Meng Ding Huang Ya: The Yellow Bud Tea From Sichuan's Sacred Mountain

Meng Ding Huang Ya (蒙顶黄芽, "Yellow Buds of Meng Ding") is a bud-only yellow tea from Meng Ding Mountain in Sichuan, one of the oldest tea-growing places in China. It's made like a green tea, then slowly "sealed yellowed" (men huang), which turns it soft, sweet and rounded. It tastes of sweet corn, honey and toasted grain, with a gentle floral note often described as honeysuckle and a faint warm, ginger-like spice. It's easier to find than Junshan Yinzhen and a lovely way into yellow tea. Brew at about 80–85 °C.

I'll be honest: I bought my first Meng Ding Huang Ya because Junshan Yinzhen was sold out, and I expected a consolation prize. It turned out to be the yellow tea I actually drink most. It has all the softness of the style, a little more body than Junshan, and a warm, sweet finish that's perfect for chilly spring mornings when green tea feels too bright.

Meng Ding Mountain#

Meng Ding ("the summit of Meng") is a mountain near Ya'an in Sichuan, often misty and damp, and traditionally counted among the birthplaces of cultivated tea in China. Local legend credits Wu Lizhen, a monk in some tellings and a Taoist in others, with planting tea there around two thousand years ago. Sichuan as a whole is often called a cradle of Chinese tea culture, and the mountain is also famous for a green tea, Meng Ding Gan Lu ("Sweet Dew").

How it's made#

1. Early spring buds are picked.
2. Kill-green stops oxidation, as in green tea.
3. Sealed yellowing: in Sichuan, the warm leaf is traditionally wrapped, sometimes pressed into small packs, and left to yellow slowly, with rounds of drying and yellowing in between.
4. Final drying.

The long yellowing is what makes it different from Meng Ding's green teas: softer, sweeter, less grassy.

What it tastes like#

The dry buds are flat and golden-green. The liquor is pale yellow and clear. The aroma is sweet: corn, honey, a little toasted grain. The taste is smooth and round with a gentle floral note (honeysuckle is the classic comparison) and a faint warm spiciness some compare to ginger. Bitterness is almost absent.

Meng Ding Huang Ya vs Junshan Yinzhen#

See Junshan Yinzhen.

How to brew Meng Ding Huang Ya#

Leave the gaiwan lid off between steeps; like green tea, it doesn't like to stew.

My session: gongfu#

4 g in a 100 ml porcelain gaiwan, 82 °C.

Steep 1 (15 s). Pale yellow. Sweet corn and honey, very smooth.

Steep 2 (20 s). Fuller, a honeysuckle note, a faint warm spice at the end.

Steep 4 (30 s). Toasted grain comes forward; still no bitterness.

Steep 6 (50 s). Light, sweet water. Done.

How to choose it#

• Even, flat, golden-green buds with little broken leaf.
• A sweet, fresh, slightly toasty smell. Hay or dustiness means old tea.
• Recent spring harvest, stated on the label.
• Beware green tea sold as yellow tea: a grassy, sharp cup is a warning sign.

Storage#

Like green tea: airtight, opaque, cool and away from smells, and drink it within about a year. See how to store tea.

Myths#

"Yellow tea is just old green tea." Real yellow tea is yellowed on purpose, through men huang.

"Meng Ding tea is always green." The mountain makes both green (Gan Lu) and yellow (Huang Ya) teas.

"It tastes like ginger." The spice is a faint impression, not a flavouring.

My honest take#

If you want to understand yellow tea without hunting for rare Junshan, start here. Meng Ding Huang Ya has the softness, the sweetness and the gentle grain of the style, and it forgives you if your water is a few degrees off.

The bottom line#

Meng Ding Huang Ya is a sweet, soft bud yellow tea from Sichuan's historic Meng Ding Mountain, with corn, honey, floral and warm-spice notes and almost no bitterness. Brew it at 80–85 °C in a glass or gaiwan. More in my yellow tea guide.

Read next: Huoshan Huang Ya.