NONPAREIL HUO SHAN HUANG YA * YELLOW BUDS

Huo Shan Huang Ya is a kind of high grade yellow tea from Huo Shan county, Anhui province. This tea is made by tender slim buds and processed by traditional stir-fire procedure. That is why it gets the name yellow buds. The best grades are from Jin Ji mountain, Jin Shan Tou, Jin Zhu Ping and Wu Mi Jian villages which are around 800 metres above sea level.

Huo Shan Huang Ya was created in Tang dynasty (618-907 A.D) and Mr. Lu Yu , the Sage of Tea described this special yellow tea in the famouse ancient tea book Cha Jing (the Tea Classic). The processing mathod of this tea was lost in 1940s and was reproduced in 1972 by three old tea masters. To keep it fresh, the leaves are picked in the moring in spring and processed by 5 complicated procedures. All the work has to be finished by the evening of the same day. Another famouse yellow tea Jun Shan Yin Zhen is wrapped in paper to make it yellow while Meng Ding Huang Ya is spreaded out on an iron plate and pan-fired into yellow color. Huo Shan Huang Ya is slightly processed in yellow tea category and it resembles green in both quality and taste.

This tea has a shape like the tongue of bird and there is a lot of hair on the surface of the leaves. The color is yellow and green and clear. When brewed, you will find a chestnut flavour with a sweet and thick taste.

*****Yellow Tea, a variety little known outside of China, is in fact all but unknown in the long tea history of China. In this exquisite tea category, are some of the most famous tribute teas since the early Tang Dynasty (618-907AD). As the name suggests, yellow tea is yellow in color—both the leaves and the infusion; this color is acquired by adding an extra step, called "Sealed Yellowing", to the process otherwise fairly similar to the making of Green tea. The length of the yellowing process can vary from thirty minutes in some teas to six days in others, creating a Yellow tea that may be hardly distinguishable from Green tea to one that is distinctively golden. The yellowing process brings about some complex and subtle changes that mellow out the grassy, bitter edge of the Green tea and enhance its aromatics.