Yellow Tea
Yellow teas are classified as slightly fermented teas. In general, the processing technology of this tea variety is similar to the production technology of green tea. However, the yellow tea undergoes an important additional step of wrapping or sweltering, which is unique to this type of tea, so that the tea leaves could gradually turn yellow under the effect of moisture and heat.
The tea is made using very early spring buds collected from a tea bush of a certain type. It takes 25,000 of these carefully harvested buds to yield just one “jin” (500 gm) of yellow tea. Such teas are produced in very limited quantities and are one of the most outstanding samples of the Chinese premium teas for the true tea connoisseurs.
The technique for making yellow tea is very specific and tedious, requiring a lot of time, skills and accuracy. The manufacturing process consists of the following steps:
sha qing – kill the green or de-enzyme or fixation,
tan liang - spreading for cooling down,
chu hong – first heating,
chu bao - first wrapping and sweltering,
fu hong – second heating,
tan liang - spreading for cooling down,
fu bao – second wrapping and sweltering,
zu huo - final drying.
In total the whole processing takes more than 70 hours.
After the finished tea has gone all the production stages it can be divided into grades depending on the properties of the tea buds. The buds themselves can be fleshy or thin, curved or straight, bright and glossy. The buds in the high-end teas are fleshy, solid, fairly heavy and have an elongated shape. Their surface has vibrant yellow hues and a shiny gloss.
Yellow tea needs to be properly stored. The bottom of the boxes is covered with crushed and calcined gypsum or lime, followed by two layers of the bark paper or parchment. The tea package wrapped in the exact same paper is placed on top of all these layers. The boxes are tightly closed then. If you follow all these storage requirements, tea will keep its properties for a longer time.
The brewed infusion of yellow tea is characterized by shades of golden-orange-yellow colours, clean delicate aroma, and a smooth sweetish taste. All varieties of yellow teas were previously produced exclusively for the Emperor's consumption and were prohibited to be exported from China.