We don't know when or if this item will be available.
“Thank you LiberTEAS for this sample! There is some nice tanginess going on in this cup of tea. At first you taste what you expect, grassy – more of a raw cabbage flavor, then it turns sharper, more...” Read full tasting note
“My first thought when sipping this tea was “My god, this is the best tea I’ve tasted this spring!” After finishing the first cup, the rest of the tea in my chahai had turned undrinkable. So, kinda...” Read full tasting note
“I have had good Chinese green teas recently and yellow tea has always been at the top of my list so this one really hits the mark in that it immediately presents characteristics of both. There is...” Read full tasting note
“I received a generous sample of this tea from Life in a Teacup with an order. It’s the first yellow tea I have ever tried, and I absolutely love it. It’s very mild and a little sweet and tangy....” Read full tasting note
Production Year: 2011
Production Season: Spring (late-March)
Production Region: Sichuan Province, Mengshan
Style: Yellow Tea, Chao Qing (stir-fry to kill enzyme)
Company description not available.
Thank you LiberTEAS for this sample!
There is some nice tanginess going on in this cup of tea. At first you taste what you expect, grassy – more of a raw cabbage flavor, then it turns sharper, more acidic in tone. This tartness develops into something much sweeter, peachy even. I thought I was mistaken, but yep, its there again – like homemade peach preserves!
Need I say any more? There was a lot of enjoyment in this cup! I’m very new to yellow teas, however this one is nice no matter the process phase. Can’t wait to continue steeping this one, there’s bound to be more goodness waiting!
My first thought when sipping this tea was “My god, this is the best tea I’ve tasted this spring!” After finishing the first cup, the rest of the tea in my chahai had turned undrinkable. So, kinda hard start.
Leaves are beautiful, wet and dry. I’ve been missing those tight, sharp needles! Aroma is dry, sweet. Leaves are dancing nicely in the pot ( I use small, gongfu-style glasspots)
Taste is complex, yet remarkably balanced. Sweetness, some sourness as well. Usually when tea tastes sour it tastes sour in a way I don’t like it, but this time it works for me. There is also the dry nut-like taste, which is tied to the sourness. Taste is quite wide. I am assuming I used too much leaves (I felt like using more than I usually do) and while that resulted in a great first sip, the taste quickly transformed, and got more bitterness.
I am not very experienced in yellow teas. There is something very similar in the body of this tea and Huo Shan Huang Ya I have, I’m assuming that’s the “yellow” taste. Tasting blind I would have assumed this was green.
This tea was surprisingly strong. I have got this strong teahigh from only a couple of teas, know that I am again used to spring teas.
Interesting review. Generally I wouldn’t associate bitterness with yellow tea. In your opinion do you think this was strictly the use of too much leaf material or is it missing something of quality? I’d be interested to know because the few yellow teas that I have tried are vegetal and sweet but I’ve never tried one that turned bitter.
For some reason I decided to use more leaves than usually, I used about 1,5 times the “normal leaf amount”. I don’t have a scale, but the amounts I am normally using are similar to those used by other I’ve made tea with.
Of course all teas change in the cup, and this one changed towards bitterness. It tasted like I had brewed it too long for that leaf amount. So, I think I overbrew this one at first, but that became “visible” only after a moment -maybe the tea settled down and got mixed up better, or maybe it just got changed by time.
You say you’ve never tried one that turned bitter? At all? I mean, as far as I know there aren’t many teas that can stand anything, there is always a way to make bad cup out of tea. Well, this year some of the best green teas have been almost invincible, practically impossible to go wrong.
I sincerely believe this tea is of high quality. It’s possible that something just happened – one can never “control” tea, maybe this was one of those occasions of tea acting weirdly on it’s own.
Fair enough. You’re right, each time you make a tea it will taste different based upon a number of factors including the mood of the one making the tea.
I think I was more getting at the point that the majority of the really best Chinese teas are very difficult to over-brew. Depends on the kind of tea…a Sheng Pu’er is going to be touchier than an Oolong generally. Yellow tea, to me, has always been so pleasant and mild that I was a bit surprised to hear that it turned bitter on you.
Interesting stuff. I’d be fascinated to try this tea!
Well, I think I agree, it’s weird how it got bitter, usually this good tea doesn’t act like that.
Many of these higher end spring teas (green, white, yellow) seem to go really dry and sour in a negative way when overbrewn. I think there is something similar happening with wulongs sometimes, when using lots of leaves and a longer steeps. Taste goes “stuck”, there is simply too much of each flavour in the cup, and they start to supress each other.
Yeah, I could imagine what you mean. I have had some pretty negative experiences with using too much leaf.
I love Meng Ding Huang Ya! I had this tea in 2008 from TeaSpring. So fresh, nutty and delicious! I only wish I had bought more. I’ve only had one other tea from TeaSpring and it too was very fresh and delicious. I’ll have to order from TS again. :))
I have had good Chinese green teas recently and yellow tea has always been at the top of my list so this one really hits the mark in that it immediately presents characteristics of both. There is an intriguing interplay between the brothy, green aspect and an underlying succulent fruitiness. One takes a fleeting prevalence over the other as the flavor moves but in the end any vegetal notes are enveloped and eventually vanquished by a syrupy muscatel.
I received a generous sample of this tea from Life in a Teacup with an order. It’s the first yellow tea I have ever tried, and I absolutely love it. It’s very mild and a little sweet and tangy. There is a peachy hint to it which was just lovely. The leaves smell fantastic and are beautiful, very needle-like.
