Ya Bao

This dark from Yunnan, China offers a distinctive drinking experience. This white tea offers a rich, brothy texture with a deep umami foundation, balanced by a clear and sweet profile. It presents an intense, enveloping sensation typical of fine Yunnan white teas. It sits in the "Brothy" and "Umami" and "Sweet" flavor families, so expect a cup that leans brothy and umami and sweet.

Aim for water around 95–100 °C (203–212 °F). Western style: steep for 3–5 minutes in a mug or teapot. Gongfu style: use 5–7 g per 100 ml, 10–20 s steeps (10–20+ infusions) for multiple short steeps — this way you can taste how the flavor evolves. Give the leaves a quick rinse with boiling water before your first real steep — it wakes up the flavors and removes any storage dust.

This dark is grown in Yunnan, China and is made from the Da Ye Zhong cultivar. This particular batch comes from the 2021 harvest.

Prices start at $2.65 through white2tea — that works out to about $0.38 per gram. A 7g package gives you roughly 1 gongfu sessions at ~6 g each, which puts each session at around $2.28. You can compare prices across all vendors carrying this tea on the Teadar product page.