Badaling Yellow Tea

Description

This tea gets it name from the world famous Badaling section of the Great Wall of China. Built during the Ming dynasty, Badaling was the first portion of the wall to be restored for the purposes of tourism. The story behind this tea is somewhat involved.

A Yunnan girl, the daughter of a local tea farmer who lived about 300 years ago fell in love with a young guard on leave from his post near the Badaling wall. The young man reciprocated her love and the two decide to marry. His plans however did not impress his commander in any way shape or form; he had signed on for a 15 year contract. The young guard was made to return to Badaling, where he pined for his sweetheart for the next 5 years. With another 5 years to go, he could stand the heartache no more and decided to make a break for it. Packing up one cool spring night, he crept off into the forest near the wall. Tragically, his commander captured him and had him beheaded. Upon questioning the young guard’s barrack mates, the commander learned of his plan to try and escape to be with his beloved. The commander, as you may have already guessed, was a cruel man, and so sent the young guard’s body back to Yunnan in a pine box. The girl received the pine box from Badaling just as she and her father were processing a recent harvest of Meng Ding Huang Ya, their prized grade of yellow tea. As she wept, her tears fell on the baskets of freshly plucked leaf. Seeing her sorrow, the girl’s father declared that henceforth, his prize tea would be known as Badaling Yellow in honor of the young guard. The rest as they say is history.

One sip of this superb tea will tell you that the farmer couldn’t have picked a finer tea upon which to bestow the honor. Hand-picked, hand sorted, and hand processed, Badaling Yellow is a wonderfully light tea with a smooth flavor perfect at any time of day. One can almost taste the history in the refreshing, clean cup. The infusion has a profound depth with a slight grassiness, and nutty undertones that become more pronounced with each sip. Before brewing, note the slight waxy quality of the leaf, the result of the unique hand process – each tiny sprout measures roughly 5 mm in length – truly a beautiful tea. Raise a steaming cup today in memory of lost love.

Features:

• Tea Origin: Yunnan Province, China
• Grade: Meng Ding Huang Ya
• Growing Altitudes: 1500-4900 feet above sea level
• Manufacture Type(s): Non fermented, Traditional process, Small batch crafted, Hand sorted.
• Infusion: Bright, golden infusion
• Caffeine: Low
• Steeping Instructions: 1 tsp of tea for 8oz water. Steep at 175⁰ for 1-3 minutes.
• Do not add milk, sugar, lemon, or mint

Luxury ingredients: Green tea (yellow tea manufacture)