Could anyone suggest a good maocha for me to try? Now that I'm so totally sold on pu'erh, I feel I should give this a try too. What kinds of flavors should I expect? My understanding is that it's basically green tea from old growth trees. At least, that's what I've gleaned from wikipedia.
I'd kind of prefer to order from puerhshop.com, since my first experience with them was so excellent. They have several to choose from, and all sound appealing. But I'm willing to try other sources as well. I want to experience the "essence" of what goes into pu'erh, if that's helpful at all.
Nov 9th, '08, 05:02
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zipflint
Actually, I am not sure if you are drinking ripe or raw puerh (or both).
Mao cha is sun dried and the first step in producing a compressed raw cake or brick.
(Mao cha would then be steamed and compressed in a mold).
So, if you have tried a "young raw" puerh, you won't find much difference in mao cha, which is simply loose. I can vouch for this product below, however.
http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php? ... 7f760a0b5e
Mao cha is sun dried and the first step in producing a compressed raw cake or brick.
(Mao cha would then be steamed and compressed in a mold).
So, if you have tried a "young raw" puerh, you won't find much difference in mao cha, which is simply loose. I can vouch for this product below, however.
http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php? ... 7f760a0b5e
I've heard this before, but to be honest, I couldn't say. It sometimes seems that way though. The only Xi Zi Hao I actually own a cake of is the 07 8582. I've tried a bunch of their samples, and I have to say that a few of them do seem to be "drink it now" style. Even the dry leaves look pretty crazy, and different from anything I've ever seen before. They're kind of like Changtai to me. Good, delicious pu'er, but I'm not certain about it's long term future. I just wish I knew if they were doing something different from the "traditional" processing of pu'er.brandon wrote:thanks, do you think Xi Zhi Hao is aiming for good "drink now" blends?
His stuff is especially smooth after only a few years.
Nov 9th, '08, 13:17
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hop_goblin
As Brandon has stated, Maocha is really just processed leaves which haven't or will not be steamed and then pressed. You have indeed tasted maocha if you have drunk shengpu. Although the differences between pressed vs non pressed is an academic discussion, for all practical purposes, maocha is the same as pu.
Yes, I would recommend HouDe
Yes, I would recommend HouDe
Don't always believe what you think!
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Nov 9th, '08, 16:00
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zipflint
Ah, I see now. I've tried shou and sheng and enjoy the differences between both a lot. I had it in my head that maocha might be a sort of younger-tasting shou. I'll still probably try out any further suggestions anyone has.
It could be interesting to taste each incarnation of a particular season's/grower's leaf. Meaning, to get a new, recently harvested maocha, then a sheng cake from that same harvest to keep (and an extra one to enjoy immediately) and age, and maybe a shou. Then go back after a few years and taste the aged sheng to compare all the varieties. I'm sure I'm not the first one to think about this.
Also, and I hope I'm not opening a can of worms by asking this, but is it fairly accurate to think of shou as "artificially aged" sheng? Not to take anything away from it; as I've said I really like the taste of shou.
It could be interesting to taste each incarnation of a particular season's/grower's leaf. Meaning, to get a new, recently harvested maocha, then a sheng cake from that same harvest to keep (and an extra one to enjoy immediately) and age, and maybe a shou. Then go back after a few years and taste the aged sheng to compare all the varieties. I'm sure I'm not the first one to think about this.
Also, and I hope I'm not opening a can of worms by asking this, but is it fairly accurate to think of shou as "artificially aged" sheng? Not to take anything away from it; as I've said I really like the taste of shou.
I second that!!
I have this one too, it was my first Mao Cha.
Really lovely.
- Victoria -
http://victoriasown.blogspot.com/
http://victoriasown.blogspot.com/
Is it not aging well? I thought it to be fairly simple, sweet, and delicate.tenuki wrote:I used to think so too.
IMHO, for the money most maocha goes for, I'd rather just buy some cheaper oolongs. Maocha does store though, and can be aged quicker than it's compressed counterpart. However there are arguments over "exhausting" of flavors from receiving more air than if they were compressed. I personally have only tried one "aged" maocha, so I couldn't really tell you my opinion on the matter. The one I had wasn't bad though. I think it was from 1990.