Huangshan 'Yellow Sun' Yellow Tea

Almost out of this one. I’ve been holding on to it because its so good and no longer available, but it should be consumed soon to make sure I get the most out of my last few cups.

This is just so perfect. Flavours of cocoa, dry grass, grain. Toasty like an oolong, tastes oxidized (similar to a black?), sweetness of a silver needle, umami/buttery like a steamed green. This tea just has it all, and yet it’s quite unique. I’ve never had a yellow like it.

I am food drunk again! It is a thing that happens to me, I eat a big meal and then get loopy, tired, and very much so like I am tipsy. Not really sure why, but I have a full belly, and that is awesome! Just came home from a friend’s birthday, though I have a fierce craving for cake now since the one was not gluten free (obviously, having a GF cake when only one person there has a problem is dumb) and foresee a cake in my future. The real question is what kind, maybe another Matcha chocolate swirl?

Today’s tea from What-Cha is China Anhui Huangshan ‘Yellow Sun’ Yellow Tea, a Yellow Tea that us turning out to be a giant pain to research! See, you look up Huangshan and you get primarily Huangshan Mao Feng, maybe so references to the place, you look up Huangshan Yellow Tea and you get Huoshan Huang Ya, I mean yeah, they are both from Anhui, but still, they are not the same tea! Frustratingly I cannot really find out anything about this mysterious yellow tea, yet, but I intend to devote more time to it at a later day. The aroma of the curly leaves is incredibly nutty, it reminds me of almond paste and sesame candies, combining sweet and nutty. There are also delicate notes of wet hay, sourdough yeast, distant flowers, and a touch of tart cherry at the finish. It is an oddly complex tea that is strange yet very tasty smelling.

Ooh, going to use my super tall gaiwan, I never get to use it because…well…for some reason I tend to forget about it (the shame) which I hope to not do in the future once I unpack all my gear. The aroma of the soggy leaves has taken on a bit of a woody tinge, alongside notes of sesame seeds, and a surprising spiced floral note and fresh tobacco leaves. I am trying to search through my memories, are the blossoms on a tobacco plant spicy, or is it the dianthus my mom had planted nearby? The liquid is fascinating! Notes of sweet nuttiness and gentle spicy mix with cooked broccoli and cauliflower with a finish of chestnut and hay.

So, first sipping time, and…it is really mild. An odd combination of notes that instead of clashing work really well. Starting with delicate notes of flowers and sweet sesame and almonds. This moves to a blend of sweet, wet, hay and greenbeans, and then a finish of wildflower honey and slightly smoked cherries. The mouthfeel was smooth with a touch of cooling similar to a Sheng Puerh.

The second steep brings in notes of primarily sweet nuttiness, blending sesame seeds and chestnuts with a surprising finish of orchids and wildflowers. Again, this tea is really odd yet tasty! It starts out more green this time with notes of broccoli and greenbeans, then it pretty immediately moves to flowers and hay. It has a perfumed like quality where you are definitely tasting more with your nose than tongue. The finish is hay and honey with a lingering fruity note. Again cooling, more so this time.

I am beginning to thing this tea is the result of some tea themed lovin’ between a Sheng Puerh and an Anhui green. The aroma takes on a strong note of hay, along with sesame and a hint of greenbeans. The taste this time starts off nutty again, sweet sesame and almond, this moves to greenbeans and broccoli, and a finish of sweet honey and flowers. There is a lingering coolness that stays around for a while, very soothing. This was an odd yet amazing tea, I love the blend of different notes that you do not necessarily run into together very often.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/08/what-chachina-anhui-huangshan-yellow.html

Yellow tea is a rare creature. It’s not a common tea type because it doesn’t differ too greatly from green tea in a lot of cases, and it is more labor intensive and expensive to produce. This one is unique among yellow teas I’ve seen in that the leaves have a pretty dark appearance, sort of yellowish olive green.

The dry leaves smell really roasted and toasty. After a rinse, the scent of the tea leaves is very complex. It smells really roasty like houjicha but with a note of yellow mustard. The scent of the brewed tea is a more mild roast taste with creamy notes.

The taste of this tea is quite smooth and unoffensive. I think this may be the first “true” yellow tea I have had because it achieves the effect most articles on yellow tea mention the purpose of yellow tea being… to make a tea with similar flavors to green tea but curbing the grassy notes for a more mellow flavor. This tea tastes like a smooth, sweet, mildly roasted green tea, and by golly there is the faintest hint of mustard or dill even in the taste. Maybe there’s a bit of toasted sesame in the flavor. It’s hard to describe. It has a subtle cooling sensation after the sip, and a lingering sweetness.

The liquor color of this tea is a pale yellow. I’m brewing it in a small thin-walled porcelain gaiwan. On the second infusion, I’m getting more toasty flavors with the subtle tanginess of dill. The packaging describes this tea’s flavor as “hazelnut with mango notes”. I can definitely see hazelnut, but I’m not getting the mango notes. Maybe that’s what registers as dill to me. I left the room and came back in and it definitely smells like hazelnuts in here.

This tea reminds me of a lot of houjicha in its taste and aroma, so if you like that, you would probably enjoy this. The flavor doesn’t change a whole lot from one infusion to the next, just becomes more rich. There’s no bitterness at all. It’s mellow, a comfort tea. The third infusion is more sweet and lacking the tangy dill-like note from before.

Infusion times were 15 seconds starting out, then 10 or so on the second infusion and increasing on each one by 10 or so as needed.