Ya Bao

Tea Information:

Leaf Type: White

Tea Description:

This rare white tea from Yunnan is a winter-pluck tea with huge downy buds and leaves from wild growing tea trees and produces a liquor that is mellow, sweet, slightly fruity (ripe plums?), and lingers with a soft floral finish. Can also be aged, as a puer.

Learn more about this tea here.

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Taster’s Review:

I was happy to find this Silver Bud Ya Bao White Tea from Tea Source in this month’s Steepster Select box, if for no other reason than I enjoy Ya Bao teas and even though I do enjoy them, they are not often a tea that I put in my “cart” when I’m shopping for tea. It was a nice surprise to find this among this month’s tea selections.

I took this tea for a few steeps, because Ya Bao teas are one of those types of teas that the flavor develops over the course of several steeps – it’s definitely worth the effort to brew this one more than once!

The early infusions were very light in flavor. Very delicate. Sweet with hints of vegetation (on the grassy side) and notes that are reminiscent of honeydew melon. I taste a hint of nutmeg – a warm, gentle spice – with maybe a hint of white pepper. I love the subtle flavors here … although I do find myself wishing that they were a little more pronounced.

That wish was granted with the later infusions. The flavors began to develop with the second infusion, offering notes of peach and sweet, creamy notes. I am tasting less of the aforementioned spice notes now, and the vegetal notes have become more hay-like to me. This cup is sweeter and the flavors are more defined.

With the third infusion, I noticed the flavors beginning to wane and became less distinctive, which tells me that a fourth infusion may be futile. However, the three infusions that I did get from this tea, I really enjoyed them.

A really lovely Ya Bao! Thank you, Steepster, for selecting this tea for this month’s box! If you’re interested in the Steepster Select subscription program, click here to learn more.

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in White Tea, Yabao Tea