Comparing yellow tea versions from a Xinyang, Henan producer

 

I'm trying teas sent for review by an earlier producer contact, from the Shangcheng County Wanmu Tea Garden Tea Industry Development Company.  That lengthy name is explained by it being a corporation name, not really a direct sales vendor branding, which are essentially always tied to catchier, shorter names (Yunnan Sourcing, Seven Cups, and so on).  In this case Chinese Tea Time was the local outlet name I tried teas as presented by earlier, last year.

I don't often try teas from factory producers.  It's not that products from this sort of origin would have to be inferior to artisanal, hand made, small producer offerings, it just works out that way, that I run across the other extreme in source form more.  I probably am trying a good bit of tea from factory production, but the level or levels of sales in between that and a final sales vendor cover up that true origin.  If I--or anyone else--buy teas in tins in a local Chinatown shop they're from mainstream production sources, like this one.  

There wouldn't have to be a lot of significant difference between a small producer making tea on a different type of machines and larger scale factory production (completely hand made tea just isn't how that tends to work).  In practice sure, differences would enter in, but the colorful, warm feel you would get from the image of small family production may not always relate to a lot of differences in quality of outcome.  Consistency and control would improve based on more standardized production forms, and variation and the potential for routine changes that are helpful, or mistakes that may or may not be informative, could be factored out.  This post is more about reporting how two experimental versions of tea turned out, not all that; just adding some extra thoughts.

More background on the teas and that local area are here in a Facebook page, Xinyang Diary.

Here is another Instagram link to a local vendor sales portal, Chinese Tea Time (by local meaning based in Thailand; I'm here, at least just now).  This is their Shoppee outlet link, similar to Amazon or Ebay in the US (which doesn't seem to be active just now; that kind of channel can be seasonal). 

Here is more background on that tea producer, from their website:

Shangcheng County Wanmu Tea Garden Tea Industry Development Co., Ltd., located in Hanchong Village, Wanggang Town, Shangcheng County, Xinyang City, Henan Province, was established in 2020 with a registered capital of 10 million yuan and a total area of ​​6,300 square meters. The company's standardized tea processing facility was completed and put into production in February 2022. 

It is a comprehensive enterprise integrating tea cultivation technology promotion, production and processing, marketing, innovative research and development, tea-tourism integration, and e-commerce. The company produces tea varieties including Shangcheng high mountain tea, Xinyang Maojian, Xinyang black tea, white tea, and oolong tea.

That's amazing, that it's that new a producer.  I tried those earlier teas in 2024 and they were exceptional (reviewed here:  Xinyang Maojian and Himjian; exceptional quality green teas).

I won't cover a lot of what discussing this vendor and their background with that contact related to here, but I'll keep adding more across different review posts.  

photo credit their website

Green tea is a main category produced in that area, those green tea versions, and then black tea might also be a main local category, and presumably a somewhat narrowly defined standard style.  They're also experimenting with other production, hence this yellow tea review, and the Dong Fang Mei Ren versions that will follow (aka Oriental Beauty, a name producers and vendors have more or less dropped out, due to oriental now seeming pejorative, to many people).  I'll try a black tea (a sample sent) that relates to a product listed on a website more directly.

One interesting theme related to something along the lines of organic tea production.  They're certified to a local variation of such a thing, a Chinese "green mark" designation, which would just use different testing and limitation criteria, aimed at a similar goal.  That's hard to place, but generally positive.  

It's no surprise that local certifications take on different forms within China than outside it.  My "real job" duties relate to ISO systems certification, within IT scope, and related control and process implementation, and the form that takes varies by geographic region.  A theme like information security (cybersecurity) is essentially identical globally, and the controls are the same, but the standardized sets of controls and certifications differ quite a bit.

So more background will follow, in a next post, and I'll get on with covering two yellow tea versions here.

Review:

#1:  I won't have much to compare these to, having only tried a few yellow teas, maybe only 2 or 3, but this is pleasant, and interesting.  Flavor range is what I expected, not so far off green tea, but with additional warm and unusual sort of range, a little extra mineral, and flavor that's not unlike either cured hay or cardboard.  Cured hay sounds better; lets go with that.  

Some floral tone adjoins the green tea related range, but it's going to be hard to identify.  The overall flavor range is complex.  Some mineral ties to the cured hay range.  Sort of in between there is some vegetal scope, which is hard to describe.  Not completely unlike spinach or kale.  There's a touch of mint in this; that's different.  It's hardly even fully opened up, but I did give it longer than it needed to start, 20 seconds or more.  Flavor range is clean, it's intense.  Mouthfeel is fine, with good structure, and some aftertaste expression.  There's a lot going on.

back to reviewing outside (in Bangkok), with company

#2:  similar in a lot of ways; the difference will be minor enough that I'll end up discussing how they differ, even though it's really based on them sharing more than they don't, at this point.  There's one sweeter tone in this.  The vegetal range isn't completely different, but it may include more sweet corn instead, and a bit more floral tone than either.  That floral range is smooth and rich, sort of roundish, as one might expect sunflowers to smell.  I've ran across sunflowers, I just don't remember a related scent.

That touch of mint is present in this too, maybe just a bit lighter.  The cured hay effect is also lighter.  So maybe it's less fermented?  Again they're so close to each other that I'm citing minor differences; they're quite similar teas.  This might seem a little brighter and sweeter, tied to that floral range standing out more.  It's almost towards citrusy, including a touch of lemon, along with a creaminess.  It's pleasant.  Both are, really.

I think that the second sample might include slightly less tea, maybe one gram less, and some differences are going to emerge from brewing it less intense.  I can compensate by adjusting timing just a little.

#1, second infusion:  these are brewed very fast, to try them extra light, and see what that changes.  Intensity is still good, and the same general range emerges, but of course it's lighter.  Balance is very nice in this, the way that list of flavors covered in the first round integrates together.  These are probably the best yellow tea versions I've ever tried, which isn't saying much, since I've tried so few.  The first would have been from Korea, from way back when, which I kept some of.  It was sold as two packs of tea, wrapped separately, on the expensive side, maybe for close to $1 a gram.  It should be 8 or 9 years old now; I'm not sure if that's a favorable thing or not, aging it like that.  There was no reason to do so, and also no reason to drink straight through both packs.

Vegetal range dropped out, as much as anything did.  Cured hay related aspect may be slightly diminished, with a bit more floral tone entering in.  Mint is still present; that's still nice.  It's so faint that I doubt most people would identify it, or see it as tasting like that, but to me it seems clear.  I've tasted mint in a good number of teas over the years, making it easier to notice.  Obviously it's natural mint flavor; they didn't add anything to this tea.

#2:  similar, just a little lighter.  The overall balance shifts a little, maybe a littler warmer.  Mineral might stand out just a little more.

#1, 3rd infusion:  probably a lot like the last round, maybe a little stronger for being brewed slightly longer.  The mineral is really picking up; that might just keep extending.  It's nice the way that it connects with the cured hay effect, tasting like hay that had been cured even longer.  

#2:  still a little lighter, a little sweeter and more floral.  The overall balance and aspect set isn't so different.  It's interesting how clean these both are, for having that one unusual fermented character.  I didn't expect them to taste sour, or anything like that, but these are both clean and bright.  I would expect mineral tone to keep picking up, or maybe even a vegetal edge, so even though it's still kind of early from here I would expect the flavor balance to be less positive.

#1, 4th infusion:  that distinctive cured hay sort of flavor stands out all the more.  It's not really transitioning that much.  Pleasantness hasn't diminished; the balance still really works.

#2:  a little lighter than the first version, at this point, with less vegetal and mineral range.  The floral tone is still nice, in a good proportion.  Vegetal and mineral are in the same range but slightly different; it would be possible to break that down further.  

Conclusion:

This style matches what I've tried of yellow teas before, the little that has come up.  These are quite good.  It seems nothing like experimental tea versions; they must be pretty far through process development.  The material had to be pretty good for results to be this positive, beyond getting the secondary steaming / fermentation stage to give good results.  

I don't know lots about yellow tea; my understanding is that it's more or less post-fermented by storing it within wetted paper layers, or something similar, perhaps not necessarily being affected by the input of bacteria and fungus in the same ways that pu'er or hei cha versions are.  Wikipedia and AI sources would inform more detail.

It's interesting that these could be so clean, balanced, complex, and refined, that nothing seemed "off" at all, related to the outcome from that input.  The limited range of other yellow tea I've tried was like that, but these might be a little better.  Then again it's been years; it's hard to say.  They're definitely good.

Related to a match to my own personal preference they're still fine.  I like sheng pu'er the most, which isn't so far removed from green tea (maybe the closest type to these, but they're different), but green tea not nearly as much.  This style and how these come across are pleasant.  Maybe others would value this unique outcome more, if buying this rare and probably difficult to produce style relates to high final sales prices.  I don't buy green tea, or even oolong, even though I like lots of range of that; I'm stuck mostly on sheng.  That's normal; there's so much to get to, and it varies so much, that you can easily get caught up in all of it.