I’ve only had yellow teas a handful of times. Therefore, I really wanted to give this a taste!
Description: “This tea delivers a brisk and refreshing yellow tea experience with a delicious ‘after sweet’ (hui gan) reminiscent of strawberries.”
Instructions: 3g/150ml at 100°C for 1 ½ min. 4 – 6 infusions.
Review: The dry leaves were mostly black with golden tips. It a strong charcoal smell and some underlying sweetness. Visually, it reminded me of a Golden Monkey, which I’ve enjoyed in the past due to its malty notes.
After I warmed the gaiwan, I placed the dry leaves inside. The leaves reminded me of hojicha, a Japanese Roasted Green Tea. Despite the recommendations on the website, I found the most optimal way to bring out the flavours was to steep it like I did with Zhen Tea’ Aged Shou Mei. I started with a 45-second infusion and increased the time by 15 seconds intervals. The wet leaves smelled earthy, fruity, woodsy, and charcoal.
Infusion 1 (45 seconds): The reddish-brown liquor was earthy, roasted, sweet, and fruity with some strong charcoal flavour at the end. There were small specks of leaves at the bottom of the cup.
Infusion 2 (60 seconds): The liquor became slightly darker with some specks at the bottom. It had a stronger charcoal smell. The liquor tasted sweet, fruity, cocoa, and ended off roasted. It developed a stronger charcoal taste after it cooled.
Infusion 3 (1.15 minutes): The liquor was a golden yellow and mostly had a charcoal smell and taste. There was a hint of earthiness with some dryness at the back of the mouth.
Infusion 4 (1.30 minutes): Tastewise, the liquor was similar to Infusion 3 and had a dominating charcoal taste and smell which coated and lingered in the mouth.
Infusion 5 (1.45 minutes): The steep was similar to Infusion 4 and was drying in the mouth.
Infusion 6 (2 minutes): The liquor was faint and I stopped infusing
Overall, I have to say that I really enjoyed this tea, especially since it reminded me of hojicha. The had many different flavours, ranging from sweet, earthy, to charcoal.
However, what surprised me is that this yellow tea looks very different than the other one (above) that I reviewed in the past. That yellow tea looked more like a silver needle and tasted like one as well. I would love to learn more about processing for yellow tea to understand why the teas look so different (3.5/5 rating)!
- Type: Yellow tea
- Origin: China, Lu’an, Anhui Province
- Caffeine: Unknown
- Ingredients: Yellow tea
- Company: Zhen Tea
The question of the post: Have you ever had yellow tea before?
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