What is Maofeng?
[Supplemental Video materials here: Handmade Vs. Machine Made Maofeng]
Most sources agree about the broad definition of Maofeng. It is a green tea produced in Anhui’s southernmost municipality: Huangshan (Yellow Mountain). Traditionally, it is made from plump, but still tender “Dayezhong” local tea bushes found in the most core growing region: Fuxi, but now throughout most of the Huangshan prefecture. A shorter withering period(sometimes 6 hours or even less), high temperature wok-frying, and very minimal light kneading, followed by charcoal roasting are all components of the traditional production process.
The finished product associated with traditional Maofeng tends to be slightly bent in shape, has clear, slightly yellow soup, yellow-green dregs, a lasting flower/orchid aroma, a smooth mouthfeel and strong a Huigan. These are the “ideal” characteristics of Maofeng, which can easily be found, but not as easily as the mountain of light, burnt, or downright random Maofeng that exists in within Huangshan itself. It is for good reason that Maofeng has fallen out of favor among Anhui locals, despite remaining one of the most well known Chinese green teas in modern history.
Shexian County - Handmade Maofeng
Almost all sources agree that what we call Maofeng today was the brand name of a Huangshan green tea that evolved out a venture launched by one Xie Zhengan around 1875. Supposedly, this tea merchant had set up this venture after facing ruin from the Taiping Rebels, which contemporary records called “广匪” or Guangxi/Guangdong Bandits. What connection this tea had to older of green styles that had been grown since the Ming or even Tang dynasty are open to speculation. What we do know is that early 20th Century records emphasized that the Huangshan tea industry was dominated by merchant middlemen, many of whom were sending cart-loads of Maofeng to Fuzhou as early as 1913 to be further processed into jasmine tea.
After 1949, Maofeng production became more standardized, and later between 1949 and 1979, the total yield Huangshan tea production increased sixfold, with more than 1000 Commune and Production Brigade tea farms established. Already then, the norm of not kneading the earliest pick “Special Grade (特级)” Maofeng had already been established.
In first decades of Reform & Opening Up, small heated tumblers and electric ovens gradually came to replace frying woks and wicker charcoal roasting baskets. An almost unbroken, constant flow of tourists over the next four decades allowed for a variety of low-quality Maofeng to flourish.
Shancha Village, Tangkou Township - Tea Field & Household
Most of tea producers we met in Shexian County, including three very small household producers, also tended to have a hotel side-hustle. Out of the dozen Maofeng teas we experienced, some were blistered and nuclear green like what tourists find on Tunxi Old Street, two were smokey and completely traditional Maofeng, while a bunch were flavorless and absolutely mid like the heated sorting-machine (里调机) made Maofeng we had in Kangkou Township.
Only one of the teas we tried was an absolute knock-out in terms of mouthfeel and huigan robustness, and only about half had the advertised orchid aroma. We found fresh handmade Maofeng could take on a campfire or bacon aroma thanks to the baking process, meaning one is tasting the heat more than the meat, as Hank Hill would say. Machine-made Maofeng meanwhile seems to be liable to produce a boring peanut/popcorn/toasted soy note that one can find absolutely everywhere in China’s green tea country. Even worse are the sharp astrigent notes that resemble cheap Sparrow-Tongue, which seems to happen most with Maofeng made from early maturing high yield clonal cultivars like Hongqi #1, Zhenong #117, and others.
Kangkou Township - Freshly Baked Machine-made Maofeng
While it is tempting to say that Maofeng is now just a catch-all term for any baked green tea from Huangshan, what we observed in the physical production itself points to the reality of a Maofeng style. The withering time we saw at both a traditional style factory and modern family operation was considerably truncated compared to what we are used to seeing with Hubei green tea production. Rather than killing green the morning after, as is typically done with Hefeng Maojian or Enshi Yulu, the modern processing factory in Kangkou made and finished Maofeng the same day the leaves were picked.
The family got to work just a few hours after it was dropped off, just before sunset. A more moist, cellularly intact leaf like this not only will cook up differently, running the risk of incomplete cessation of enzyme activity. It can also naturally can have a crisper and sharper profile that can be molded into the desired floral aroma.
This floral aroma is completely different than what one can find a greener Oolong tea however, as there is only very minimal and light kneading and almost no interval between the tea first hitting the wok and entering the oven.
There is a special combination of high temperature, a compressed timescales, and local cultivar leaves that can produce the complex, flower-foward, sweet finishing green tea that many green tea drinkers once loved. Such a green tea can indeed best be called Maofeng, but we feel like we are just scratching the surface of the universe of tea that is contained within Huangshan.