When I returned home after work yesterday, I discovered that my internet connection was working once again. So, just as mysteriously as I lost it, so I regained it without having to call Verizon. I was so thrilled that I could take a long walk in the fresh evening air instead of being cooped up inside on the phone. What a wakeup call on how much I depend upon my electronic devices to just automatically work!
This morning’s tea is a yellow tea called Heirloom Yellow Buds, quite an impressive name. The tea leaves are plucked from heirloom tea bushes in the Yunnan province, located in the south of China. In terms of an agricultural product, heirloom is defined as “a horticultural variety that has survived for several generations usually due to the efforts of private individuals”.
The leaves remind me very much of a white tea because most white teas consist of the buds of the tea bush. The whole intact leaf is a beautiful light sage green. Yellow teas are processed in a similar fashion to green teas, however, the difference lies in involving a moist steam heat and then covering the leaves with a cloth to allow the moist steam to develop the flavor. This process is repeated several times. I’ve written about another yellow tea and the process here.
In experiencing this tea – steeping, inhaling, sipping – the first word that comes to my mind is ethereal. It’s so light and delicate with a pale straw colored liquor. I steeped the leaves for 3 minutes in 180 degree F water.
So pale is the liquor that the true spring colors outside shine through.
The flavor is quite sweet and smooth with a whisper of apricot that lingers into the finish.
The azure sky reflected in my teabowl has not a cloud in it. The birds outside are welcoming another beautiful spring day as I quietly sit by the window sipping and meditating on the weekend ahead.
“Mystics report that every bit of the world radiates from one center – every cricket, every grain of dust, every dream, every image, everything under the sun or beyond the sun, all art and myth and wildness. If they are right, then we have no more important task than to seek that center.”
~Scott Russell Sanders
Art and Tea 
It looks great. While yellow tea is becoming less known in China and remains at a samll production every year. I personally still like yellow tea especially junshan yinzhen, while during recent year, more and more junshan yinzhen is made in green style instead of yellow. It is a pity.
Thanks for the great description of yellow teas! I’ve had one and found it very nice.
I love Scott Russell Sanders’ work – and am lucky to live in the same community.