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Thanks so much again, Teavivre! Teavivre’s three year anniversary will be soon! For some reason I thought they have existed for so much longer. The leaves here are very unique – I don’t even think I’ve seen a Mao Feng that looked like this before. They look like tiny green branches. The scent of the dry leaves is surprisingly stronger and sweeter than the tea actually tastes. Teavivre suggests THREE tablespoons for 17 ounces of water. Tablespoons! Not teaspoons! Wow, that is a lot of leaves… that would not even fit in my infuser. So I went with around four heaping teaspoons of leaves (difficult to measure by teaspoon), an entire sample packet, which had to be the most leaves I’ve ever used for one steep (also… three tablespoons would be nine teaspoons! I figure my mug is nine ounces so nine divided by two is around four teaspoons anyway.)

Steep #1 // 20 min after boiling // 2 min
The brew color is a very light yellow. The flavor is also very light, but it does have a hint of bite to it. Not surprising with four teaspoons of leaves. Usually to me, a Mao Feng tea tastes like a creamed/breaded corn side dish that would go to a meal. This is a much lighter version of that. Some Mao Feng teas would have this much flavor with just one teaspoon, but maybe I’ve been brewing them all wrong with just one teaspoon. I’m starting to think “maybe I should try this tea how Teavivre would suggest brewing it” to most of the teas that I steep. They usually seem to know exactly the right way to steep a tea. I know I’m always describing some green teas like corn, but that is all of my green tea knowledge or tastebuds at the moment, I guess. There is definitely something here that makes this cup special, even if I don’t know what that is. But I can definitely enjoy sipping this tea.

Steep #2 // 20 min after boiling // 3 min
This cup has even more of a briskness to it (but a pleasant sort – not astringency) as well as a nutty flavor. It’s very good! Mao Feng is one of my favorite greens. I’m off to watch some Akira Kurosawa movies while sipping this… Oh and when I sipped the last of this after it had sat in the mug over night (I don’t usually waste ANY tea, even the next day) it was even nuttier and I liked it even more. Maybe this would be really nice iced? I almost wanted to steep up a third cup but I needed my black tea in the morning.