I know it goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway — China is a big country, about the same size as Canada; and as almost all Canadian’s undoubtedly know Banff and Lake Louise, Mt. Emei in Sichuan, China is one of the mountains that Chinese people just know. It’s known for reasons related to Buddhism, not necessarily tea, but those two things are really quite interconnected anyway.

Sichuan, China

The name Zhu Ye Qing translates to English as ‘Bamboo Leaf Green’ and is a pointy little green tea made entirely of buds. This rounds out of my collection* of bud teas for sale as I don’t know an oolong tea made from buds.

A critical step in the processing of most green tea is the rolling of the leaf. This breaks up the cell walls of the tea and creates the ‘green aromas’ (called GLVs – green leaf volatiles) that remind us of Spring and Summer. Rigorous rolling creates a deeper, fuller GLV experience at the cost of the appearance of the leaf. Saying this in another way, the more GLV’s, the less ambiguous the ‘green’ part of the tea is. That’s partly why Japanese green tea is so damn green.

You’ll notice that in general, Chinese green tea is not rolled to the extent of Japanese tea, and Zhu Ye Qing does not go through any rolling at all, its process is more like a passionate tossing. This affects the sensory experience substantially, it’s very not green.

Notes from a 2020 Zhu Ye Qing I had:
The aroma of this tea would be best described firstly as the abstract concept of the colors ‘cucumber green’ and ‘banana yellow with brown spots. The aroma is appealing in the sort of way that makes you want to bite into ‘it’ as big as your mouth can open — to really sink your teeth into something. Perhaps in a bit more of a tangible way… let’s say it’s like a crepe filled with fried banana, fried milk (as you can find in Chinese desserts), sauteed yellow summer squash, and lotus root (which tastes pretty much like corn I guess) — it’s a strange crepe indeed.

The flavor is sweet, it has a tartness which comes out of nowhere. The tartness makes it feel incredibly refreshing. The tea despite being so refreshing is surprisingly rich. The richness coats the tongue with sweet marine aromas and (lucky for me) a pistachio note similar to what I like in Long Jing.

In the 2022 version I am getting slightly different notes. Mostly revolving around the notes you find in shishito peppers, green bell peppers, and okra. There is a custard note similar to what yellow tea is known for, and a ‘brown dryness’ that I would ascribe to Rye grains, as if rye flour was used to make a classic pound cake.

Beyond what I’ve already said, there is also an incredibly nostalgic fragrance that I can’t quite place… Suffice it to say that it is quite Vietnamese… or Filipino. I had a lot of Viet/Flip friends growing up and whenever I would go play in their houses there was a consistent combination of aromas like jasmine rice left in a rice cooker and fruits left on little plates in shrines with incense. It’s something like that — very cool.

The appearance and wholeness of the leaf is praised in China and significantly affects the price. From a sensory point of view these ‘whole leaf teas’ will be paler in color and more delicate in aroma and flavor.

Bud teas are the highest in caffeine, cha qi (tea energy), and due to their nature of only being made in early Spring, they are also considered to be in the group of teas that have the highest quality.

While other countries do make them, they seem to come at impossible prices or suffer a drastic loss of quality. China should be considered the place to buy the bud teas.

I’ve got nothing left to write, so I’ll abruptly end here: This is a great tea, but if you want more ‘green’ in your ‘green tea’ consider one of the two Meng Ding Gan Lu.

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*White (Silver Needles), Green (Zhu Ye Qing), Yellow (Jun Shan Yin Zhen), Black (Yunnan Giant Golden Needles)