Yi Ya Yi Ye Tai Cha Red (一芽一葉紅苔茶, Yī Yá Yī Yè Hóng Tái Chá, "One Bud One Leaf Red Moss Tea") - Yi Ya Yi Ye means "One Bud One Leaf" and is the name of a grade of tea picked in the early spring, when a standard pluck includes one young leaf and one unopened leaf bud. It can reasonably said that many of our teas are of the Yi Ya Yi Ye grade, but the only way we have to distinguish this tea when requesting it from its producer Xiang Ge is by its grade name. We've enjoyed this tea for years but it never properly made it onto the website or got given a real name because it gets sold/drunk too quickly in the store. So the name Yi Ya Yi Ye has stuck, and we're keeping it because that's how people know it now.
This tea is made from the Tai Cha plants of Guizhou, along with our Taicha Maojian, Guan Guan Cha, and Jade Buds. This family of tea plants is unique to the Shiqian region of Guizhou and are notable for turning purple in late spring/early summer. This early spring red tea has notes of Korean sweet potato and currant, with a malty, molasses body and hints of pine needle and pecan rind.