Welcome to the tenth in our series of blogs documenting our tea & teaware sourcing trip to China & South Korea. At Comins we are very fortunate to have friends all over the tea world. When we visit them on our trips we promise to share what we learn & in our recent survey you shared that our blog is one of the best ways to do that. So we hope you enjoy the journey!
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Our guide in this new tea territory is Mr Zhou - chairman of the association of Huoshan Tea. We wander through the market taking in the farmers selling their leaves - they generously let us stop & take in the aroma.
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Then it is off to our first stop - a meeting & tea tasting with Ms Chen. Ms Chen is a National Representative of Intangible cultural heritage in yellow tea making - the third generation of her tea family. As we take a seat it quickly becomes an constant wonderful flow of yellow teas and all the accompanying information.
First Mr Zhou introduces the three types of yellow tea - which for now we can call yellow bud, little yellow & big yellow [we will share more detail as we go through the blog].
We look at each tea in turn, dry leaf, wet leaf, liquor - they are all completely different - from light & spring like [yellow bud] to deep and rich [big yellow]. Mr Zhou explains how both Huoshan yellow bud tea and yellow big tea are protected by national geographic trade marks.
Talk turns to the ecology of Ms Chen's tea garden - high mountains, fresh water, rich soil & abundant nature combine make her garden naturally organic.
She shares more about her background which is so impressive:
- Committee member of the China Yellow Tea Professional by the China Tea Supply Association,
- Awarded as the pioneer of the Anhui Tea Culture Research Association.
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Representative of intangible
cultural heritage of Yellow Tea ( bud tea) production and technology of Anhui Province -
Representative of intangible
cultural heritage of Yellow Tea ( small tea and big tea) of Huoshan (City level).
The main products of her company are Huoshan yellow bud tea, yellow small tea and yellow big tea. Their yellow bud tea, small tea and big tea have won the "First Prize in the National Famous Tea Competition", the "Five-Star Gold Award in the First Yangtze River Delta Famous Tea Competition", the "Special Gold Award in the Fifth China Yellow Tea Competition" and "Silver Award". "Gold Medal" in the 14th International Famous Tea Competition in 2024.
In the words of Ms Chen '"Our tea is produced in the main yellow tea growing area of Huoshan around Yujiafan Dahuaping, which has a latitude of 31°C and an average altitude of more than 800 meters, The black sand soil with an organic matter content of more than 3% here is developed by granite. With such fertile soil, in addition with the air quality of reaching 4,200 negative ion per cubic centimeter, the company grows the best yellow tea cultivar “Jinji No. 1”. Ms Chen goes onIn accordance with best practice of the requirements of GB/T39592-2020(processing technical regulations), our company carefully produce the bud tea, small tea and big tea for yellow tea market"
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As well as being the CEO of her company Ms Chen is also the vice president of Huoshan County Tea Industry Association, vice president of Anhui Tea Industry Association, executive director of Anhui Tea Society, member of the Yellow Tea Working Group of the National Tea Standards Committee, and member of the China Tea Circulation Association. She was also the winner of the "Outstanding Contribution Award for Hui Tea in the 70 Years of New China", the "Women Entrepreneurship Star" of Lu'an City. Phew - what a woman!
Completely full of tea and new information we leave the shop passing the ladies sorting the tea to head to jump in the car and head to the local the tea fields.
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As we pull off the road we are greeted by the cheerful Mr Ge who grows & processes his own tea, including yellow tea, as well as working with the government agricultural department tea lab to look at different cultivars - [you can see the rows of different cultivars planted in the photos below with the green label markers]
Mr Ge has been out plucking and of course also has a flask of yellow tea in hand so we make a stop to look at the plucked leaf for yellow tea in more detail.
Building on what we shared above Mr Ge shares the plucking standard for each yellow tea type and also plucks to each standard to make it super clear. Brilliant!
- Huang ya cha ( yellow bud) - One bud one leaf
- Huang xiao cha (little yellow)- One bud two leaf
- Huang da cha (big yellow) - One bud and 4-5 leaf
Having walked the rows of tea growing in Mr Ge's plot its time to visit the factory of Mr Cheng - one of only 4 tea masters of yellow tea.
We observe the bud tea drying - the longest process in yellow tea making.
Mr Cheng carefully explains how temperature and time vary when drying tea & the tea makers skill is key to ensuring the tea is fragrant & sweet.
We take a moment to observe the time sheets carefully detailing all aspects of the tea drying process.
As the days comes to an end we head back to Ms Chens office to look in more detail at the yellow tea making process. The easiest way to explain this is to share the pictures below which were on the wall of the office. You can follow along with the text in English underneath and hopefully leave this blog with a new appreciation for this beautiful tea which you can try at Comins [& soon online!]
Step 1 : Tea Picking
The plucking of Huoshan Yellow Tea tea starts just before QingMing, mainly one bud one leaf and one bud two leaves - the early sprouts. The size, shape and colour of fresh leaves are all unique.
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Step 2 : Withering
Freshly picked tea leaves have to be withered right away before further processing
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Step 3 : Fixation
Fry tea leaves in wok with help of a brush. The movement of the tea leaves in the wok should be in one direction. When tea leaves turn to dull green from bright green, they are ready to take out from the wok.
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Step 4 : Shaping
Use the brush softly stir the tea leave in the wok in one direction. 'When the shape of tea leaves become the bird tongues and aroma comes out breezy' it is then ready to come out from the wok
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Step 5 : First drying
Lay tea leaves on basket tray on top of charcoal fire. With 120℃ temperature, speedily turn over the leaves until the water moisture is about 30%.
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Step 6 : Piling
Core technique of Huoshan Yellow tea. After first drying, tea leaves need to be laid on the basket tray with warm temperatures, covered with a warm cotton cloth for 12 hours until the leaves turn slightly yellow and give a good aroma
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Step 7 : Second drying
Lay tea leaves on basket tray on top of charcoal fire With 90℃ temperature speedily turn them over until the water moisture is about 10%.
Step 8 : Second Piling
Core technique of Huoshan Yellow tea. After the first drying, tea leaves need to be laid on basket tray with a warm temperature. Cover them with a warm cotton cloth for 2-3 days until the aroma is fully produced
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Step 9 : Sorting
Sort out the bad quality leaves and remove residues and wastes
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Final Step : Foot drying
Last drying. Key procedure producing good aroma Lay tea leaves on basket tray on top of charcoal fire . With 70℃ temperature, speedily turn over the leaves until they are all dried, you are specifically looking for the tea leaves to turn to powder once you press them. The aroma should be more obvious. Pekoe are easily seen.
