Single batch of Mengding Huang Ya handmade entirely by award-winning Master Li.
Stellar rendition of Mending Huang Ya. Made from heirloom old bushes and yellowed to its fullest for a rich, creamy and candied character by Master Li.
Yellow tea of this quality is made in such small amounts in Mengding that finding a Huang Ya that lives up to the price took many years.
In 2023 I found a source producing Huang Ya the proper way and it immediately became one of my favourite teas of recent memory.
I fell so deeply in love with Huang Ya that I went on a trip to Mengding to learn more about this style of tea production, and I met Master Li.
His dedication to producing the best of the best Huang Ya was mesmerising and, after tasting many Yellow teas on my trip, I was convinced that his approach won out of others (and justifies his award winning status in Sichuan).
Syrupy yet hydrating in the mouth with a nose full of candied nuts, chocolate cookies and warm milk. The taste is very similar to our previous batceh but with a little added kick of a heavier firing and charcoal baking and a salty sweet complexity.
The aftertaste is just ridiculous - insanely long with a cooling yet syrupy sweet juiciness that is the epitome of the highest grade teas on the globe
Sovereign Bud is made from 50+ year-old Qun Ti Zhong (old heirloom) bushes growing about half way up Mengding Mountain. It has been yellowed FULLY without any shortcuts using the fully handmade 'Men Huang' Yellowing process of Sichuan. This involves:
- A long wither to develop aromatics
- At least 3 stages of small batch pan frying and then wrapping the buds in special paper while warm and moist for about up to 36 hours
- Final pan frying to fix and then low temperature charcoal baking to dry
The whole process from picking to finished tea has taken over seven days of diligent work by a true masters of this craft. I suspect that a lot of Mengding Huang Ya on the market may be made with a slightly shortened process of withering and yellowing making a tea with a remnant of greenness which just make the tea taste incomplete.
THIS is the Mengding Huang Ya of my dreams which I cannot imagine being bettered and I am fighting myself not to keep a kilogram all for myself.
