Cultivated on Mount Yunpan in China from the historic Yunkang #10 cultivar, Cloudy Yellow Tea is a niche product with light oxidation (10 percent) and similar processing to red tea, which involves sun drying, leaf rolling, oxidation and finally drying.
It is a spring-harvested tea, with a fresh flavor and floral aroma with surprising citrus notes.
Yellow tea is a very special variety of Tea, but there are many others. Check out our blog article: The Colors of Tea, How Many Types of Tea Exist.
Tasting - Sight and Smell
Cloudy yellow tea leaves are quite long, thin and delicately rolled. The color is between brown and dull brown with the presence of numerous golden buds. Once infused, the leaves give off aromas of fragrant wood, with some slight vegetal hints, hints of cooked fruit, honey and slightly citrus and floral notes on the finish. In the cup, the liqueur is amber to dark orange in color, with a medium density body.
Tasting Notes
GONG FU CHA
The first infusion of Cloudy Yellow Tea has notes of cooked winter fruits, such as apples and pears, cooked plums and peach. There is also a hint of fragrant wood and nuts. With the second infusion, however, floral notes of roses and flowers from thorny shrubs and hints of citrus such as tangerine and bergamot emerge. The freshness of this tea intensifies in the third and subsequent infusions, with the citrus notes taking over from the more woody initial notes. A very slight bitterness can be detected but is not disturbing, while the finish is floral.
TO THE WEST
At a first sip of Cloudy Yellow tea, the tongue senses fruity hints (quince compote, cooked apples) and immediately afterwards the citrus notes of bergamot and kumquat, with slight hints of ginger. Deeper wood notes can also be perceived, never intrusive and perfectly balanced with the fresh floral hints of rose, lime and wildflowers. A hint of heather honey also emerges on the finish, while the persistence is long and citrusy.
Location of origin
Pu'er, Yunnan, China
Yunkang cultivar #10 on Mount Yunpan
Preparation of Cloudy Yellow Tea
We strongly recommend infusing Cloudy Yellow Tea in the traditional Chinese method (Gong Fu Cha) with a gaiwan with a capacity of about 150 ml. Following this preparation, multiple infusions can be made with 5 grams of leaves that are useful to best capture all the flavor nuances of the tea.
Warm the water to a temperature of 80°C and proceed to an initial infusion of 25 seconds. Keeping the water at the same temperature, you can then continue to exploit the same leaves by adding more water and increasing the infusion time by 5 seconds each time (25 - 30 - 35...).
This tea has a longevity of 4-5 infusions.
For a more classic preparation in the Western style, we recommend 3 grams of leaves (about 2 teaspoons) in a 200 ml cup with water at 80°C for an infusion time of 2-3 minutes.
For a better tasting experience, we suggest that you strain the infusion as soon as the infusion time is over. Our suggested infusion times, however, can also be slightly modified to your liking to achieve a more or less intense taste.
We recommend storing in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight.
