Meitan Yellow
I’m finally writing about the gifted yellow tea we received after we visited the Guizhou Wofeng Tea Industry Co., Ltd.
Yellow tea is green tea that has an additional processing step called Men Huang (闷黄).[1] This step uses a type of ‘sweltering’ (slight fermentation) that creates the yellowing coloration of the liquor and eliminates some of the astringency and grassiness of green teas.
“Yellow Tea is a rare tea and dates back over 4,000 years in China. In the past, this high quality tea was often reserved for Chinese Emperors’ very own consumption and served only at the Imperial Court.”
Aroma: sweet pea, pleasant
Liquor: light golden
Flavour: sweet, smooth mouth feel, a unique flavour that to me is reminiscent of zucchini, pleasant aftertaste that doesn’t linger for long
Wet leaves: bud plus one leaf, slightly yellowed leaf
If I’m ever fortunate enough to get back to Guizhou, I would definitely buy more of this. What a fascinating tea!
See my blog post Guizhou IV - Meitan and Fenggang. “The Chairman showed us how to make their Yellow Meitan - twice-cooked fragrant yellow tea, and then generously gave each of us a bag.”
[1] The process is clearly explained in the following online post: Mihaylova, B. (2022) Yellow Tea – A Rare Tea To Discover (Part 1). Path of Cha. Posted online July 23, 2022.
[2] Yellow Tea 黃茶. Treasure Green Tea Company.
