If it is Mt Huo Yellow Sprout, the buds are short and sharpish, not twisted.
The colours are mostly dull yellow and green on the bud, and darker yellow
(closing in on pale brown) on the 'fish' leaf.

The fishy smell is more of a nuance, you are right. & the brewed leaf would
be a bud and 1/2 leaf, all of equal length.

Danny

"Space Cowboy" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> My local tea shoppe owner wasn't sure of the area. Maybe something got
> lost in translation. As best as I can tell from looking at the
> websites with yellow tea and pictures it is Huoshan Huangya Mt. Huo
> Yellow Sprout. What puzzled me was the yellow description of the leaf
> then I read 'pale yellow natural light'. I took mine outside and I can
> see pale yellow but since the bud is twisted it is light yellow where
> you see the down and dark elsewhere. I'll have to clean the pot and
> tea glass to be sure of the color especially if it is pale. I'm glad
> you said fishy but that was one impression I got but more like a
> nuance. But I've been drinking too much rancid cooked puerh and said
> nothing else could taste like that. I was also surprised to learn it
> is fermented so maybe it can. The prices on the web match the store.
> One other interesting web note yellow tea is always whole leaf. This
> looks like a sprout. I've seen plenty of whole leaf rolled longitudely
> not latitudely like this.
>
> Jim
>
> samarkand wrote:
>> 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...
>> > 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.
>