Yellow

Classic yellow

All recognized yellow teas come from a small number of specific Chinese localities, and the production volume for each is genuinely limited. Junshan Yinzhen comes from Junshan island in Dongting Lake, Hunan; Meng Ding Huang Ya comes from Meng Ding Mountain in Sichuan; Huo Shan Huang Ya comes from Huo Shan county in Anhui; Mo Gan Huang Ya comes from Zhejiang. The sealed-yellowing step (men huan) that defines the category and produces its characteristic mellow, clean sweetness is labor-intensive and easy to skip; much of what is labeled yellow tea skips it. The entire family is here because there is only one family: genuine yellow tea is one tradition in multiple localities, not a broader type with subgroups.

teabert, the tealytics teapot, keeper of the kettle

There's really just one yellow family, scattered across a handful of small Chinese mountains and lakes that each guard their own version. The slow sealed-yellowing step is what gives the cup its clean, mellow sweetness, and since it's so easy to skip, finding the genuine article is half the quest.

Styles in this family

Junshan Yinzhen

Junshan Yinzhen is the most famous yellow tea in China and the one most worth understanding for what men huang (闷黄, sealing yellow) actually does: these plump…

Meng Ding Huang Ya

Meng Ding Huang Ya is the Sichuan classic among bud-grade yellow teas, and like every real yellow tea its whole identity rests on men huang (闷黄, sealing…

Huo Shan Huang Ya

Huo Shan Huang Ya is a yellow tea whose entire character is decided by men huang (闷黄, sealing yellow): after the buds are fixed in the wok, the still-warm leaf…

Mo Gan Huang Ya

Mo Gan Huang Ya is named as a yellow bud tea, and when it is made properly its men huang (闷黄, sealing yellow) step, gently smothering the warm leaf so a slow…

Pingyang Huang Tang

Pingyang Huang Tang ('yellow soup') is a small-leaf yellow tea (huang xiao cha) whose name is a promise about the men huang (闷黄, sealing yellow): a thorough,…

Wei Shan Mao Jian

Wei Shan Mao Jian is a Hunan yellow tea with a twist almost no other yellow tea shares: after the usual men huang (闷黄, sealing yellow), the smothering of warm…

How it's made

The steps overlap in practice; this is a reading order, not a set of separate stages.