Huangshan Maofeng: A Complete Guide to Huangshan Fur Peak Green Tea

Huangshan Maofeng is a green tea from the foothills of the Huangshan range in southern Anhui, created in 1875 by the merchant Xie Zheng’an at Caoxi, now Fuxi township. It is picked as a bud with one opening leaf, pan-fired, rolled lightly and baked, and the finished leaf is described in the trade as ivory-colored with a golden fish leaf. The cup is pale, smells of orchid and chestnut, and tastes sweeter and lighter than Longjing.

1875 and the man who made it

Before the 1870s the Huangshan area made a tea called Huangshan Yunwu, a baked green with a good local reputation but no standard form. Xie Zheng’an, a merchant from Shexian who had been trading tea in the lowlands, returned to his home village of Caoxi after the Taiping upheaval and set up a tea house. He began buying fresh leaf locally and processing it himself rather than shipping it out raw.

His innovation was process discipline in four movements: a hot pan to stop oxidation, a light hand-roll rather than a hard one, a first bake to set the leaf, and a slower second bake to bring out the aroma and the down. The result was a leaf that was even in shape, ivory in color and visibly downy. He named it Maofeng, fur peak, after the down on the bud and the peaks above the village.

The tea reached Shanghai in the early 1880s and sold quickly. By the end of the century it was being exported through foreign trading houses and had acquired a reputation in Europe. The 1875 date and the Caoxi origin are consistent across the company history, provincial archives and the Anhui provincial records, which makes this one of the better-documented Chinese tea origins.

Ivory leaf, golden fish leaf

The traditional description of the dry leaf has four parts, and they are useful because each one is checkable. Shape: like a sparrow’s tongue, even and slightly curved. Tip: the bud shows and the down is visible. Color: ivory rather than bright green, a pale yellow-green that looks slightly warm. Fish leaf: a small, undeveloped leaf at the base that turns gold during firing.

That golden fish leaf is the most reliable visual marker. Cheap imitations usually sort it out, because it looks like a defect, and the result is a leaf that is too uniformly green. Bright emerald Maofeng is almost always leaf that was fired too fast or picked too late.

Picking and processing

Top grade is picked around Qingming as a bud with one opening leaf, and the standard tightens as the grade drops. Picking starts at first light and the leaf is fired the same day: morning pick in the afternoon, afternoon pick at night. That rule is not folklore. Fresh leaf held overnight begins to heat and ferment, and a Maofeng made from it loses the ivory color within a week.

Firing is done in a pan at high heat, in small batches, with the hand turning and lifting the leaf until it softens and the raw smell goes. Rolling is deliberately light: enough to shape the leaf and break some cells, not enough to crush it. Then two bakes, the first hotter to drive off moisture, the second gentler and longer to develop the aroma and fix the down.

What it tastes like

Dry leaf smells of orchid and fresh chestnut, with a hay note underneath. Brewed, the liquor is pale green-gold and clear. Aroma is orchid, light and high rather than deep. In the mouth it is soft and sweet, with less body than Longjing and a shorter finish, but a cleaner edge and no astringency at all when brewed correctly.

The lightness is the point and also the risk. Maofeng has less structure than a flat-pressed tea, so it does not stand up to long steeping or repeated infusions. Two good cups is realistic; a third is colored water.

Brewing

Use 3 g in a 150 ml glass, water at 80 to 85 C, and a first infusion of 60 seconds. The leaf is fine and extracts fast. A gaiwan works, but a glass lets you watch the leaf open and the color develop, which is half the pleasure with this tea.

• 80 to 85 C. Boiling water scalds the down and turns the cup husky.
• 3 g per 150 ml. More leaf makes it bitter rather than richer.
• 60 seconds for the first infusion, 45 for the second. Stop there.
• Water first, then leaf. The bud is fragile and a direct stream bruises it.
• Drink within a year. The orchid note is volatile and goes before the tea spoils.

Buying and storing

Look for ivory rather than emerald, visible down on the bud, an even sparrow-tongue shape, and at least some golden fish leaf. A uniform, bright green leaf with no fish leaf is either a different grade or a different tea. Smell it: orchid and chestnut, clean, with no smoke and no damp paper.

Note that a large share of what is sold as Huangshan Maofeng comes from outside the protected area, and the name has been used loosely for decades. Ask for the county and the picking date. Store sealed, cold and dark, and let the container reach room temperature before opening.

Health, in proportion

Maofeng carries the usual green tea compounds. Its relatively high amino acid content and low catechin level are why it tastes soft, and that is a flavor property rather than a medical one. Population studies associate tea drinking with some favorable markers, but the effects are small and no tea has been shown to prevent or treat disease. It contains caffeine.

Frequently asked questions