Yang Xian Xue Ya (Yang Xian Snow Bud)

AROMA

Light aroma of white lilies, like white tea.

TASTE

Black peppery spice and a muscat-like flavour. The aftertaste is greenish and sweet, with a hint of muskmelon. Much more than you would expect from a typical green tea. It is a luxurious flavour.

COMPLEMENTS
Best enjoyed on its own.

CONDIMENTS
Drink Plain

In vast China, the most consumed tea is green tea. Among green teas, there are three famous teas known as the Three Great Teas of the Tang Dynasty. The first is Zhejiang's Purple Bamboo Shoot Tea (see our website), which became China's first tea garden under the direct control of the Emperor; the second is Sichuan's Meng Ding Tea (see our website); and the third is this Yang Xian Tea （陽羨茶）from Jiangsu Province.

The following poem, which can be found in Chinese teahouses, describes the emotional experience of drinking tea.

The first drink moistens the throat and lips.
The second cup, loneliness disappears
The third cup soaks into your hunger and all manner of books come to mind.
The fourth cup makes you lightly sweaty, and your pores release their usual dissatisfaction.
The fifth cup purifies the skin and bones.
The sixth cup is connected with the spirituality of a hermit.
The seventh cup, there is no need to drink any more, only a gentle, clear breeze from both sides.

This poem is part of a thank-you letter from the Tang dynasty poet Loudou when he drank a cup of Yang Xian tea, a new tea delivered by a friend that had not yet reached the emperor. Yang Xian tea, as mentioned above, is a green tea produced in Yixing, Jiangsu, and is renowned as one of the three most famous teas of the Tang dynasty. Today, the name remains and is produced as 'Yang Xian Xue Ya （Yang Xian Snow Bud）'.

Yixing has warm winters, cool summers, mild weather, foggy, fresh air and is suitable for tea cultivation. Yang Xian Snow Bud has a naturally strong aroma with floral and fruity scents, a light taste and a bright water colour. This is why it is labelled 'precious tea'. The tea harvesting technique is very complex. Only the tender tips of the leaves are used in the tea production process. The part of the leaf used must not exceed 1 cm in length and be shaped like the tip of a spear. The next step is to repeatedly knead, rub and roll the leaves by hand. Yang Xian Xue buds involve a particularly labour-intensive process, but the end result is a compact, soft, wonderfully fresh and aromatic tea, a high quality traditional tea with a distinctive flavour.