Peculiar white tea

[Jayaratna]

Dear Teachatters,

I had a sample of this white tea years ago from a shop in Bruxelles. I can't remember its name, but recently I came across this picture. Anyone knows it? It was really good, as far as I can remember.

IMG_10187339752200.jpeg (19.97 KiB) Viewed 7010 times

[Evan Draper]

Those're called hops, they make a delicious tea called beer

[debunix]

Those appear to be tea buds. I've had a couple of versions of them from Norbu and Yunnan sourcing, and they make a very delicate and floral tea that does not withstand multiple steepings.

Here's a current example from YS.

[Jayaratna]

@ Evan, it's not hop. Check this out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humulus_lupulus

@Debunix, yesss, it's dried tea buds. I had never seen them in tea shops.

Thank you,

[mcrdotcom]

It's Yabao tea no? I've had it a few times, delicate and exceptionally sweet!

[Jayaratna]

It's Yabao tea no? I've had it a few times, delicate and exceptionally sweet!

Yes, your description matches my memories.

[Evan Draper]

it's not hop.

Yes, it was a joke--but a joke based in their dissimilar appearance to any tea buds I have seen. Babelcarp seems to agree with me.

[debunix]

Inspired by this discussion, I dug through my tea trunk and found a sealed package of Ya Bao from Norbu, which feels like a perfect celebration tea this afternoon--delicate and floral, a champagne among teas.

[Jayaratna]

Yes, it was a joke

Sorry, Evan, I couldn't get the irony, English is not my mother tongue.

Inspired by this discussion, I dug through my tea trunk and found a sealed package of Ya Bao from Norbu, which feels like a perfect celebration tea this afternoon--delicate and floral, a champagne among teas.

What a celebration, debu! Need to order some...

ज

[john.b]

In a twist on spamming this forum with blog posts I'm updating this thread about trying this tea type, Ya Bao. Some might not call it tea, since it's made from a different version of the same general plant type, but I guess those "wild" tea plants still typically get counted as such.

I liked it, I just didn't love it. It was a bit light, and sweet, and tasted sort of like pine. It had no real depth in terms of complexity or feel, although I guess it might be possible to push it harder than I did and experience more related to some of that.

The shop I tried in in (in the Bangkok Chinatown, so anyone in the neighborhood can easily pick up both) also had a compressed cake version of the same material, but it tasted like cardboard, and not in a good sense. The post also rambles on about what that Chinatown is like, compared to others I've visited (more fair warning than sales pitch):

http://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.co ... wn-on.html

[JRS22]

Interesting post about Bangkok Chinatown. I was there last year during the vegetarian festival which was a lot of fun because I could sample anything that looked good. Perhaps because we were there during the day the architecture seemed very businesslike and not exotic compared to the rest of Bangkok. Maybe next time we'll go back again and explore the side streets, although it won't be during the vegetarian festival.