Yellow Tea

by Adam Yusko

Chinese teas have slowly worked their way into the West, with white tea gaining most of the notoriety. Yet there is another Chinese tea becoming better known by those in the west: yellow tea. However, despite its growing popularity, it typically can only be ordered from vendors in China. So what is yellow tea?

Well, it’s similar to green tea and white tea. The processing of each one is simply a little different. Sadly, given that I’m not a tea-farmer or a processor, I know very little of the differences. But yellow tea is a distinct category of tea, and today I was quite surprised by it.

White tea is usually very mellow and gentle, with a very perfume like fragrance, while green tea is known to be vegetal and slightly sweet. However, yellow tea has a very powerful aroma, and honestly reminded me of cooked peas. I have never gotten such a strong and pronounced flavor from a green tea, or a white tea. It was truly a surprising tea.

Now, some will tell you that yellow tea is almost a dying art. I am not sure that I believe that, as a decent number of large volume retailers sell yellow tea. Thought that raises a new question as to whether those teas are actually yellow tea. For the sake of argument, I’ll assume they are.

The yellow tea I had today was a Meng Ding Huang Ya. Which looks similar to a silver needle or an Anji Baicha in the sense that it is strictly buds. Though its appearance was hairless and slightly yellowed from the appearance of a fresh green tea. Either way it surely was a treat.

Check out more great article from Adam on his blog, The Sip Tip!