Ever since I read this: http://bit.ly/6kBYYq, I have been obsessed with trying this tea. So, when I decided it was time to put another order through with Rishi, Ancient Yellow Buds was the first tea on my list.
Not gonna lie, it’s pretty amazing.
First things first, this tea brews clear [or very nearly so]. It doesn’t look like you’ve done anything. I was thrown by this a bit, but now you know, and knowing is half the battle. [Cue shooting star rainbow swipe thingy.]
I’m going to have to agree with LENA, in that I primarily get honeysuckle out of this. Lovely, concentrated, honey combined with that almost strained sweetness from cholorphyll and a nectar-like thickness honeysuckle. It also did this crazy wonderful thing for me where, once I had swallowed the tea, I could feel the lingering honeysuckle taste actually dissolving on my tongue. Physically felt it. Like cotton candy, that kind of sensation, except not sickly sweet. Or angel food cake. It was awesome.
But the thing that kicks this tea from “love it” to “I am going to throw down some serious hyperbole and expletives until you try this” is the fact that lightly, in the aftertaste, towards the back of my tongue, I get the taste of freshly baked white bread, sweet and yeasty. This is not obvious. I like to wait in between sips of my tea, and that’s probably why I noticed it.
I did three steeps of this at varying times [gauge reflects the first one, Rishi recommends 3 minutes and then 4-5 on second and third steeps, which is what I did]. I don’t really see any need to deviate from these times, but I might since I definitely have enough to experiment a bit. Speaking of which, I bought 4 ounces of it, which I’m very glad of now because I expect that I’ll be drinking a lot of it. Anyhow, if any of this sounds even remotely appealing to you I’d suggest that you get it.
Preparation
People who liked this
Comments
After a description like that how can it sound anything other than OMG!-I-Have-To-Get-It?
i read this and immediately got hungry for honey and bread haha
@Takgoti I definitely agree that yellow tea is great. I got some Mengding Mountain Snow Buds, Huang Ya from last years crop from Tea Trekker. The infusion is really clear and to me this version sort of tastes like it has a hint of sweet asparagus(sounds disgusting but it’s not.) I think that Rishi sets the steeping temperature a bit too high because Yellow Tea is more similar to Green Tea in nature, but maybe that’s why you tasted those honeysuckle and bread tastes.
@Carolyn I’m gonna send you some!
@TeaCast It’s good!
@Fred I prescribe to the school of thought that not all teas should necessarily be brewed the same even if they’re of the same “type” anyway. I think that slight differences in processing and whatnot can result in more delicate or more hardy teas and that a lot of it’s susceptible to personal preferences anyhow. That being said, I had zero issues with what Rishi put on the bag, but it won’t keep me from trying different things in future cups.
Nice review this sounds good.
@Takgoti You’re absolutely right about the fact that certain teas can take a higher temperature. I agree with you on that one. What’s amazing and why I like tea so much is that all the differences in flavor lie with the skill of tea master who processes the tea. It is pretty amazing you can take the same leaf and get 100’s of different flavors just by processing it differently. I also deviate from directions sometimes. An example of this is I will start at steeping something that says a few short steepings at 3 minutes for first steeping 5 for second and 7 or 8 for third steeping.
I’ve never had a yellow tea before but this sounds absolutely yummy.
@takgoti Yay! Thank you!
NOM NOM NOM. Ugh, this and Purple Bamboo will be part of a super-future Rishi order! And I seriously mean super-future, since the tea is about to burst out of my house and start its own website.
@teaplz, I completely agree! But unfortuantely Den’s Tea is being way too nice and giving away Lucky Gold Tea w/ a purchase of $30 or more. The one tea I really do need more of is, in spite of my already MASSIVE collection, matcha. I’m almost down to only having mandarin matcha left and I want to break that up w/ unflavored. So that’ll put me at $24… and I really want that Lucky Gold tea so now I have to spend another $6! Too bad… hehe;)
Haha, my $3 coupon from Den is going to go to waste. I definitely do not need more tea for a while and it expires in January.
Ricky, I don’t need any more (well except matcha) either lol, but come on how many times to you get a chance to try gold plated tea? So since I’m already putting in an order, I might as well put one item into my cart:)
I’ve been holding off on finishing my last three packs of matcha as well. I don’t want it to all go away already. Argh when I thought I was finally making process and clearing the cupboard I received a whole bunch of tea.
Depriving yourself of matcha is just wrong:) So order some matcha and something else to make at least $30 then indulge in Lucky Gold Tea!=D
This review borders on the obscene. I feel like it should have been tagged NSFW. I mean…sure, yes, alright, with my wisdom teeth out there was probably some risk of me drooling on myself already anyway, but this is just over the top.
Honey and freshly baked bread? Really?
I would be feeling sort of scandalized if I weren’t so interested.
@Teaplz I just ordered 1/4 lb of Lu Shan Clouds & Mist
Spring 2009, 1/4 lb of Sweet Dew Gan Lu 2009 Pre-Qing Ming, and samples of Mengding Mountain Rock Essence 2009 Pre-Qing Ming and Everest Hand-Rolled Tips Spring 2009 organic plus a 50.7 ounce glass teapot from http://www.teatrekker.com. My wife didn’t want me to order it because she says I have too much tea and need to use what I have already. I told her if she can buy clothes I can buy tea:-). My tea drawer is overflowing lol.
@teaplz I was gonna try and come up with some kinda clever www for your tea, but I am full of food and too complacent and full for cleverness at the moment.
@sophistre Aw, sorry. Maybe I should have topped it with a little NC-17 or somethin’. It’s really very ridiculously nommy.
As someone who bakes bread for a living, this is obviously a must for me. I’m enjoying the yerba mate I’m drinking to wake up right now, and I was totally fine with it (and with having not yet eaten breakfast) until I read this! I’m trying to clear out some room in my tea stash, too, before I even think about getting any more tea. There are little odds and ends of things need drinking, and some of it’s far too old, so I’d never even consider adding it to the TTB. Therefore, it must be drunk…but WHY then do things like this have to tempt me? WHY?!?! weeps and gnashes teeth
After a description like that how can it sound anything other than OMG!-I-Have-To-Get-It?
i read this and immediately got hungry for honey and bread haha
@Takgoti I definitely agree that yellow tea is great. I got some Mengding Mountain Snow Buds, Huang Ya from last years crop from Tea Trekker. The infusion is really clear and to me this version sort of tastes like it has a hint of sweet asparagus(sounds disgusting but it’s not.) I think that Rishi sets the steeping temperature a bit too high because Yellow Tea is more similar to Green Tea in nature, but maybe that’s why you tasted those honeysuckle and bread tastes.
@Carolyn I’m gonna send you some!
@TeaCast It’s good!
@Fred I prescribe to the school of thought that not all teas should necessarily be brewed the same even if they’re of the same “type” anyway. I think that slight differences in processing and whatnot can result in more delicate or more hardy teas and that a lot of it’s susceptible to personal preferences anyhow. That being said, I had zero issues with what Rishi put on the bag, but it won’t keep me from trying different things in future cups.
Nice review this sounds good.
@Takgoti You’re absolutely right about the fact that certain teas can take a higher temperature. I agree with you on that one. What’s amazing and why I like tea so much is that all the differences in flavor lie with the skill of tea master who processes the tea. It is pretty amazing you can take the same leaf and get 100’s of different flavors just by processing it differently. I also deviate from directions sometimes. An example of this is I will start at steeping something that says a few short steepings at 3 minutes for first steeping 5 for second and 7 or 8 for third steeping.
I’ve never had a yellow tea before but this sounds absolutely yummy.
@takgoti Yay! Thank you!
NOM NOM NOM. Ugh, this and Purple Bamboo will be part of a super-future Rishi order! And I seriously mean super-future, since the tea is about to burst out of my house and start its own website.
@teaplz, I completely agree! But unfortuantely Den’s Tea is being way too nice and giving away Lucky Gold Tea w/ a purchase of $30 or more. The one tea I really do need more of is, in spite of my already MASSIVE collection, matcha. I’m almost down to only having mandarin matcha left and I want to break that up w/ unflavored. So that’ll put me at $24… and I really want that Lucky Gold tea so now I have to spend another $6! Too bad… hehe;)
Haha, my $3 coupon from Den is going to go to waste. I definitely do not need more tea for a while and it expires in January.
Ricky, I don’t need any more (well except matcha) either lol, but come on how many times to you get a chance to try gold plated tea? So since I’m already putting in an order, I might as well put one item into my cart:)
I’ve been holding off on finishing my last three packs of matcha as well. I don’t want it to all go away already. Argh when I thought I was finally making process and clearing the cupboard I received a whole bunch of tea.
Depriving yourself of matcha is just wrong:) So order some matcha and something else to make at least $30 then indulge in Lucky Gold Tea!=D
This review borders on the obscene. I feel like it should have been tagged NSFW. I mean…sure, yes, alright, with my wisdom teeth out there was probably some risk of me drooling on myself already anyway, but this is just over the top.
Honey and freshly baked bread? Really?
I would be feeling sort of scandalized if I weren’t so interested.
@Teaplz I just ordered 1/4 lb of Lu Shan Clouds & Mist
Spring 2009, 1/4 lb of Sweet Dew Gan Lu 2009 Pre-Qing Ming, and samples of Mengding Mountain Rock Essence 2009 Pre-Qing Ming and Everest Hand-Rolled Tips Spring 2009 organic plus a 50.7 ounce glass teapot from http://www.teatrekker.com. My wife didn’t want me to order it because she says I have too much tea and need to use what I have already. I told her if she can buy clothes I can buy tea:-). My tea drawer is overflowing lol.
@teaplz I was gonna try and come up with some kinda clever www for your tea, but I am full of food and too complacent and full for cleverness at the moment.
@sophistre Aw, sorry. Maybe I should have topped it with a little NC-17 or somethin’. It’s really very ridiculously nommy.
As someone who bakes bread for a living, this is obviously a must for me. I’m enjoying the yerba mate I’m drinking to wake up right now, and I was totally fine with it (and with having not yet eaten breakfast) until I read this! I’m trying to clear out some room in my tea stash, too, before I even think about getting any more tea. There are little odds and ends of things need drinking, and some of it’s far too old, so I’d never even consider adding it to the TTB. Therefore, it must be drunk…but WHY then do things like this have to tempt me? WHY?!?! weeps and gnashes teeth