Fuding Silver Needle PREMIUM | Bai Hao Yin Zhen - Option: 25 g

Silver Needle White Tea (Chinese name Bai Hao Yin Zhen 白毫银针) is a famous Chinese white tea produced in Fujian province. There are two places in Fujian where this tea is produced, Fuding and Zhenghe. Fuding 福鼎市 is located in the Northeast Fujian at the seaside, and Zhenghe 政和 is located in the Northwest Fujian Mountain area. It is believed that Fuding is the older tea region (cultivating since the late 1700s), whereas Zhenge began about a century later. The tea cultivar used in Fuding is Fuding Da Bai 福鼎大白. (Da Bai means big white), producers in Zhenghe use Zhenghe Dabai 政和大白. The difference between the two Dabai cultivars is that the Fuding leaf is a bit bigger and broader than the Zhenghe one. The Zhenghe Dabai has a bit longer tea stalk. Silver Needle is produced in Fujian province of southeast China. Zhenghe Silver Needle leaves are dark green in colour, whereas Fuding is more of a pale green/yellow. This is because in Zhenghe they tend to wither the leaves for longer after harvesting, resulting in a darker, more oxidized tea.

In terms of taste, the Fuding Silver Needle tea is very delicate. It has a brisk aroma and mellow flavor with sweet lingering aftertaste. It tends to be light, sweet, and fruity, with a character like creamy oats or fresh rice.

Bai Hao Yin Zhen. Bai Hao, or ‘silver’, refers to the downy white pekoe growing along the buds, while Yin Zhen, ‘needle’, describes the appearance of the thick, straight buds, with tips as fine and sharp as needles. When brewed, the heat of the water arouses and magnifies the delicious fragrance of this tea, with its delicious essence and substance spreading into the light yellow liquid.

The Nanguang Tea Garden is located west of Taimu Mountain at an elevation of between 600 and 900 meters, and is 80% covered by natural forests. The weather here is warm and humid with abundant rainfall, and the tea plantation itself is always surrounded by a thin fog, which makes the conditions perfect for tea bushes to accumulate a wide array of minerals and other organic nutrients.

The Fuding Silver Needle tea is made by the single bud plucked in early Spring. It takes vast amount of single bud to make one kilo of silver needle. Thus the plucking cost of fresh leaf plays a big part in the total price of this tea. The tea buds are put on the bamboo flat for withering either outside or indoor due to the different weather condition. And the withering process lasts long, till around 10-15% water left. During the withering, there will be slight natural fermentation, because the tea cell membrane is damaged by lack of water, so the inner tea content go out of the cell membrane and get oxidized by oxygen. The last processing is drying. The traditional drying is conducted by charcoal heat, which is very important to make a good quality tea. Finally the water content that is left after drying is below 6%.

This white tea is one of the least processed teas. It contains the most natural ingredients of tea. It is especially rich in anti-oxidants.