Enshi Yu Lu

Where it grows

The districts recorded against this tea, all of them in China. Elevation is given as the band the district is recorded at, not a measurement of the garden this leaf came from.

• Enshi — 500–1200 metres

  How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

The plants it is made from

Cultivar is the level below the variety group: a named selection of the tea plant, propagated as clones from one parent. Most consumer writing stops at the country and the category, which leaves out the layer that decides how the leaf behaves before anyone picks it.

Enshi Yulu is not defined by a cultivar. A 2024 Food Science study, written in part by the Enshi prefectural agriculture bureau and its academy of agricultural sciences, names ten cultivars as the ones mainly planted in the prefecture and makes Yulu from each: the six linked here plus Echa 1, Chunbolü, Echa 10 and Zhuyeqi, which have no records in this catalogue. The links are a sample of a regional planting, not a recipe.

• Longjing 43 — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

  Early budding, uniform, high-yielding and well suited to the flat pressed shape. Its aroma is cleaner and more immediate than the older Qun Ti Zhong population, which is richer but later and far less uniform.

• Wu Niu Zao — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

  Flatter in flavour than true Longjing cultivars and noticeably less nutty. Recognising it is the most practical defence against paying a first-harvest premium for the wrong plant.

• Zhenong 117 — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

  Early budding with a marked aroma, and planted in Zhejiang and neighbouring provinces where an early premium exists. One of a numbered series in which the individual numbers are rarely distinguished on packaging.

• Fuyun 6 — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

  The buds are larger and more downy than Fuding Da Bai but thinner in flavour, which is why premium Silver Needle still specifies the older cultivar.

• Zhongcha 108 — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

  Close enough to Longjing 43 in the cup that most drinkers will not separate them; the difference matters to growers rather than to readers.

• Fuding Da Bai — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

  Very large, heavily downy buds and a plump leaf. Sweet and hay-like when withered and dried, and vigorous enough to have been propagated well outside its home county.

How it is made, in order

Read top to bottom: the list is the production sequence, and the sequence is what makes this tea its category rather than a neighbouring one. The same leaf from the same bush becomes a green tea or a black tea depending on where the heat falls relative to the bruising, so reordering these steps would not vary the tea — it would produce a different one.

1. 1. Steaming (Japanese fixation) — Denatures polyphenol oxidase using saturated steam, arresting oxidation without applying dry contact heat to the leaf surface.
2. 2. Rolling and shaping — Ruptures cell walls to expose leaf juices, and forms the leaf into the shape it will hold through drying and storage.
3. 3. Drying — Reduces residual moisture to a level at which enzymatic, microbial and oxidative change effectively stops, stabilising the leaf for storage.

The route it is made by

The steps above are what happens; this is the named production route they belong to, with the other teas made the same way.

• Japanese steamed green tea — Fixation by steam within hours of plucking, then a rolling sequence that dries and shapes at once — and then a second factory that turns one intake into four named teas.

  Where it is practised: Almost all Japanese green tea. Also the route for Chinese steamed greens such as Enshi Yu Lu, which use the same fixation and none of the refining tail.

What its chemistry turns on

Every true tea contains caffeine, catechins and amino acids, so listing them would say nothing about this one. What differs is what the processing above does to them — and that is the same list of steps, read for its chemistry instead of its craft.

The compounds that substantially decide what this tea is: Dimethyl sulfide.

• Steaming (Japanese fixation)
  • creates Dimethyl sulfide
  • lowers Green-leaf volatiles
  • locks Chlorophyll
  • locks EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate)
• Rolling and shaping
  • converts Leaf lipids
  • creates Theaflavins
  • raises Pectins
• Drying
  • creates Strecker aldehydes
  • raises Beta-damascenone
  • raises Thearubigins

These are statements about the leaf and the cup. What any of these compounds does in a body is a different kind of question and is not answered here or on the pages linked from it.

Brewing

• Western brewing (teapot or mug)

  1.5–2.5 g/100 ml · 70–80 °C · 1 authored infusion

  Needs: Western teapot

  Open in the brew assistant

• Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)

  3–4 g/100 ml · 75–85 °C · 4 authored infusions

  Needs: Gaiwan

  Open in the brew assistant

• Grandpa style

  0.6–1.2 g/100 ml · 78–88 °C · 1 authored infusion

  Open in the brew assistant

When the cup goes wrong

Written against green tea as a category rather than against this tea in particular, and worked back from the symptom to the likely causes in order. 37 apply to the category; the first 6 are shown.

• I bought a big bag to save money and it was stale before I finished it — A large quantity bought at a good unit price faded well before it was drunk, so the saving turned into waste.
• I bought a water filter for my tea and it changed nothing — A filter jug or tap filter was bought specifically to improve the tea, and the cup tastes the same as it did before — with the same dullness, the same film and the same scale in the kettle.
• I have too many teas open and most of them are going stale — A dozen or more packets are open at once, three or four get drunk regularly, and the rest fade quietly on the shelf until they are thrown away.
• Leaves stick to the cup, the pot and my teeth — Fine leaf clings to the inside of the vessel, comes through into the cup, and ends up in the last mouthful.
• My bamboo whisk is losing tines — Fine bamboo tines snap off during whisking and turn up in the bowl, and the whisk feels stiff and splayed.
• My cold brew tastes like faintly flavoured water — After a night in the fridge the jug is pale and tastes of very little, with none of the sweetness cold brewing is supposed to give.

Every diagnosed brewing problem

If you like this

Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.

Compare this tea with another

Written comparisons

Where TeaHQ has set this tea against another in full, rather than deriving the comparison. Each one is a written page with the points of difference argued out.

• Enshi Yu Lu vs sencha — The rule that Chinese green tea is pan-fired and Japanese green tea is steamed is a good rule with one well-known exception, and tasting the exception is the clearest way to understand what the rule is actually about. Put the two side by side

Guides covering this tea

• Steam or pan: the fork that split green tea in two