“I know everyone really loved this tea, but somehow it didn’t impress me as much. I brewed it western style. I brewed it in my gaiwan. It was good, yes, but something about it didn’t sit right with...” Read full tasting note
“An interesting tea!! Very unusual. I think I love it. :) I know I didn’t brew this perfectly. I just felt like I needed to try this today and so I threw it in my bag to try at work. (So my...” Read full tasting note
“Story Time: Well I have experienced food poisoning for the first time. I ate some of my left over stir fry that I think was a day or two past prime. For that night and to late after noon I was...” Read full tasting note
“This is one of those teas that has me mystified. I have read all the positive reviews, and I am a big fan of Yunnan Yabao tea, and yet this version tastes nothing like I had hoped. I have made...” Read full tasting note
Year: 2009
Dry Leaf: Yabao is in a class of its own. Unlike any other teas, the buds are picked from ancient tea trees in middle to late winter when the bud is still tightly compacted and encased in a protective shell as it awaits spring. This particular Yabao is composed of very large buds that have not begun to open yet and allowed to sun dry completely without any other processing, making this more similar to yellow or white tea than to pu’er. Still, like pu’er yabao is aged to greater complexity.
Aroma: Intense aroma of pine needles with a heady and thick smell of snickerdoodle cookies baking.
Color: Extremely light. Almost clear.
Flavor: This unique tea has intense flavors of mulling spice, paired with cedar wood. There is a floral texture and the sweetness of marshmallow. The cedar grows with each steeping until it evokes the feeling of being in a cedar wood sauna. The texture becomes velvety.
Notes: Yabao is very hard to find. It has not developed a following in China yet, making production quite low. I believe that its audience is in America, where tea drinkers are not yet set in tradition, and people are open to new things. Yabao is a perfect gateway to aged teas, because it is much more mild than conventional pu’er, while still growing in depth and complexity over time. I have a single brick of 15 year old yabao, and it is simply my absolute best tea. Age some for yourself and see what yabao has to offer.
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