Wild Huangshan Mao Feng

A green that I actually like!

Sweet and with a creamy texture, not overpoweringly vegetal, not like grassy water. :)

I don’t like it enough to keep it on hand – it’s a green – but I’m glad I had a sample of it to try. It’s not the tea, it’s me. :) No rating because I oversteeped it and it got a bit bitter and I don’t think that is part of the normal flavor profile.

First, I really enjoy the leaning tower of tea photo of this one. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a straight green, and I go through phases with my (flavoured) green teas. I love Bangkok, but even that is somewhat phased in and out.

This one is somewhat vegetal, but also creamy with a sweetness coming through at the end of the sip. I’m actually enjoying this one while studying because it seems calming.

Now for a huangshan mao feng-athon! Both from Butiki, for this round it’s organic vs. wild. They are visually distinct which isn’t surprising, and both are pretty (the wild one a bit more so maybe), with gorgeous color and shape. They both smell awesome dry and while brewing, so much delicious vegetable savory-sweetness and roasty nuttiness going on, scrumptious. I smell artichoke again—yesss. I LOVE artichoke notes.

The organic HMF brews up a bit darker, with more rusty gold to it than the wild HMF. The aroma once steeped mellows, isn’t as intense as the dry leaves. I’m pretty amazed at how different these taste—the wild one is much sweeter, also smoother. The organic one’s slightly grassy (not offputtingly so) with more heft. There’s a crisp sweetness in that one too, namely sweet corn; it’s just the wild one is super sweet and in a more honey-like as opposed to vegetal way. Organic HMF also has a mouth-bursting juiciness to it I haven’t encountered before with greens that’s pretty neat. Both have buttery elements. The roasty nuttiness was more in the dry and steeping aromas; it recedes a lot once brewed, but faint traces do remain and go really well with the butteriness.

Really enjoyed both of these, finding it hard to pick one over the other as their qualities are surprisingly distinct. If you want veggie savory meal-like satisfaction, I’d go with the organic. If I wanted a sweet, delicate, nuanced treat that is more like being haunted by faint but lingering honey and buttery nut taste memories, I’d go wild. Both are excellent. I’m so happy Butiki exists so stuff like this is possible to try!

I can’t believe how SWEET this tea is! It tastes like I added honey but I didn’t! Super smooth, too. I almost get some spice notes from it. There is just enough vegetal flavor to satisfy my GREEN craving. Unlike anything I’ve ever tasted before, which is always my favorite! I love discovering new teas :)

Thanks so much for the sample of this one, Stacy. I am definitely putting some of your straight greens on my order list for next time!

Backlog.
Based on the description I had really high hopes for this tea, but something must have gone awry. I was expecting sweet creaminess but instead I got something that tasted like harsh tap water from a house with old pipes. I gave up after two steeps.

I fully acknowledge that I probably screwed this up myself – I noticed the other day that the water from our taps has taken on a strange odor, and in the last month I’ve begun using a Brita pitcher for my kettle. Is there anything else I could have done wrong? I really hate that I’m giving one of Stacy’s teas such a bad review!

Very interesting. Shared a pot of this with my sister. Color-wise the tea is a very light cream color, almost clear in the pot. The taste is very smooth, a little sweet and reminiscent of lima beans, spinach and hay to me. Is that what people mean when they say a tea has vegetal notes? In any case this was a very pleasant tea, if a little strange. (bearing in mind that this is my first ever really high quality straight green)

I’m not quite sure about this tea so I am not leaving a rating until I try it again. It tastes to me like soy beans with a hay flavour beneath it. Not quite sure how I feel about it yet. Very sweet on its own as well.

When I ordered from Butiki I thought that I got an extra amount of this tea because of its packaging size, but I didn’t. This tea was twisted up and curved all around which made it beautiful looking. The taste was a mild green tea taste and I really enjoyed sipping this during spring :)

This is an exceptional green tea. It’s by far, the best green I have ever had. So I will give it a fairly high rating.

That said, I just really am not a fan of green. If this one couldn’t make me a fan, I am fairly certain it’s just not a family of teas for me.

I’ve never been a fan of green teas, however I agree with many people here that the reason I didn’t like green tea was because I’ve never had good green tea! This green tea is excellent, provided by Butiki via my wife who won their contest recently. As always the story behind the tea is very important to me, and the idea of a hand picked tea from wild tea trees thrills me. A little (geeky) research shows this tea came from this gorgeous part of China; https://www.tripmondo.com/china/anhui-sheng/daguyun/picture-gallery-of-daguyun/ . And the taste of course, excellent. Very sweet, a honey sweet, with a buttery smooth aftertaste. I can’t get over how smooth it is, I went through my cup so fast, ready for a second steep!