Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Yellow
Where to Buy: Rishi Tea
Tea Description:
Yellow Buds is composed of a single, ripe bud shoots. Usually, yellow teas are made with small leaf or medium leaf varietals from central and eastern China. This is a one of a kind Yellow Tea made with Mannong Manmai’s ancient heirloom broad leaf tea trees.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This isn’t my first sampling of Ancient Yellow Buds from Rishi Tea, I’ve tried this tea and reviewed it previously, however, that was a couple of years ago, and I believe that this is a tea from a more recent harvest … and tea changes fro year to year, harvest to harvest.
I was really excited to receive YELLOW TEA (my precious!) in the Steepster Select box for the month of May. No tea makes me as happy as yellow tea. So, for all the complaining I might have done last month because of a less than exciting box – I take it all back and apologize, because this month’s box more than makes up for last month’s shortcomings! This is the very best box from Steepster Select yet, and it has single handedly (single boxedly?) renewed my faith in the Steepster Select subscription.
And … oh. my. goodness! Is this ever good. Seriously, if you haven’t yet tried a yellow tea, I recommend trying one. Get yourself a really good quality one like this one from Rishi Tea. The leaves are soft and covered with fluffy, downy fuzz and they look a bit like Silver Needle, except that they have a slightly golden/yellowish color to them. The aroma of the dry leaf is like a cross between freshly cut grass and hay – lightly vegetative and very crisp and fresh smelling.
The brewed tea smells very much like the dry leaf, and it is a treat to inhale deeply before taking a sip … this really enhances the overall taste to engage the olfactory nerves in this way. The flavor is sweet and delicious. I have often compared the flavor to tasting a little like the “lovechild” of white and Oolong tea. It has a similar mouthfeel of a good Oolong tea, with a lovely smoothness and a hint of buttery flavor, while also maintaining the delicate, sweet features of a high quality white tea.
But really, it’s even more than that. An experience with yellow tea is just so amazing. Every tea lover should try this yellow tea from Rishi Tea – it’s excellent!
Meng Ding Snow Bud (Xue Ya) Tea from Life in Teacup
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Yellow
Where to Buy: Life in Teacup
Tea Description:
This is a Yellow Tea made with earliest spring leaves. The oxidation is light. It’s flavor is closed to that of green tea, with more honey sweet aftertaste due to oxidation.
Taster’s Review:
What a remarkable yellow tea. Of course, I’ve loved every yellow tea that I’ve tried, however, there is something about this one that gives it a uniqueness over the others that I’ve tasted. While other yellow teas have a somewhat delicate quality about them, this one seems to be more assertive.
Immediately, I noted the sweetness which is more like a sweet grass kind of flavor during the sip and becomes more honey-like toward the tail and into the aftertaste, revealing a bit of the floral tones of the honey-esque sweetness with the aftertaste. After the first couple of sips, I tasted notes of hay and a delicate earthiness that provided interesting contrast to the honey tones.
As I progressed toward mid-cup, other flavors revealed themselves. I could taste a mild vegetable flavor, reminiscent of lima beans that have been simmered in a kettle for hours … you know, that sweet, buttery lima bean flavor that reminds you of home? The flavor is remarkably smooth, with no bitterness and only a trace of astringency at the tail.
A delicious yellow tea that offers a memorable tea journey from the very first sip right down to the very last drop.
Valley Peak (Ding Gu Da Fang) from Mandala Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Mandala Tea
Tea Description:
Like many of China’s famous greens, this tea also has a rich history. Known in China as Ding Gu Da Fang (Valley Peak Da Fang), it was named after the Buddhist monk who originally grew the plants on Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) centuries ago.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is my first tea that I’ve tried from this new tea company (or perhaps I should say, a company that is new to me!) and based upon this very positive experience, I am glad it won’t be the last tea I taste from them. I am absolutely LOVING this tea.
In the website description of this tea, Mandala Tea compares it to a LongJing (aka Dragon Well). And while I do enjoy a good Dragon Well Tea and can see where Mandala Tea is coming from with such a comparison, I have to say that I prefer this Ding Gu Da Fang to most Dragon Well teas that I’ve tried. It is lighter, sweeter and smoother than a typical LongJing.
There is such a charming nutty tone to this tea. It is light and crisp and reminds me of the snap (or crunch) you’d experience when biting into a cashew. It has a creamy smooth flavor that reminds me of the mild, creamy taste of a delicious roasted nut. The texture is light and clean, with a very mild astringency at the tail of the sip.
The sweetness and smoothness of this tea reminds me a bit of a yellow tea, so I have categorized this as both a green tea and a yellow tea, because even though it is a green tea, it has so many characteristics that remind me of a yellow tea. This is an extraordinary tea; I highly recommend it.
Yellow Spirit from East Pacific Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Yellow
Where to Buy: East Pacific Tea Co.
Product Description:
Yellow tea is one of the rarest types of tea to touch the earth. Halfway between white and green, this tea provides the best of both worlds: high in antioxidants and rich in flavor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Yellow tea is my favorite tea, so I am always excited when the opportunity presents itself to try one that I’ve not yet tasted. This is a fantastic yellow with its delicate, creamy taste and a hint of nutty flavor in the background.
It has a silky mouthfeel to it, but I notice that it is not as prominent a mouthfeel as I’ve come to expect from a yellow tea, and there is a hint of tangy astringency that was also quite unexpected. Neither of these things are bad or render this beautiful yellow tea “off” in any way, it just makes it a little different than the rest.
The tea is sweet with brown sugar-ish kind of notes – it is very pleasant and ties in well with the aforementioned nutty tones of this tea. There is a vegetative note that arrives about mid-sip, and it is reminiscent of steamed bitter greens with a touch of butter.
It’s quite a delicious tea, sweet yet savory, and an absolute pleasure to sip.
Huo Shan Yellow Sprouting Tea from Mark T. Wendell
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Yellow
Where to Buy: Mark T. Wendell
Product Description:
This rare yellow tea from China’s Anhui province is comprised of beautiful hand-crafted leaves and downy silver buds. This tea is notable for its rich, full and smooth tasting floral infusion. When brewed, our Yellow Sprouting produces a naturally sweet and refreshingly clean tasting cup of tea.
Taster’s Review:
This Yellow tea is one of the newest additions to the Mark T. Wendell collection of teas. And you know I’m excited about it; yellow Tea is my favorite!
There is just something about yellow tea that no other tea type can seem to duplicate. It has similarities of white tea, green tea and Oolong tea, but, it isn’t quite like any of them … if that makes sense. It has some of the delicate qualities of a white tea (and sometimes a green tea, depending upon the green), it has some of the light vegetative qualities of some green teas, and then it has a similar mouthfeel and smoothness of an Oolong.
This Huo Shan tastes incredibly fresh, and the sprouting buds are tiny. Very young leaves. After infusing, I ate a few of the leaves, and they are very tender to the tooth, and so sweet and gentle tasting.
The light colored liquor is sweet and possesses a grassy taste. It is sweet and refreshing. The mouthfeel is very soft and silky. And it is absolutely incredible.
If you haven’t yet tried yellow tea, you really should. And this Huo Shan Yellow Sprouting Tea is a good place to start!