Superfine Keemun Mao Feng Black Tea

Stellar! I very much enjoyed this one.

Thank you for the sample, Angel.

And it’s a sipdown!

#long time ago internet hiatus sipdown

Strong with aftertaste

Sipdown (260)

Thank you Sil for sharing this with me!!

I was completely surprised by the fact that upon my first sip this had such amazing vanilla flavor. Vanilla and a touch of smoke.

When I get past the vanilla, which I don’t even think is supposed to be there, I get some floral orchid notes. Maybe it’s the orchid that’s evoking vanilla in my mind since my familiarity with orchid is from DAVIDsTEA’s Vanilla Orchid, which has both flavours.

Aside from the vanilla and orchid, this has a whole bunch of stone fruit to it. Plum, especially. Plum and also raisins. This is really good. I am a fan and while I didn’t really know what to expect from this, I’d get it again for sure if I were placing a teavivre order.

I made Gâteaux de Mamie Sunday afternoon, and paired it with this tea. Oh my goodness. What a treat. I haven’t had a really nice keemun in a while, and I need to drink up any remaining supplies I have in my stash because I plan to do some happy happy ordering as soon as the spring harvest teas become available.

This was steeped western style THREE TIMES. And the third steep still had lots of flavor.

Then tonight, I made chocolate covered strawberries for a little snacky with hubby and served this again. My husband doesn’t drink black tea without milk and sugar, but this one he did. Oh yes, he did. In fact, he had three cups and I had one. I think that means he liked it. And I think that means I should make another pot of tea.

While going through Keemuns from Teavivre I noticed that they were falling into two categories: aromatic with complex taste (Keemun Imperial Black Tea, Keemun Aromatic Snail Black Tea) and the strong Keemuns with the bite (Keemun Black Tea – Grade 2, Premium Keemun Hao Ya Black Tea). Finally, there is one Keemun that combines both of those desirable qualities, the Mao Feng.

It has a nice “expensive Keemun aroma” – plums, cherry, berry, spices. The tea color is interesting: not a usual red but red with some brownish notes. Finally, the taste is complex and reflects the smell well but this tea also has that strong breakfast-time kick. It can wake you up but with elegance and style. I like that.

It is still not my favorite Teavivre Keemun – I like the complexity of Imperial Keemun more – but this tea is probably better fits the expectations of what a good Keemun should be. Will order again.

The hue is copper, golden, and orange. It is clear and appetising.

So far I am loving the sample packs from TeaVivre, and this is no exception. It’s super-smooth.

I’m going to keep this one short: I am getting notes of caramel, a touch of malt, cream, and even a bit of a buttery flavour and mouth-feel.

This is a delicious one for sure. Not my favourite sampler so far but one that I would be happy to drink any time and own a large bag of (which might eventually happen!)

Prepared in a ceramic gaiwan and used my own parameters. Flash rinse. Steeping times: 10 seconds, 5, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 30, 90, 180, 360.

You betcha I petted the leaves while I took in the aroma. They’re so small and curly! They smell lightly sweet and fruity, and tannic like a dry red wine way. After I let them sit in the pre-heated gaiwan, they started smelling like honey and blackberry. Once washed with water, the aroma completely changes and smells like a typical hongcha, of cocoa and a hint of malt.

The liquor is ruddy orange, clean, full-bodied, bold with flavor, and smooth in texture. The flavors undergo a couple changes throughout the session. The first three cups taste of dark fruits. There is a sweet aftertaste. Cups four through seven taste of molasses and honey. There is delicate smokey note as well, and just a hint fruit in the background. Cups eight through twelve taste less complex, mostly tasting like molasses. There is also no more smoke.

Another solid hongcha from Teavivre. It doesn’t offer what I exactly love, but I did have a nice session with it and enjoyed the complex aroma and taste. Very nice quality. You might get something different out of this Mao Feng-like Keemun, given the varying experiences other people have had. Recommended for those who like or want to explore hongcha.

Thanks again, Angel and Teavivre!

This is the spring 2016 tea, and it’s tasty. I think it’s my first Keemun too. The main notes are caramel, citrus, and sweet potato.

http://sororiteasisters.com/2016/08/11/test/

For the full review!

YUM! YUM! And YUM!

I’m still working on Lion’s Week of tea. I love black tea so decided to give myself a treat and open a sample I got with my last Teavivre order. Keemun is one of my favorite blacks, so I was looking forward to trying this.

This is a very good tea. The nose gives a strong chocolate aroma with a bit of leafiness underneath. The taste is similar, and the finish is really good: long and luscious. One result of such a long finish is that the tea seemed to improve as I drank it: each sip was reinforced by all the earlier sips. It has strong keemun character: a good example of the type. On an absolute basis, then, this is a very good tea. My only complaint is that on a comparative basis, the tea is only slightly better than keemun #1, which is a fraction of the price, and not IMHO as good as their Hao Ya, at about half the price. So, my real recommendation would probably be to try these other teas at lower price points unless you don’t really have to worry about price.

I used 1.5 g in 6 oz water for 3 minutes (4 min for resteep)