A Leaf and a Bud from Ya-ya Teahouse

Tea reviews, White tea

A Leaf and a Bud.

This morning I dropped the lid of my glass teapot. It shattered on our kitchen floor. What, pray tell, am I now supposed to do with a teapot that has no lid?

With that out of the way, I turn now to the topic at hand: Ya-ya Teahouse’s A Leaf and a Bud – a furry, luscious tea from Assam’s Satrupa Estate. I’ve had a sample of this tea in my cupboard for months now, and enjoyed it on a few occasions, but decided to take a closer look today.

First impressions of this tea are strong. Very strong. Take one look at those brilliant furry buds and long leaves and tell me you’re not impressed! Visual appearance? Check.

I fill my pot (the porcelain one, given the new-found barrenness of my glass pot) with boiling water and let it heat for a few seconds, before pouring the water into a Pyrex measuring cup (I use this to gauge the water temperature and measure out the quantity I will need). At this point, I drop three and a half teaspoons – roughly speaking – in my pot and sniff. Deeply. A wonderful bouquet of berries and spices I can’t quite place drifts up. Aroma? Check.

Now comes the steeping. I set a stopwatch with the intention of steeping it for three minutes, but promptly forget all about it and allow the tea to infuse for about four minutes before pouring it out. Thankfully, the tea is forgiving. It washes into the mouth with all its berry-like sweetness. There is a savoury body there, complementing the sweet high notes and giving the tea depth.

As a point of comparison, I think of the Bai Mudan I reviewed on this blog at the start of the year. Today’s tea is made from Assam leaf, and I find it to be a fascinating show of that leaf’s qualities. It is more astringent than the Bai Mudan, and quite a bit more sweet. A Leaf and a Bud didn’t seem quite as rich in character as the Bai Mudan, but it is still a wonderfully smooth, light cup of white tea.

A Leaf and a Bud is available from Ya-ya Teahouse for $16.50 NZ per 100 grams.