Wild Tree Purple "Sweet Ya Bao" White Tea Spring 2017

Update: My second batch of this tea was disappointingly more vegetal in taste. Therefore, I am reducing my score from 93 to 70.

Outstanding tea. Finally I have found a white tea which excites me. There are fruity notes (not in 2nd batch) which make this a superbly delicious tea, especially in warm climates.

This tea reminds me of cardamom and pear cider with a touch of grape blossom in the finish. I see that others tasted dill. Looking back I can see that, but it’s odd as I don’t like dill but I really dig this tea. Wish I could take this to the Indian buffet and drink it with the rice pudding that has grapes, cardamom and almonds in it

A very striking and unique tea. Dill aromatics are the most evident throughout every steep – I enjoyed this a lot, but it certainly wouldn’t be for everyone. Spending more time with the tea I noticed green almond, green apple and a deep minerality. There’s almost no astringency to speak of, but on later / longer steeps there is a mouthwatering sensation and a mild astringency comparable to Sichuan or white pepper. It feels like there’s a lot more to unpack here – florality, paper / balsa and other fruit notes!

This morning, I thought I’d try something different This tea is all buds that are green with a purple unfurled leaf bud. The dry smell is that of dried rose buds. The warm, wet buds release a very powerful rose scent that carries over to the tea liquor. Camellia sinensis is the tea plant we all know and love, but camellia japonica can also be used to make tea. We have several camellia japonica shrubs on our property, and I attempted to make a tea from the purple spring leaves this year. It produced a similar product to this, though not as rose-heavy, and the camellia japonica has a distinct spice note similar to cinnamon.

This sweet ya bao is heady with aroma. It’s almost too much for me in the way that some powerful scents can cause one to have a headache, but this is a unique experience that I think is worth trying, and would be especially fun to serve during a social tasting event. Yunnan Sourcing describes a watermelon note, and it is definitely present. Rose and watermelon. I think I just drank my grandmother’s perfume.

Wild Tree Purple “Sweet Ya Bao” is definitely a purple varietal tea that doesn’t taste like any tea I’ve had before. The tasting notes of dill weed came as a complete surprise, along with the finishing notes of rose buds. This was something that took getting used to, but after a few sessions with Ya Bao, I can definitely say that it’s growing on me.

Fair warning though, this tea is different and doesn’t taste like a traditional white tea — which will throw people off. Overall through, it’s good for what it is.

You can read my full review here…

https://www.theoolongdrunk.com/single-post/2017/05/15/Sweet-Purple-Yao-Bao—-Yunnan-Sourcing