Humble yet gourmet in its own right, the style of Huangshan Mao Feng gives us a special green tea of excellent craftsmanship without hype.  Mr. Hu's ecologically grown 生态 shēngtài tea yields a sweetness without bitter astringency a good Huangshan Mao Feng is known for, in addition to the pleasant soy milk texture and fragrance characteristic to genuine versions.

In one of the valleys southeast of Huangshan park, north of Fuxi town, Mr. Hu lives a life of a solitary man left to his own devices.  In his spacious, disheveled villa he can be found working on calligraphy projects and occasionally hosting friends and family.  A published calligrapher with a handful of accolades, certificates, and titles related to the artform, Mr. Hu prefers to occupy himself with tactile, unmodern things such as this.

An equally Luddite endeavor as his calligraphy, Hu also commits himself to another old world artform: the craft of his home's tea delicacy, Mao Feng.  Transliterating simply to "hairy tip", the tradename 毛峰 máo fēng throughout China usually signifies a more casual and approachable grade, oftentimes upstaged by a higher grade varietal of more prestige and price tag.  In Southern Anhui, the highest grade of green tea is undoubtedly Taiping Houkui, whose genuine materials that have undergone traditional non-mechanized methods often fetch top shelf prices.  Decidedly the grandpa-styled anthem of the region's everyman — yet able to hold its own to even higher end Houkui — some may be surprised to recall that Huangshan Mao Feng remains one of the ten classic teas of China, a title that ensures proud hands continue its craft.

We tasted several varieties of Mao Feng harvested from various gardens at different times and eventually settled on this ecologically grown, relatively later-harvested iteration.  While the race for earliest harvests before the Qing Ming festival dominates the domestic green tea market, Huangshan Mao Feng grown at proper elevations will typically fall between the solar terms of Qing Ming (April 5th) and Gu Yu "Grain Rain" (April 20th), and will benefit from less hurried treatment.  While there are certainly some teensy bud versions, some Huangshan Mao Feng iterations can be more elongated and strand-like, produced by the time it would take to grow the bud and leaf set out properly.  Our ecologically grown Mao Feng, harvested at 600 meters on April 24th, produced by Mr. Hu is one such tea.  Enjoy a sweet, clear uplifting broth that these leaves impart to a brew, with character and class to boot.