Fragrant Bud

It’s my layman’s understanding that yellow tea is pretty hard to acquire at a reasonable price outside of China (or at has been least up until very recently), and I’m aware of the possibility of inferior or even counterfeit teas branded as such. Not at all implying that’s the case here, just noting in general as I really have no basis to judge what an authentic yellow tea “should” be like. (I have a couple more coming my way this month, so maybe I’ll get a better handle on what the general characteristics are based on common traits between the few I’ll be able to try.)

That said, I’m quite taken by how unique this appears. Dry it looks a little like long golden/tippy black leaves, there’s definitely a bit of oxidation, and the dry smell is quite extraordinary—it really is like a cross between all the basic tea types I’ve tried. There’s the toastiness of black tea and roasted oolongs, but also a fresh green mossiness more akin to greens and other types of oolongs, and that whole “delicately sweet floral perfume” aspect of Chinese whites and scented teas. Brewed in the cup this is surprisingly reddish brown but with gold undertones, reminds me of some of the peachiest and roastiest most classic/old-fashioned oolongs. The flavor is very mild and pretty smooth but as it cools a gentle darjeeling-ish woody astringency comes in that I really dig. As it cools further a fruity sweetness comes in. Good choice on an overcast damp mossy fall day like this as it evokes mossy forests and wet wood. Reminds me a bit of a class of oolongs, I forget which but I had some from Butiki a while back, where there are darjeeling qualities. Or perhaps it was the darjeeling that had oolong qualities, I forget. Whatever it is, I like it and it does come off as pretty unique.

This tea makes a very enjoyable cup. Lightly oxidized, yellow tea produces a sweet and mellow flavor without any vegetal overtones and this one delivers. Yellow tea is more difficult to find and this one is sold at a very fair price. Grab some while you can!

From the Zen Tea website: “The process for making yellow tea is time consuming. In general, the leaves are first fried, as is the case in most green teas, but then the leaves are wrapped in thick paper or cloth. At intervals the tea is fried again and re-wrapped to cool and oxidize slightly. This process continues for up to three days and then slowy roasted at the finish.”

Dry leaves are medium brown, twisted and bent. No strong aroma detected but pleasant enough. The brew results in a yellowish tan liquid (golden) which is a delight to drink – gentle, sweet and mellow. The hot tea produces a honey-like aroma with lighter flavor at first and as the tea begins to cool down a bit, the flavor intensifies.

This is my first experience with a yellow tea but it will not be my last! I am definitely sold and I’ll be keeping an eye out for other yellow teas to try.

Brewing Notes: I often put my greens and whites in a Chinese-style glass thermos/tumbler. This is the way I enjoyed this yellow tea all morning long. Four teaspoons in a 16oz tumbler with filter for drinking. Added hot water 4-5 times throughout a five hour period.

Backlog.

Beautiful straw-grey, long and swirly leaves brew into copper-brown liquor of a VERY tantalizing aroma. It sure is fragrant, they got that right!

And the taste… It tastes like the sweetest Chinese black tea you can imagine, but it is even more graceful and delicate. Which doesn’t make it less full-bodied. Every sip is smooth. And SO sweet. The flavors I detect are fruit tree blossoms, perhaps very sweet melon, maybe even a perfectly ripe avocado.

It has this other flavor to it that is hard to describe but that embodies “tea flavor” in general. It’s like tea flavoring in drinks or sweets, except it is perfectly natural. Imagine that a tea plant can actually grow edible apple-like fruit. They would taste like this tea.

This could be one of the best teas I have had so far. It is also my first yellow tea. I wonder if they are all this wonderful?

I re-steeped it three times and all the steeps were delicious, although on the third steep it seemed to have lost its ethereal blossom sweetness and started to get a little bolder instead (still not astrigent at all).

It seems like Zen Tea have it on sale right now and I am so tempted to get a massive amount of it… But it will have to wait.