Spring 2017 Jingmai Yellow Flakes

This cake is made of the Yellow Flakes we collected  from our Gushu production in Spring 2017. The yellow flakes are leaves that were not tender enough to be cooked properly, they appear all along the processing of Pu-erh tea. Yellow flakes are prevalent in  old trees material because the pickers tend to pick older leaves than in the natural tea gardens, up to 1 bud/4 leaves. When processing such mature leaves, a lot of them don't cook well in the wok, they overdry and become the equivalent of pop-corn.

These leaves have an unappealing aspect in the maocha; they must be sorted out, either by hand or by machine. These leaves taste sweet and display a different fragrance than standard maocha, they can be either brewed or boiled. This tea can be brewed Gongf-style but also performs very well in a glass; you will hardly get much bitterness from overbrewing, only sweetness comes out of yellow flakes.

Yellow flakes are underated because of their aspect, which makes them great price for value if you only care about taste.