Yellow tea
Also known as Huangcha
The rarest of the six categories, and increasingly expensive. It is made like green tea with one extra step: the leaves are kept warm and moist for hours, in a closed container or under a cloth, until they turn yellowish. This takes away the grassy edge of green tea.
Taste
Mellow and brisk, with less grassiness than green tea
Cultural background
Yellow tea is made in several Chinese provinces, among them Hunan, Anhui and Sichuan. Well-known examples are Jun Shan Yin Zhen, Meng Ding Huangya and Huoshan Huangya. Korea has its own yellow tea, hwangcha.
Where to drink it
No places on the map yet.
See also
Sources
For everything above except our personal notes.
- Li et al. (2023): Study on taste quality formation and leaf conducting tissue changes in six types of tea during their manufacturing processes. Food Chemistry: X 18
- Radeva-Ilieva et al. (2025): Green Tea: Current Knowledge and Issues. Foods 14(5)
- The Jakarta Post – The tricky delights of yellow tea (Arif Suryobuwono, 2010)
- Yellow tea – Wikipedia