You probably have seen the video footage we shared during tea season of us making this tea. It should come to no surprise to anyone that Yun Nan has some of the most desired tea leaves from their abundant ancient tea trees. However, it’s also true that its most renown tea, Sheng Pu, is often criticized for the rough processing techniques when compared to its historically famous counterparts. For many years, tea makers in or outside of Yun Nan have been trying to learn and adopt sophisticated techniques from other tea regions to release the full potential of the amazing leaves of the ancient tea trees. This yellow tea is the result of one of these efforts. We first entertained the idea before COVID, then for the past several year continued make improvements to finally bring you a finished product. For those who are familiar with the tea industry dynamic in Yun Nan know that it’s a very risky endeavor, as leaves from ancient tea trees are highly prized and rationally they should all go to the tea where this attribute can sell for the most - Pu Er Sheng Cha. And indeed most resources in the region goes to Sheng Pu as they still demand the highest price in the market given the same raw leaves. So why put in more time, efforts and skills when you can do the alternative and make more? Well, coz it’s fun and intellectually stimulating. We are lucky to having able to work with great partner who is willing to experiment with us. We did start out with cheaper leaves (didn’t make it to Tea Drunk’s collection) and eventually made the bold decision to make them with leaves from ancient tea trees. Having made yellow tea in many other tea regions, in and outside of China, the biggest challenge when making yellow tea with leaves from ancient trees is that they are just so huge and hardy, with way more moisture content inside than small-leaf cultivars. We had to adapt what we already know to these more substantial leaves. This batch has a deeper fermentation than the yellow tea from Huo Shan and we recommend using a gai wan to brew instead of fairness pitchers as the deeper fermentation has harden the membranes of the leaves. Afterall, just like Sheng Pu is not your regular green tea, this yellow tea is also not a regular one.
