Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Mao Feng’

This tea emits an earthy, malty smell from the dry leaves.

3 minutes at boiling yielded a bready-yeasty flavor.

I attempted to add milk and sugar to get the Keeman experience I had grown to expect from china keemans, the result was a cup of milk and sugar. The tea completely disappeared with the additions!

The overall feel for this tea was lack luster. It lacked the true maltiness of a Keeman. I was expecting a really great cup of Keeman, but I was truly disappointed with this selection from Tula Teas.

You can purchase the Keemun Mao Feng directly from the Tula Teas website.

This is one of those amazing quality teas that sends you straight to the package, squinting at the fine print to find evidence of flavoring above and beyond the tea itself. Nope. Nothing but great tea.

The dry leaves have the farmy burlap feed sack smell traditionally associated with Keemuns. (Southwest Missourian that I am, I could just breathe the bag fumes and be content!) Drink the Leaf subtitles this “red peach Keemun,” which is evident in the red-gold color of the steeped tea.

But peachy doesn’t even begin to describe all the things that happen in your mouth once you start enjoying this stuff! This tea has heft and a wonderful liquid honey taste that stays on the tongue long after you’ve swallowed. (Suddenly, I’m craving buttered toast.) A second steep lightens the flavor some, but it’s still pleasant follow-up to the first yummy batch.

Drink the Leaf describes Hong Tao Mao Feng as having a “long finish,” appropriate for a tea you’ll want to enjoy when you have plenty of time to sit and smile between sips.

You can purchase the Hong Tao Mao Feng directly from the Drink The Leaf website.

The color of this is GREAT and as described in the product description. It smells delightful!  A bready-toasty type black tea scent.

The taste is great! I can relate to the caramel and honey notes DRINK THE LEAF spoke of in the Product Description and can appreciate the bready/cakey type chewiness too! It’s not sweet – you almost think it’s going to be (a good type) bitter but it’s not bitter either. It’s a lingering tea that last long after your sip is complete! But it also makes you crave more!  This seems a little more complex that it gives itself credit for – and I like that!  This is a very memorable and delicious tea!  I like it very much!

You can purchase the Hong Tao Mao Feng directly from the Drink The Leaf website.

Noticing that the last tea I drank that had “Mao Feng” in the title was a green tea, this made me curious, so I first went and looked up what “Mao Feng” meant. According to the “wonderful source of all knowledge,” Wikipedia, Mao Feng “is a term in tea manufacture denoting the picking of a bud and two leaves of equal length.” It goes on to tell about their broad, curved shape and the desirability of this design.

Dry, these leaves are long, thin, and wiry. The aroma is mild and a bit malty. After steeping for the recommended time, the aroma really opens up, revealing delicious smelling honey tones.

Taking my first sip, the flavour explodes across my tongue, drenching it in much the same flavours as were smelled in the completed liquor: a bit of a malt, with sweet, dark honey tastes.

What seems to be a simple tea actually contains a myriad of experiences for the senses, all coming together to make this a nice tea experience and a delight to drink. I rate it a 75 out of 100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

You can purchase the Hong Tao Mao Feng directly from the Drink The Leaf website.

Keemun is a variety of Chinese black tea, possibly China’s most famous.   The region centered around the town of Qimen, between the Yangtze and the Yellow mountains, produces mostly black tea.   Keemun used to be a component leaf in many traditional English Breakfast blends.  It contributed a smoky, rich character, while not imparting much bitterness.   Economics and politics led to most English blends toi use Indian and African sourced teas.  In China, Keemun is drank unadulterated, but also serves as a basis for a mid morning “milk tea” common in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

This Keemun from Adagio Teas, is a Mao Feng style tea.  Mao Feng denotes a tea that is picked with a bud set and two leafs of equal length – and is the preferred pick of most good quality teas.    Long thin. rolled & twisted black leaf, with a good amount of lighter tips, with a spicy aroma.  As it is a black, it is a one -steep tea:  1tsp/3g tea per 6oz water @ 205 F for 5 minutes. (Adagio recommends 212F, but I like letting the water cool a bit so as not to blast or scorch the flavor).   Bright & clear brown with a bit or orange in the cup.  Faint aroma of dark chocolate, with a hint of spice.  A light sweet flavor, with suggestions of cocoa, moderate body and almost no astringency.  Wet leaf shows the two leafs and a bud, brown in color, with a nice chocolate and spice aroma.  

It doesn’t have the smokiness I associate with Hao Ya Keemuns.   The Mao Feng is the first pick, and its emphasis is on the subtle flavors of the bud set.   Hao Ya is second pick, the pickings are separated by a matter of 7-10 days.  Both teas are finished in the same way.  It is amazing the difference in tastes of the teas produced.

This is a very good Keemun, very smooth and inviting.  This is the highest grade of the three Keemun’s Adagio offers, and it shows.   

You can purchase the Keemun Rhapsody directly from the Adagio website.