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RARE & MELLLOW
YELLOW TEAS
Yellow loose leaf tea is among the rarest and most labour-intensive of all tea categories — produced by only a handful of counties in China and prized for the remarkable mellow sweetness its unique processing creates. Our collection features one exceptional example: Huo Shan Huang Ya, a tea with imperial history that sits beautifully between the freshness of green tea and something altogether more refined.
Yellow loose leaf tea
Yellow loose leaf tea
Yellow loose leaf tea is an increasingly rare and expensive variety, highly prized for its unique spicy sweetness. Our collection features exceptional examples from China — lightly oxidised, with a character quite unlike any other.
What is Yellow Loose Leaf Tea?
Indeed, the process for making yellow loose leaf tea is similar to that of green tea, but with an added step of encasing and steaming the leaves. This allows the tea to oxidise slowly for a brief period before the oxidising enzymes are fully denatured by heat.
Moreover, this extra step produces a far more mellow taste than is found in most green teas. It also gives the leaves a slightly yellow colouring during drying. One primary aim of yellow tea production is to remove the characteristic grassy smell of green tea.
Our Huo Shan Huang Ya Yellow Loose Leaf Tea
Furthermore, our Huo Shan Huang Ya comes from the Simao region in Yunnan. Production begins with pan-firing — in which the tea is slightly roasted in a wok so that the enzymes responsible for fermentation are destroyed.
Additionally, the still warm leaves are then carefully wrapped in cloths, allowing the remaining humidity to dry naturally and gently for several hours. This step is repeated until the leaves have reached the right degree of maturity.
A Unique Spicy Sweetness
Indeed, the result is a yellow loose leaf tea of remarkable character. The yellow tips develop a unique spicy sweetness in the cup, accompanied by a fresh and fine resonance. There is truly nothing else quite like it.
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The Men Huang Process
Yellow tea looks similar to green tea and begins in the same way — pan-firing to halt oxidation and preserve the leaf's fresh character. The difference comes in what follows. After the initial firing, the still-warm leaves are carefully wrapped in cloth and left to rest — a step known in Chinese as men huang, or sealing yellow. During this resting period, residual heat and moisture cause a slow, gentle transformation in the leaf, softening the grassy brightness of green tea into something more mellow and subtly sweet. The step is repeated multiple times until the leaves have reached the right degree of maturity and taken on their characteristic golden-yellow colour. The result is a tea of extraordinary rarity — requiring far more skill and patience than most categories, and produced in meaningful quantities by only a small number of counties in China.
Flavour and Character
Huo Shan Huang Ya — Yellow Buds from Huo Shan — comes from Huoshan County in western Anhui Province and has been regarded as one of China's top ten teas since the Tang dynasty, when it was designated a tribute tea for the imperial court. The name Huang Ya means yellow buds, and the tea is made from one bud and one or two young leaves, picked with the care that its reputation demands. In the cup, the men huang process reveals its full effect: a smooth, luminous liquor with flavours of chestnut, bean flower and light honey sitting alongside a clean vegetal freshness that connects it to its green tea origins. It is a tea that rewards slow, attentive drinking — with each sip offering something slightly different, and multiple infusions revealing further layers of character.
Brewing Yellow Tea
Huo Shan Huang Ya is best brewed with water at around 75 to 80°C — slightly below boiling, similar to green tea — to preserve its more delicate notes. Two to three minutes is ideal for the first infusion. The tea lends itself well to multiple steepings, with the chestnut and honey notes often becoming more pronounced from the second infusion onwards. It is best enjoyed without milk, where its subtle, layered character comes through with the most clarity.
Yellow tea is a genuine rarity in the tea world. If you have explored green, white and oolong and want to discover what lies further, this is a natural and deeply rewarding next step.