Yueyang is both the most mature and mythologized area of yellow tea production in China. Unbroken by radical changes in local geography, politics, and tea consumption over the past century, Junshan Yinzhen is the world's most well-known yellow tea. Yet few ever either get to drink it, or even a quality approximation.
Basic Version:
Bogwood Whispers - 10 grams (Orthodox Yueyang Yellow Buds)
Gold Coins - 10 grams (Yueyang Big Yellow)
Maize Threads - 10 grams (Yueyang Light Yellow)
Expanded Version:
Bogwood Whispers - 12 grams (Orthodox Yueyang Yellow Buds)
Gold Coins - 10 grams (Yueyang Big Yellow)
Maize Threads - 12 grams (Yueyang Light Yellow)
Official Junshan YInzhen (Orthodox Yueyang Yellow Buds)
If you drink one tea in this sampler, it should be the bogwood whispers. Grown and picked near the eastern shore of Dongting Lake in Yueyang County, Jiang and his family have produced the best yellow tea I have had to date. It is mellow but not dank, savory, mildly sweet, and completely without astrigency. It has done a good job capturing the dull, sandy, and glossy appearance prized in Junshan Yinzhen.
Jiang's 2016 gold coins are almost as fabulous. Also picked and produced in Yueyang County, the dark orange broth and smooth apricot flavor demonstrate what Huangdacha, late pick yellow tea, can and should do when given time to age. With its' Sheng Puer like frutiness and floral aroma, it is hard to believe it is produced in the same region, let alone by the same household using the same cultivars as the Bogwood Whispers.
Maize Threads represents the best of the greener Yueyang teas inspired by Junshan Yinzhen. Locally, it is sold as Yinzhen, but the slender shape and sharp grassy notes at higher temperatures instead place the tea closer to an Anji Baicha that has undergone an abbreviated yellowing. Made in the higher elevation Pingjiang County on the eastern most edge of the Yueyang Yellow Tea production area, this tea does still offer some lingering toasted soy and chestnut notes.
The optional DLC in this sampler, 4 grams of Yinzhen from the official factory in the Junshan Island tourism area, can only be a taste. The famous 200+ acre island's puny size means that prices can be inflated well above the cost of production. This island is 1/3rd the size of Bingdao Village, 1/6th the size of Longjing Village or 1/100th the area of Biluochun's Xishan Island. The factory is a public-private operation bringing together the Yueyang municipal government, Hunan Province, and private investors. The tea is every bit delicious and orthodox as the Bogwood Whispers, but only worth the price for the most passionate yellow tea enjoyers.
