Yellow Tea

One of the rarest tea styles

Yellow tea starts like green tea, then goes through an extra, slow step called sealed yellowing (men huang): the warm leaves are wrapped and left to rest, which mellows the grassy edge and turns the cup silky and sweet. It is labor-intensive and seldom made today, which is why yellow tea is so hard to find outside China.

Our yellow tea

Yunnan Imperial is an organic, imperial-grade yellow tea from Yunnan, made from one bud and one leaf. Expect the freshness of green tea without its bitterness.

How to brew yellow tea

Treat it like a delicate green tea: water well below boiling and short steeps. Brewing too hot flattens the sweetness that the yellowing step builds.

How yellow tea is made

Fresh leaves are heated to stop oxidation, as in green tea. Then the warm leaves are wrapped and left to rest in gentle, moist heat for hours or even days, which is the sealed yellowing step. Finally they are dried.

What does yellow tea taste like?

Soft, sweet and smooth, without the grassy edge of green tea. Our Yunnan Imperial has notes of pink apple, chestnut, hot cocoa and floral hints.

Yellow tea vs. green and white tea

• Green tea: fresh and vegetal, with no yellowing step.
• Yellow tea: mellow, sweet and rounded, thanks to sealed yellowing.
• White tea: light and delicate, simply withered and dried.

Questions about yellow tea

Is yellow tea the same as green tea?

No. It shares green tea's early steps, but the sealed yellowing gives it a smoother, sweeter, rounder cup.

Why is it rare?

The yellowing step is slow and hard to get right, and few producers still make it.

Does yellow tea have caffeine?

Yes. Like all true teas, it comes from the tea plant and contains caffeine.

Like soft, sweet teas? Try our white tea or the other teas from China's tea provinces.