The yellow tea counterpart to this year's Heirloom Gan Lu: this yellow tea was harvested in early April at 1200 meters in the ecologically managed preserve below Meng Ding's summit using Mr. Guo's rare, heritage Lao Chuan Cha bushes, yet crafted by the intangible cultural inheritor of Meng Ding Huang Ya, the esteemed Li Hanmin.

A brisk, nutty, sweet, warming profile playfully suspended in a delicate mouthfeel, and without deadened aromatics that many improperly yellowed teas suffer from, this Sichuan yellow is a masterpiece.

One of the few remaining stalwarts true to the discipline of yellow tea craft, genuine Huang Ya "yellow bud" from Meng Ding Mountain in Sichuan is a rare treat we are proud to serve.  Yellow tea craft sees a very similar production to green tea, yet a fermentation step midway through its processing requiring skill and experience renders this tea distinctive as well as nearly impossible to produce on a mass scale.  For this reason, many corner-cutting imitations are to be found on the market.

Briefly, the production differences notable between green tea and yellow tea are:

A lower heat sha-qing or pan-frying, deactivating most but not all the enzymes responsible for oxidation of the leaves.

Still warm and moist off of the wok, the sprouts are then wrapped in a special paper and placed for a specific length of time in an insulated and humidity controlled environment.  This step mimics a kind of flash-oxidation to render the leaves nuttier and sweeter, yet since they are without oxygen in this anaerobic environment, this step is technically considered fermentation. This is called 闷黄 men huang “covering yellow” and differs from 发酵 faxiao, a term farmer-producers use to refer to the type of oxidation red tea undergoes.

Li Hanmin will wrap his the buds for a total of 15 hours in three stages, each in a different room with a varying degrees of heat and humidity, briefly being re-fired in the wok between each yellowing.  For adequate yellowing, the tea producer must closely observe moisture content, ensuring that the intermittent pan-frying maximally coaxes out flavor and aroma, yet doesn't dry out the leaves as to fully denature the enzymes so the fermentation can continue.  The tea is then lightly charcoal baked and dried.

Li Hanmin checking on his covered buds in the first temperature and humidity controlled room. Proper control and consistent assessment of a small batch makes it or breaks it, as off notes can easily generate if the production is scaled any higher.

Mr. Li only works with tea growers of higher quality gardens, and this yellow comes from Mr. Guo's heirloom Lao Chuan Cha gardens at the top of Meng Ding Mountain