I'm not questioning the German, but it is hard to believe that a german
vendor does not know where his tea - especially Yellow tea - comes from.
Germans are known for their meticulousness. From the several german tea
vendors I spoke to, and the german tee laden I've visited, they do prossess
a good knowledge of the tea, though their knowledge on the quality is a
separate issue.

My scepticism on the above also stems from the fact that not many areas in
China produce Yellow tea. Yellow tea by definition is a green tea that's
been post-fermented. The process of the post fermentation can be very
tedious that many tea producers are 'cheating' these days by either
marketing their Yellow tea as green tea, or process the Yellow tea as green
and let it sit for a while in the warehouse before selling it as a yellow
tea.

In my experience, one general rule is that green tea, after being kept for
some time, develops a 'fermented' flavour - if the yellow tea has this
flvaour, chances are it is a green tea kept past its sell by date, or yellow
tea that's under fermented.

One of the strong characteristics of Yellow tea - to me - is its 'fishy'
flavour like. And the liquor colour is yellow, not brown.

Depending on the varietal and requirement, Yellow tea is broadly divided as
bud tea, small leaf tea, and large leaf tea:

Bud tea: Anhui province : Huoshan Huangya (mostly processed as green tea
these days); Sichuan province : Mengding Huangya; Hunan province: Junshan
Yinzhen

Small leaf tea: Hunan province : Beigang maojian & Weishan maojian; Hubei
province : Lu yuan cha;

Large leaf tea: Anhui province : Huoshan Huangdacha, Hubei province :
Yingshan Huangcha; Guangzhou province : Guangdong Daye Qing

Danny


"Space Cowboy" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> It's been awhile since I've been to the local tea shoppe because I'm
> usually waiting for a knock on the door from the Mailman with a China
> Post package otherwise I get a go fetch it notice in the mailbox. I
> was lucky to catch the owner in because he can now afford a payroll.
> He's always got stuff that hasn't hit the shelves. This time it was a
> yellow tea from China via a German vendor. He mentioned he'll be
> stocking more teas via Germany because in the Western world Germany
> gets the first choice because they'll simply pay top dollar for their
> teas. He didn't know where this tea came from in China. It is very
> sexy twisted whole leaf which looks brown with lots of white hair. The
> spent leaf is brown on top with a green underside. It doesn't remind
> me of any other tea taste from China. At best the taste is understated
> not for nuance but for flavor. I got a total of drinkable 2 liters
> from about 4 grams. His price is 2oz/$12 but it is one of the
> fluffiest teas I've seen. The tea color looks light brown but my
> teapot could be cleaner. I know yellow tea is just an oxidation
> technique but it seems to seal the flavor without damaging the leaf.
> The leaves didn't look that tired even at the end. It would be
> interesting if more tea cultivars were processed this way than all the
> rage white tea from wherever. He is seeing a lot of customers
> switching from coffee to tea because of the health benefits. He even
> has a new blend with tea and coffee beans with other flavors. I think
> some rancid cooked Puerh with cream and sugar might remind someone of
> chicory. He thinks there might be a permanent change in preference
> over coffee but I think any health craze is just like a diet. In a
> couple of weeks he'll get his first Indian oolong from a vendor in
> India. We both never heard of that one. He has white darjeeling but
> his customers are asking for white tea from China. I also bought a
> first flush Rohini Darjeeling with the most alphabet soup grading I've
> ever seen for a tea SFTGFOP-1.
>
> Jim
>