You may think you know your teas from Black to White and from Green to Red, however there is an increasingly rare and expensive variety of tea out there which we are pleased to be able to provide to you – Yellow tea.

Although it is only produced in limited quantities and is little known outside China, its history dates back to the 16th century. Yellow tea is arguably the style of tea manufacture most recently ‘discovered’ by tea enthusiasts in the West, although it has been known in China since the days of the Tang dynasty (617-907 AD). Yellow tea is sometimes considered to be a variation of green tea, but it is indeed its own class of tea. Both loose-leaf and bud-only version of yellow tea is made, but the bud-pluck teas are the most treasured.

If you are a real tea fanatic, you should definitely try Yellow Tea. Why? As a true tea lover, you are probably in search of some special and rare teas. And yellow tea is as rare as gold dust. Nevertheless, it is a very close relative of green tea, although it is more complicated to produce. To a certain extent, this explains the reason for its uniqueness. The tea makers in China have to put much more effort into producing yellow tea and, with green tea being so popular, they make only small quantities of yellow.

Yellow Tea Production and Health Benefits

Besides, the knowledge and techniques for producing this little-known type of tea were slowly being lost over the years, so it is not very easy to find a high quality yellow tea as there are only a few skilled producers who make it and keep the manufacturing process a secret.

The process for creating yellow tea is very similar to the steps used to create the common Green tea, however in order to create a yellow tea the leaves are encased and steamed. By steaming tea leaves they are oxidized at a much lower rate thus producing a much more mellow taste in comparison to that of Green teas. This slower process of oxidizing the leaves is what provides the slight gold colouring as they begin to dry, it is also this light oxidation that finds Yellow tea often placed in to the same category as White tea.

As mentioned, yellow tea is lightly oxidized tea that follows a process similar to green tea with an additional procedure of sweltering. This additional step ensures that the tea has a relatively sweeter taste with non-existent grassy notes, astringency, and bitterness. The process of sweltering also gives this tea a distinctively smooth and silky taste.

However, just like any other type of tea, tea’s taste depends on the location of the tea plant grown, cultivation season, and slight variation in its processing method. Overall, we can describe this tea as medium-bodied that has a fresh, smooth, silky, floral, aromatic, brisk, and mellow taste with a fruity-sweet aftertaste.

All our yellow teas are carefully packed into sealed bags to preserve freshness, quality, and therefore the health benefits of our loose teas.