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As mentioned in a previous review, I discovered several What-Cha Zhangping Shui Xian mini cakes while doing some organizing and realized I needed to get them out of the way. There were five total, and I have now worked my way through three of them. I had two of these mini cakes, one from 2016 and the other from 2017. This review will deal exclusively with the 2016 offering. It wasn’t bad, but please keep in mind that Zhangping Shui Xian is not one of my things.

To brew this little beast, I simply dumped the entire cake in one of the largest gaiwans I have, an approximately 160 ml blue celadon gaiwan I bought from Yunnan Sourcing. It’s pretty cool. It took me a little while to adapt to using it since I rarely break it out, but it was fun to use. I rinsed the cake in 203 F water for about 10 seconds and then steeped it for 10 seconds to get the session started. This infusion was then followed by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for them were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes. Note that I used the same water temperature (203 F) for the entirety of this session.

Prior to the rinse, the dry mini cake emitted aromas of cream, butter, custard, and gardenia. After the rinse, I noted new aromas of apple, grass, and vanilla. The first infusion introduced a stronger and more defined apple scent as well as new blueberry and raspberry aromas. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of apple, blueberry, and raspberry chased by more delicate impressions of wood, cream, custard, and vanilla. Hints of cinnamon and grass were detectable in the aftertaste. The subsequent infusions introduced baked bread, wood, pear, and subtle cinnamon aromas. Butter came out in the mouth as did very subtle gardenia impressions. New notes of sour cherry, baked bread, pomegranate, rock sugar, cattail shoots, watercress, almond, pear, and banana leaf also showed themselves. The final few infusions offered mineral, cream, apple, butter, and vanilla notes that were underscored by hints of almond, grass, cattail shoots, cinnamon, and sour cherry. Interestingly, there was also a belatedly emerging, though very, very subtle, hint of honey in the mix too.

In terms of flavor, I enjoyed this Zhangping Shui Xian mini cake more than the last one I tried, but in terms of body and texture, I found it somewhat less appealing. I also did not like the way the vegetal notes lingered on the tongue after each swallow in the middle infusions. Overall, this offering was very hit or miss, possessing some clear strengths (complexity, unique mix of aromas and flavors, and longevity) and some equally obvious weaknesses (lack of body and texture, uneven expression of some flavor components over the course of the session). To be fair, however, there was more good than bad, and even though I did not find it to be a great tea, I would not caution anyone to avoid it either. This one gets a cautious recommendation from me.

People, I have been so lazy lately. My backlog has once again grown due to me not posting anything for nearly a week, and it has not been like I have not had time to get anything done. Truthfully, I have not been feeling well and got to a point where I found myself forcing my way through tea reviews due to lack of energy, motivation, and inspiration. Writing them had turned into something I did not enjoy, much more like a chore than anything else. It was tedious for me. I realized I was forcing myself to stick to such a fixed reviewing schedule more out of a sense of obligation than anything else. So, what did I do? I resolved to take a short break. Now I’m back, and we’ll see how this goes. If I feel good about things after today, I’ll get back to posting things on here a little more regularly, but if I don’t, I will probably end up taking another break. Anyway, this was one of the last teas I finished before my brief rest period. I found it to be a solid oolong that was reminiscent of both some Dancong oolongs and some baked Taiwanese rolled oolongs.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of rolled tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 6 seconds. This infusion was followed by 17 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 9 minutes, and 12 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of raisin, plum, wood, and black cherry. After the rinse, I found new aromas of honey, peach, rose, and violet. The first infusion introduced candied orange and baked bread scents as well as a subtle aroma of malt. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of raisin, plum, baked bread, malt, cream, and honey before moving on to reveal candied orange, black cherry, rose, and violet impressions on the finish. I also caught some interesting and unexpected roasted almond and pomegranate hints in the aftertaste. The subsequent infusions brought out aromas of cream, vanilla, and pomegranate to balance the amplified floral impressions. There were also some fleeting roasted almond scents in the background. Stronger and more prominent black cherry, roasted almond, and pomegranate notes came out in the mouth along with belatedly emerging wood and peach notes. New impressions of minerals, butter, vanilla, and grass showed up too. There were even some hints of coriander and nutmeg that were most noticeable on the finish and in the aftertaste. The final few infusions offered lingering mineral, wood, malt, grass, and cream notes that were backed by fleeting, ghostly rose, candied orange, violet, baked bread, black cherry, and coriander impressions.

A very nice oolong with an appealing texture present in its tea liquor, I think this was mostly a successful experiment overall. I loved the way the floral aromas and flavors popped, and there was appealing depth and complexity to the tea’s fruity characteristics. This being said, my rating may seem a bit low to some of you, but know that I am grading this tea in comparison to some of the other Nepalese oolongs offered by What-Cha. Though very good, this one did not quite equal such offerings as the Nepal Silver Oolong Tea, Nepal Pearl Oolong Tea, or the Nepal Jun Chiyabari ‘Himalayan Bouquet’ Oolong Tea, and for that, I had to assign it a somewhat lower numerical score.

I recently came across several of these What-Cha Zhangping Shui Xian mini cakes while organizing my tea hoard and realized that I should probably get a move on and drink them while they were still good. I had at least two of both the Light Roasted Shui Xian “Fruit” Cake and the Light Roasted Shui Xian “Premium Floral” Cake, but only one of this one, so I went ahead and drank it earlier in the day. Depending on how I feel later, I may have one of the others. Though I have little experience with Zhangping Shui Xian, I have never been huge on it, thus I am trying to get through these things as quickly as possible so I can move on to something else. This tea was pleasant, but it was also very subtle and not as overtly floral as I was hoping it would be.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped the entire mini cake (according to my scale, it was about 7 grams) in 5 ounces of 203 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was followed by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea cake emitted aromas of cream, butter, custard, and gardenia. After the rinse, I noted new aromas of vanilla and steamed milk backed by a subtle scent of grass. The first infusion introduced very subtle orchid, almond, and cherry aromas. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered delicate notes of cream, butter, and grass that were chased by hints of custard, vanilla, almond, and gardenia. Subsequent infusions introduced a stronger almond aroma as well as cinnamon and ginger scents. Slightly stronger vanilla, almond, and gardenia notes appeared in the mouth along with subtle cherry, orchid, and steamed milk notes. New impressions of sugarcane, minerals, orange, ginger, cinnamon, banana leaf, and honey emerged along with some fleeting hints of coconut. The final few infusions were very heavy on mineral notes, though I also found impressions of cream, vanilla, sugarcane, and grass as well as subtle almond, honey, steamed milk, cinnamon, and ginger accents.

The vast majority of my experience with Shui Xian has come in the form of the more common and celebrated Wuyi oolongs, so this was a real change of pace for me. The way this tea was processed brought out aroma and flavor components that I usually associate with Taiwanese baozhong, various Dancong oolongs, and some of the lighter roasted Anxi oolongs. Honestly, I would describe this tea as having much more in common with any of those types of tea than any of the traditional Wuyi takes on Shui Xian. Its uniqueness aside, I am afraid that I cannot give this tea a spectacularly high rating. Though pleasant, it was a very subtle tea, consistently emphasizing its sharp, mineral-heavy texture over its aromas and flavors, and as I have mentioned in the past, I tend to favor strongly aromatic and flavorful teas over subtler, more texture-heavy teas. This tea firmly fell in the latter group for me. Another gripe I had with it, and one that I kind of hit on earlier in this review, was that for a tea that was designed to showcase floral aromas and flavors, it was often not all that floral. Very frequently its floral components were subtle. They often took a backseat to the tea’s savory, sweet, vegetal, and spicy qualities. Still, all gripes aside, I would imagine that people who tend to favor highly textured teas that require patience and consistent focus to appreciate would be into this one. Unfortunately, if the other Zhangping Shui Xian mini cakes I have end up being very similar to this one, I think I will probably stick with Wuyi Shui Xian and some of the Dancong Shui Xian oolongs going forward.

I have no clue what the issue has been for the past several days, but I have had no energy to do anything. I have been meaning to post a review of this tea this whole time, yet every time I sat down to do so, I simply never bothered to do it for whatever reason. Now I’m forcing myself to get it over with so I can move on to something else. That being said, please do not make the mistake of assuming that my unwillingness to review this tea in a timely fashion had anything to do with the quality of the tea because, well, it didn’t. This was a very solid Yunnan white tea. It was neither the best nor the most appealing Yunnan white tea I have tried, but it was very respectable.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea buds in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 7 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea buds emitted aromas of hay, straw, sugarcane, and smoke. After the rinse, I noted new aromas of cream, butter, corn husk, and spinach. The first infusion introduced scents of malt and apricot. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of cream, butter, corn husk, malt, hay, straw, and apricot that were backed by herbal impressions and hints of sugarcane. The subsequent infusions introduced fennel, cucumber, grass, and eucalyptus aromas. Stronger and more immediate sugarcane notes came out in the mouth along with belatedly emerging smoke and spinach notes. New mineral, grass, fennel, almond, lettuce, cucumber, parsley, honeydew, lemon zest, orange zest, and watermelon rind notes came out along with hints of eucalyptus. The final few infusions offered notes of minerals, cucumber, hay, corn husk, straw, malt, and butter that were balanced by fleeting impressions of cream, grass, fennel, lemon zest, and apricot.

In terms of aroma and flavor, this was a pretty standard Yunnan white tea. At this point, I have had so many other Yunnan white teas with similar attributes that this one did not stand out all that much to me. It did, however, still qualify as a more or less sterling example of a quality Yunnan white tea since there was nothing off about it. I did have to take a little more care in brewing this tea compared to other teas of this type as it was very easy to coax unwelcome amounts of bitterness and astringency out of it. In the end, I suppose that fans of traditional Yunnan white teas who do not mind a more advanced tea requiring a little more finesse and attention to get the most out of will be those most taken with this tea. I enjoyed it and could see why some people would absolutely love it, but honestly, I think I prefer some of Yunnan Sourcing’s other Yunnan white teas to this one.

I have been on kind of a green tea kick for the past week as I ended up recently acquiring some green tea samples from Teavivre. I mostly ended up with things that were new to me or that I do not drink very often. Of the bunch, this was arguably the tea about which I knew the least. Unless I have tried one under a different name, I do not recall trying a Tian Mu Qing Ding prior to trying this one. Fortunately, I found it to be a unique and highly rewarding green tea.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped 6 grams of the loose leaf and bud mix in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaf and bux mix emitted aromas of cream, butter, pine, olive, hay, chestnut, and honey. After the rinse, I noted new aromas of grass and sweet corn that were underscored by a subtle scent of malt. The first infusion introduced aromas of peas and green beans. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of cream, butter, grass, hay, and chestnut that were underscored by hints of sweet corn and malt. Subtle honey sweetness, notes of pine, and a vague floral presence that reminded me of a mixture of squash blossom and honeysuckle lingered in the mouth after the swallow. Subsequent infusions brought out aromas of lettuce and sugarcane. The tea liquor grew sweeter and more floral with more pronounced and immediate honey, squash blossom, and honeysuckle flavors dominating the entry. Green bean, grass, pea, and olive notes then belatedly appeared with new mineral, apricot, nectar, sugarcane, seaweed, and spinach impressions. The final few infusions offered lingering mineral, cream, butter, grass, and lettuce notes that were balanced by spinach, malt, olive, apricot, green bean, and pea impressions.

This was a very unique and appealing green tea. Considering that I tend to favor very grassy, vegetal and/or very buttery, nutty, savory green teas these days, the pronounced honey sweetness along with the fruity and floral qualities displayed by this tea totally took me by surprise. This was just a lovely tea that offered a tremendous drinking experience. I recommend it highly to anyone looking for a quality Chinese green tea that offers something truly out of the ordinary.

Now that I have reviewed a higher end Huang Shan Mao Feng, it’s time to review a slightly lower end tea (and I do emphasize the word slightly considering that this appeared to still be a somewhat higher end tea). One thing I appreciated about this tea compared to Teavivre’s Nonpareil Te Gong Huang Shan Mao Feng was that it offered a bit more strength in the flavor department. As teas of this type go, this one produced an excellent drinking experience and was about on par with its higher grade counterpart.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea buds and leaves in 4 ounces of 185 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry bud and leaf mix emitted aromas of minerals, chestnut, honey, and straw. After the rinse, I noted new aromas of hay, malt, soybean, sweet corn, and chestnut blossom. The first infusion then introduced lettuce, grass, and pea aromas. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of chestnut, straw, malt, hay, soybean, sweet corn, and grass that were underscored by hints of butter, cream, and peas. The subsequent infusions introduced cooked green bean, butter, umami, cream, and pine aromas. Mineral, lettuce, honey, and chestnut blossom notes appeared along with umami and cooked green bean impressions. I also caught some fleeting hints of fennel, pine, sugarcane, and spinach. The final few infusions emphasized durable mineral, cream, malt, hay, and umami notes alongside amplified spinach impressions and cooked green bean, chestnut, and pea hints.

A very aromatic and flavorful green tea, this was like the Nonpareil Te Gong Huang Shan Mao Feng but with more charisma. Honestly, drinking this tea was like taking in an early summer day at my residence in liquid form. I have several large Chinese Chestnut trees in my yard as well as a hay field immediately in front of the house, and in June and July, the scents of grass, hay, and chestnut blossom fill the air when the yard and field are being mowed. If I breathe in through my mouth during that time of the year, I frequently also taste those things, and I love that. So, all of that being said, drinking this tea was an extremely pleasant experience for me. Though it was not as fancy as the other Teavivre Huang Shan Mao Feng I previously tried, this was more of a drinker’s tea, full of heady aromatic components and strong flavors with a nice, thick body and the expected mineral-heavy mouthfeel. I think it would make a fantastic daily drinker or a wonderful introduction to Huang Shan Mao Feng for those who are curious.

Alright, here comes the final review of the day. I finished a sample pouch of this tea earlier in the month, probably around the end of the first week or the start of last week. I think I may have built this one up in my head a little too much prior to trying it because it was not what I expected it to be, and as a result, I was disappointed with it at first. I think I was expecting an oolong that would revival an authentic Taiwanese baozhong, but what I got was something that fell between a lightly roasted baozhong, and surprisingly enough, a dancong oolong. In the end, I came around on this tea, but I still doubt I would regularly reach for it over a Taiwanese baozhong or any higher end Guangdong oolong.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 7 seconds. This infusion was followed by 14 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of cream, butter, custard, orchid, and orange blossom. After the rinse, I noted aromas of orange zest and pomegranate. The first infusion brought out a subtle nectarine scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of cream, butter, roasted almond, orchid, vanilla, and orange zest that were chased by hints of grass. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of roasted almond, pineapple, grass, seaweed, vanilla, and lotus as well as a significantly stronger pomegranate aroma. Custard, pomegranate, and orange blossom notes came out in the mouth alongside stronger impressions of grass and subtle nectarine hints. New mineral, macadamia, watercress, spinach, seaweed, pineapple, honey, and lotus impressions emerged as well. By the end of the session, I was still picking up mineral, roasted almond, cream, and butter notes that were chased by hints of grass, orange zest, and pomegranate.

A fascinating and at times elusive Southeast Asian oolong, I ended up enjoying this tea quite a bit, finding it to be an excellent product. Again, it did not remind me all that much of a traditional Taiwanese baozhong, especially in terms of mouthfeel and the way its aroma and flavor components expressed themselves. In the latter two respects, it reminded me more of a dancong oolong, and this connection was only strengthened by the presence of pomegranate, nectarine, roasted almond, and pungent floral notes as I tend to frequently find those notes in such teas. Overall, however, this was a very enjoyable oolong. It made for a pleasant break from the more traditional teas I tend to regularly drink.

This is the last of the September reviews. As I have mentioned several times previously, the backlog really is shrinking at a steady rate. I should be all caught up in no time. Anyway, the low numerical scores previously assigned to this tea surprised me. I found it to be a more or less excellent Vietnamese oolong.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of rolled tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was followed by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of raisin and prune that were underscored by hints of cinnamon. After the rinse, I noted new aromas of baked bread, cream, malt, and brown sugar. The first infusion introduced aromas of roasted almond and honey along with a suddenly amplified raisin aroma. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of raisin, prune, honey, and cream that were chased by hints of baked bread and roasted almond. Subsequent infusions saw butter, pear, rose, nectarine, and tangerine zest aromas emerge. Malt, brown sugar, and cinnamon notes belatedly emerged in the mouth alongside stronger baked bread and roasted almond impressions as well as mineral, tangerine zest, butter, oat, apple, vanilla, nectarine, and rose notes. The final few infusions offered mineral, pear, tangerine zest, rose, and roasted almond notes that were backed by cream, butter, and baked bread hints.

This was an incredibly nice Southeast Asian GABA oolong that thankfully did not suffer in comparison to its Taiwanese peers. I still do not get the lowish numerical scores this tea has garnered in the past. Though I am clearly the outlier here, I found this to be a very worthwhile tea.

Is everyone ready for a potentially controversial tea review? I finished a sample pouch of this tea back around the end of the first week in September, but I purposefully put off posting a review until now. I know that this tea did not get the most consistent reviews here on Steepster, but man, did I love it! This was one of the best and most interesting white teas I have tried.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea buds in 4 ounces of 185 F water for 7 seconds. This infusion was followed by 22 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 9 minutes, 12 minutes, 16 minutes, 20 minutes, 25 minutes, 30 minutes, and 40 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea buds emitted aromas of malt, black pepper, pine, cedar, tobacco, and honey. After the rinse, I noted new aromas of roasted nuts, cream, and marshmallow that were underscored by a subtle sugarcane scent. The first infusion brought out more of a sugarcane scent along with some indistinct hints of stone fruit. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of malt, pine, cedar, tobacco, cream, and roasted almond that were chased by hints of marshmallow, sugarcane, and black pepper. Surprising impressions of caramel, honey, and eucalyptus lingered in the mouth after the swallow. Subsequent infusions brought out aromas of eucalyptus, caramel, ginger, hay, oats, apricot, and plum. Notes of ginger, oats, minerals, vanilla, apricot, plum, butter, wheat toast, and hay appeared in the mouth along with somewhat stronger impressions of honey and caramel. The final few infusions emphasized surprisingly resilient, well-defined impressions of minerals, marshmallow, malt, cedar, roasted almond, black pepper, and tobacco that were chased by fleeting notes of ginger, hay, honey, caramel, and eucalyptus.

Like I said earlier, this was an interesting white tea. It had a ton to offer, and I think that patient and open-minded tea drinkers would likely get a kick out of it. Hopefully, Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company will bring this one back soon.

Now that I have gotten reviews of two of the remaining teas from September out of the way, allow me to move on to something I consumed much more recently. I finished what I had of this tea earlier in the week. At one point in fairly recent history, I was a huge fan of Huangshan Maofeng, but nowadays I find myself preferring Chinese green teas that display more powerful aromas and flavors. Still, I cannot penalize a tea for being exactly what it is supposed to be and doing exactly what it is supposed to do, so I will go ahead and offer the opinion that this was an excellent Huangshan Maofeng.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of tea buds and leaves in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry bud and leaf mix emitted strong mineral, hay, and straw aromas that were accented by hints of sugarcane and honey. After the rinse, I noted new scents of cream, chestnut, and malt. The first infusion then introduced some subtle scents of pine and lettuce. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented delicate notes of grass, chestnut, malt, straw, cream, and pine that were backed by impressions of seaweed, butter, and spinach before a spicy mineral presence dominated the mouth. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of butter, cream, grass, hazelnut, and fennel. Stronger and more prominent butter and cream notes emerged in the mouth alongside a stronger and spicier mineral presence and belatedly emerging impressions of lettuce, hay, honey, and sugarcane. New notes of umami, fennel, hazelnut, grass, bamboo, and peas appeared as well. The last couple of infusions offered lingering mineral, cream, butter, lettuce, grass, seaweed, and chestnut notes that were backed by fleeting umami, sugarcane, pea, and hay hints.

In my experience, Huangshan Maofeng is normally a subtler, more textured, and more challenging green tea. This one was certainly no exception. There was a lot going on with it, however, and it produced a sterling example of the sort of wonderfully textured tea liquor for which Huangshan Maofeng seems to be so renowned. Again, this may not be the sort of Chinese green tea I often crave these days, but I am not going to slight a tea that does everything one should expect of it really, really well. Overall, this was an excellent Huangshan Maofeng from a reliable vendor. Fans of this type of tea should give it a shot.