Murchie’s Fragrant Bud Yellow Tea

Fragrant Bud Yellow Tea by Murchie’s
Yellow Tea / Straight
$16.50 for 2oz

First Impressions

I bought a couple ounces of Fragrant Bud Yellow Tea at one of Murchie’s retail locations – the tea came in a plastic lined paper pouch that closes with a wired tab closure. This is my first experience with yellow tea, so we’ll see how it goes! The tea leaves are a mix of shades of brown, with some feathery downy bits on the leaves. There’s a very mild aroma to it, I find it a mix of fruity and sweet that reminds me a little bit of plums.

From what I can tell, Fragrant Bud Yellow Tea is a straight Chinese tea – I wasn’t able to find a product page on Murchie’s website.

Preparation

Murchie’s recommends steeping yellow teas in 79-82°C (175-180°F) water for 2 to 3 minutes. My initial steep was for 2 minutes at 79°C (175°F).

First Taste

Fragrant Bud Yellow Tea steeps to a deep orange colour despite the short steep, which I was impressed with. I found that the steeped tea had a pleasant sweetness to it, with some plum notes to it. I found that the texture of the tea was smooth with a full-bodied mouthfeel. The flavour of this yellow tea had a nice mixture of fruity plum notes, sweetness, and some grassy notes. It’s overall very pleasant and tasty.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Fragrant Bud Yellow Tea three times, adding an additional 30 seconds with each subsequent steep. I found there was a light umami flavour that came out when resteeping the same leaves – it adds a nice level of complexity to the flavour of the tea.

My Overall Impression

I loved Murchie’s Fragrant Bud Yellow Tea. I enjoyed my first yellow tea experience – I found that the flavour was nicely balanced with the complexity in the flavours, the plum and grassy notes that I found in this not-green-tea were nice on the tongue and I really enjoyed drinking it. It resteeped nicely, which is always a nice touch with any tea.

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