Huoshan Little Yellow (dry yellowed)

A nutty, sweet, and muscatel nose with a lightly spice milky tea soup, this tea is about as approachable a profile and price one can get from Dasha, the Huoshan yellow tea revivalist who sticks to producing tea all by hand, typically from select quntizhong seed grown plots, processed in increments that produce 2-4 pound batches each. Eastern China's spring of 2026 saw a lot of rain, increasing the ambient RH during yellowing, and therefore Dasha's typical dry yellowing parameters produced somewhere in between the usual dry yellowed and wet yellowed treatment. 黄小茶 Huang Xiao Cha or Little Yellow grade means early - mid spring 1 bud 2 leaf pickings, offering an ideal balance of higher fragrance notes from the bud complimented by bolder notes with a bit more body from the two leaves. This tea comes from a lesser known part of 百家山 Baijiashan an area outside of Dahuaping, the Huoshan township. Cultivation-escaped tea plants grow in a scrubby, unmanaged grove amongst other plants and trees there: #gallery-13 { margin: auto; } #gallery-13 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-13 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-13 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */ #gallery-14 { margin: auto; } #gallery-14 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-14 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-14 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */ Finding Living Traditions in a Buyers Beware Market Like other yellow teas from the few pockets in China where the tradition still hangs on, Huoshan’s yellow tea suffers from counterfeiting and corner-cutting. But Huoshan in particular has become notorious, with producers passing off green tea—or teas with only the faintest yellowing—as the real thing under the more lucrative Huoshan Huang Ya label. Fresher, greener, and earlier-to-market spring teas are easier to sell and appeal to a broader audience. As a result, the slower, more complex, and more expensive world of true yellow tea has taken a back seat. Traditionally, harvest in Huoshan begins in mid-April or later—around 谷雨 gǔyǔ "grain rain" in the Chinese almanac. Proper yellowing and finishing pushes many of these teas to market by mid-to-late May—long after most buyers have wrapped up their spring tea shopping. The unfortunate reality is that machine-made, straightened green tea has become the default in Huoshan—and even mediocre Huang Ya still commands high prices. It's no exaggeration to say this has become a “code red” market for buyers, with some estimates suggesting 99% of what’s sold as Huoshan Huang Ya is not the real thing. Knowing this, I understood that finding the genuine article wouldn't be easy. The original story is told in this video here. I wanted to understand what went into crafting a true yellow tea, so during my most recent visit with Dasha, I documented the full process. After harvest, withering, and pan-frying, the tea is prepared for either gàn mèn 干闷 dry-yellowed or shī mèn 湿闷 wet-yellowed. This particular Huoshan Yellow is dry-yellowed, which I'll outline below. For those wanting to learn about wet-yellowing, check out Dasha's other Little Yellow tea, grown at her adjacent Shiliangzishan gardens down the trail. Dasha's Dry Yellowing Yellowing or 闷黄 men huang "covering-yellow" is the critical step that defines yellow tea, without which the tea would be considered green tea as the processes are identical otherwise. Dry yellowing is less moisture-rich and therefore not as risky form of men huang. It is also the best way to preserve and deepen good fragrance characteristics. After harvesting, withering, and pan-frying (rolling/bruising is entirely skipped for her delicate teas not as robust as Big Yellow Leaf), the hot and moist leaves are taken off of the wok, left piled during a lunch break before being exposed to a brief charcoal heat. This charcoal heat is not about roasting, but more about drying to control the moisture level for the next step. #gallery-15 { margin: auto; } #gallery-15 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-15 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-15 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */ This brief charcoal heat will dry out the leaves to a determined amount of moisture before being covered. While the percentage of moisture is higher in wet-yellowing and therefore this brief drying via charcoal heat is skipped, this step is essential to ensure the proper humidity for dry-yellowing. Identical to the process of green tea, during the pan-frying phase enzymes responsible for oxidation are deactivated via exposure to the wok's heat. The covering of the warm and moist leaves that occurs in the nearly anaerobic environment under linen fabric transforms the leaves by dampening some of the greener catechin (bitter/bright/fragrant) profile of the leaves into a more mellowed, sweeter, less-bitter and yellow-hued tea. The transformation into such a profile typically would take place through enzymatic browning (the oxidation of the enzyme polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase) akin to what we see in red tea, yet since deactivation of these enzymes has already occurred in this process, yellowing relies on a mild Maillard Reaction (polymerization of sugars and amino acids to produce a caramelization effect) as well as an incomplete polyphenol autoxidation (the non-enzymatic oxidation of catechins into mild theaflavins and thearubigins). L-Theanine and its corresponding flavor umami is preserved through the yellowing process. This is notable since L-Theanine and other amino acids are not well preserved through other forms of oxidation. Dasha's tea leaves are covered during her dry yellowing for about 5-7 days, gradually reducing the moisture content down to about 30% before final charcoal firing. Throughout this time, the tea is periodically uncovered, de-clumped, turned, and recovered as to evenly allow the yellowing the set in. Each day the tea is assessed visually and by smell, and brief charcoal heat is applied to ward away any unwanted characteristics. Each batch is different, and factors such as picking grade (density of tea material), weather, and batch size contribute to the variable time each tea spends yellowing. Dasha decides whether a batch is to be dry or wet yellowed depending on the characteristics of its tea garden. Gardens producing material with distinctive aromas (as well as tippier grades in general) are usually destined for dry yellowing as to preserve and accent fragrance. Bolder flavors + mouthfeel and astringency in material are good candidates for wet yellowing. After yellowing, the final step is a series of charcoal baking/drying called zhuang huo 壮火 "fire strengthening" that stabilizes the yellowing, perks up its aromatics, and dries it for storage-stability. It's a set of three exposures to charcoal heat of increasing time and temperature ending with a crush test of the leaves; if the leaves can be crushed between the fingers into dust, it's dry enough. Throughout Dasha's entire handmade process, no electrical outlet is needed. There's not a single machine used.