samples I still have. This one is from Autumn 2018. It’s really nice and mild, very much roasted corn. I’m finding it particularly pleasing today.

Got this one as a sample.

Going with 5g, 90ml, at around 200F

The aroma post-wash smells like butter and corn and … roasted corn.

Steep times were as follows: 5s, 8s, 12s, 30s

First steep. A bit faint, but tastes like corn and butter.

Second steep. A bit more of a ‘roasted’ flavor than before. Still smooth and keeps a similar taste profile as the first steep.

Third steep. Taste is constant but it’s faint overall. A bit of a vegetal flavor now.

Fourth steep. Tastes like the previous.

I’m not a fan of the taste so I will not proceed past this. Overall the tea is on the lighter side of things and can be considered to be ‘smooth’. I wouldn’t consider it creamy though. Easy enough to brew gongfu style.

Nice, creamy mouthfeel, thick in the mouth.

Flavor is not my favorite for an oolong. There’s a little roast flavor, which is nice, as it doesn’t overwhelm the flavor of the tea. There’s also something like rice or barley.

There’s something weirdly fruity about the brew…red fruit? It may be cranberry or red grape skin. Kind of a dry flavor, like a wine.

Aroma: cream, soybean, honey, grape

Flavor: soybean, corn, cream, green apple, mineral

Maybe my water was not quite the right temperature, but the recommended initial steep of 20 seconds (I actually did 30) yielded quite a weak tea. I wasn’t able to pick up many of the notes in the first infusion except the typical aroma of oolong. Of the teas in Verdant’s introductory sampler this is the least enjoyable so far, but they are still high quality teas.

Since I have been on a roll with oolongs lately, let’s keep this train chugging along. This oolong is one of the more recent offerings from Verdant Tea. Part of Master Zhang’s collection, this Mao Xie is crafted in the traditional style in Daping, Anxi County, Fujian Province.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. Once again, I followed the procedure outlined by the folks at Verdant Tea. Following a 10 second rinse, I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 208 F water. The initial infusion lasted 10 seconds. I followed this up with 9 additional infusions with an increase of 2 seconds per infusion. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 10 seconds, 12 seconds, 14 seconds, 16 seconds, 18 seconds, 20 seconds, 22 seconds, 24 seconds, 26 seconds, and 28 seconds.

Following the rinse, the wet leaves displayed mild creamy, toasty, vegetal, and fruity aromas. In my experience, Mao Xie has a very unique aroma, but this was very smooth. Obviously, the roast was very light compared to a traditional Tieguanyin or something along those lines. The first infusion yielded a mild aroma with a somewhat toasty and fruity character. In the mouth, I picked up integrated notes of sesame, cream, butter, almond, green apple, pear, lychee, white grape, sage, and lettuce. The following 4 infusions heavily emphasized savory and fruity aromas and flavors. They were particularly heavy on the sage, cream, butter, sesame, apple, pear, and grape notes. The final series of infusions saw an increase in minerality. The fruity notes faded and cream, butter, lettuce, almond, and sesame remained.

This is the third Mao Xie I have had from Verdant this year. Each has been very different. I really enjoyed the vigor and quirkiness of the regular green Mao Xie, while I thought the Reserve Mao Xie lacked punch. This one falls somewhere between those two. All in all, I don’t find it to be a bad oolong, just maybe a little too soft and smooth for my tastes.