Huang Jin Ya
A green tea from a yellow-leaf mutant cultivar whose shoots stay golden all season. The chlorophyll deficiency that produces the colour also raises amino-acid content relative to catechins, giving a very sweet, almost bitterness-free cup.
Character
Remarkably sweet with essentially no bitterness. It is a green tea despite the colour, and is frequently mis-sold as a yellow tea.
- Flavour
- Sweet, Vegetal
- Aroma
- Fresh
- Mouthfeel
- Light, Silky
- Complexity
- Moderate
- Notes
- sweet corn, light honey, fresh grass
- Aftertaste
- Sweet and clean with no bitterness at all.
Delicate intensity: light in the mouth with little grip. forgiving of a long steep.
Provenance and production
- Origin
- China
- Cultivar
- Huang Jin Ya
- Oxidation
- Unoxidised
- Harvest
- Spring
- Processing
- Kill-green (fixation) → Rolling and shaping → Drying
Authenticity: Yellow colour here is a cultivar mutation, not the yellowing step that defines yellow tea. The two are unrelated.
Brewing
Western brewing (teapot or mug)
1.5–2.5 g/100 ml · 75–85 °C · 1 authored infusion
Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)
3–4 g/100 ml · 75–85 °C · 4 authored infusions
No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea. TeaHQ does not infer one from its category, because category predicts caffeine poorly — matcha and gyokuro carry more than many black teas.
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.
Editorially linked
Someone wrote down why these two belong together. The note below is theirs.
- Anji Bai Cha supreme
Two pale-leaf mutant cultivars with the same cause and different behaviour — one stays golden all season, the other greens within days.
- Junshan Yinzhen
A yellow-leaf green tea mistaken for a yellow tea. The colour is a cultivar mutation and has nothing to do with the yellowing step.
Similar sensory profile
Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.
- Anji Bai Cha
Shares 5 descriptors with Huang Jin Ya: sweet, vegetal, light, silky and fresh.
- Hou Kui supreme
Shares 5 descriptors with Huang Jin Ya: vegetal, sweet, light, silky and fresh.
- Mizudashi sencha
Shares 5 descriptors with Huang Jin Ya: sweet, vegetal, light, silky and fresh.
- Taiping Houkui
Shares 5 descriptors with Huang Jin Ya: vegetal, sweet, light, silky and fresh.
- Zhu Ye Qing
Shares 5 descriptors with Huang Jin Ya: sweet, vegetal, light, silky and fresh.
- Asamushi sencha
Shares 4 descriptors with Huang Jin Ya: vegetal, light, silky and fresh.