Chinese yellow tea is a semi-fermented tea, i.e. passed a certain degree of processing. The semi-fermented teas include white, yellow and oolong teas.
For many centuries, yellow tea was produced exclusively for the imperial palace, and yellow tea bushes underwent special selection, thanks to which, over time, the branches became sparse, and the buds are dense and heavy. The common population did not have the opportunity to purchase it, and exportation abroad of China was strictly prohibited.
Chinese yellow tea has a special taste due to the "simmering" procedure. For yellow tea, not the leaves are collected, but the unopened buds. After collecting, they are slightly dried in the breeze, then steamed. In the process, they turn a little yellow. This technology, using heat and moisture, makes it possible to obtain a special degree of fermentation, which gives the infusion of yellow tea an unusually beautiful amber-golden color and voluminous taste.
Fermentation at the same time reaches about 85%, and the properties of yellow tea are close to green ones. Yellow tea is brewed in the traditional way, like green tea, only it is infused a little longer. You can use a gaiwan with a lid or a clay teapot, but a glass teapot is best to enjoy the unusually calm and mesmerizing movement of the kidneys in the infusion.
Yellow tea is brewed no more than three times, the first infusion is the most delicate and weak, the second reveals floral notes and reveals the entire volume and thickness of the delicate and at the same time dense taste of the infusion. The third brew becomes slightly tart and astringent, while retaining the delicate flavor of the infusion. You can feel truly amazing colors of taste when drinking yellow tea!
