Eight Treasures Yabao is a blend of yunnan green jasmine, silver buds yabao pu’er, goji berry, marigold, vanilla bean, honeysuckle, rose and elderberry. This unique tea is from Verdant Tea.
This blend caught my eye last year, but I didn’t jump on it, then it eventually went out of stock. When Verdant Tea restocked this tea for the season, it prompt me to do my first order with them. I think what interested me was the combination of a silver bud yabao pu’er with floral and goji.
Dry Leaf: The smell of Eight Treasures Yabao is unexpected! It smells like a musky mountain spice.
Checking out the dry leaf, lovely appearance with the pink and purple flower petals, petal looking pu’er and lumps of elderberries.
Disappointing was not much goji berry. Actually, not sure if I found any intact ones. This owl has been unlucky lately.
The attractive and floral tea blend attracted another owl.. a pretty pink one!
Steeping Instructions: A bit heavy on the leaf here, 2teaspoons for a cup, steeped for 2 minutes over 185F water.
I used my gravity steeper for this tea.
After 2 minutes, I had a bronzey gold brown cup of tea that smells like a floral bouquet.
Taste: Lots going on here! Eight Treasures Yabao has a thick textured, slight creamy sensation in the mouth carrying multiple layers of flavor throughout the entire sip. First sip, pretty warm, earthy woody cedar that quickly blooms into floral notes by mid sip. The floral? Whoa mama! Rosey sweetness, jasmine, and little orchid – all very natural tasting. I’ll toss a 7/10 on the Floral-o-meter – it’s pretty floral, a dominate flavor note and focus, but not overpowering or chemical. End of sip, the tea sweetens a bit, peaking the floral with a bit of mystery fruity herb notes. The mystery fruity is probably the goji berry and elderberry, though the tea lacks tart. Aftertaste, sweet floral that lingers. No bitterness or astringency in this tea.
Resteep: Interesting! I actually like the resteep more! I reused the leaves in my gravity steeper, running more 185F water for 2 minutes. Eight Treasures Yabao resteeped is sweeter and much more crisp. The sip starts off light, bright sunny saturated floral that is rock sugar sweet, ending with some warm woodyness and herby spice.
Iced: I steeped up a fresh batch of Eight Treasures Yabao, but with 60% less water, and poured it over plenty of ice. The tea is very refreshing – light, mysteriously fruity, with a delicate pop of floral. No sweetener needed as the blend came out naturally sweet. That woodsy cedar flavor becomes more honey-like iced. For me, iced was the best. Maybe because also it is July 1st and hot, but the sweeteness is fantastic and the floral is great.
Comments: Eight Treasures Yabao is a floral lovers dream tea. The blend is well executed and very different.
What caught me was the lack of tart as I was expecting a bit with gojiberry use and mass amounts of floral – the lack of hibiscus that would be something that would be commonly added, is not missed. The use of pu’er is interesting too – I need to try silver bud yabao on its own. If you are new to pu’er, don’t let it scare you off – this tea is light.
Floral lovers, Iced tea lovers and tea adventurers – I recommend trying out Eight Treasures Yabao. Snag a sample or more before it goes out of season again!
Bonus pic
