Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yinzhen) Made from Naturally Grown Yunnan Tea
Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yinzhen), is made from naturally grown Yunnan tea.
The raw material comes from a tea garden at an altitude of 2100m, near the Myanmar border in Lincang, harvested in March as the first flush, using completely pesticide-free, fertilizer-free, naturally grown tea. It is finished only by withering without applying heat.
It has a very long aftertaste characteristic of naturally grown tea, with a transparent and sweet flavor without any off-flavors. It is very soft and free of bitterness, making it a tea that can be enjoyed with children.
Product Details
Tea Enjoyed by Children
Children's taste buds and noses are much more sensitive than parents might think.
In fact, children are often the best judges of tea quality in the household. Children tend to prefer natural flavors and are less likely to enjoy flavored teas.
White tea is the favorite of children because of its gentle natural flavor and texture. Why not offer white tea to your children instead of juice or sports drinks?
Tea Leaves Floating Up and Down Like Bamboo Leaves Falling
Try brewing it in a tall glass. As the tea leaves absorb water, they gradually stand upright, aligning on the water surface like the tips of spears.
The upright leaves move up and down, reminiscent of watching a quiet bamboo grove.
Can Be Brewed with Cold Water
Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yinzhen) can also be brewed with cold water. If brewing with cold water, wait patiently for about an hour. Cold water brewing enhances the freshness of the flavor and brings out more sweetness, making it perfect for a refreshing drink when you come home.
After brewing with cold water, try pouring hot water over the tea leaves again. You can enjoy a different flavor experience.
Even if you accidentally leave it in hot water for an hour, it won't become bitter. The endlessly sweet and gentle flavor is sure to be liked by children and those who are not fond of the bitterness of tea.
Issues with White Tea from Fujian Province
Rising Prices
Since around 2010, the idea of aging white tea has become popular in Fujian Province.
As a result, producers no longer need to rush to sell white tea in spring, and unsold tea can be sold at higher prices as aged tea.
This has led to speculation on white tea, causing prices to rise. What was once an affordable tea has become a luxury tea in recent years.
While it is possible to source white tea at high prices, the aftertaste is often shallow, making it less appealing from a consumer perspective.
Pesticide Issues
High-quality white tea from Fujian Province is primarily marketed domestically, and pesticide management is often lacking compared to tea for export.
Even if we find tea to meet our requirement in flavor, we often face issues with pesticide residues, making it impossible to source.
Although there is organic white tea in China, obtaining organic certification in China costs more than 10 thousands USD, making it unattainable for small farmers.
As a result, only large-scale producers can obtain organic certification, and to recoup their investment, they use plenty of organic fertilizers and pesticides to increase yield.
In reality, regardless of whether it is organic or not, the faster the tea grows, the lower the quality.
I have visited many organic tea gardens, but rarely do they meet my quality standards due to their shallow aftertaste and lack of depth in flavor.
White Tea Has Been Produced in Yunnan Province for a Long Time
In fact, white tea has not only been produced in Fujian Province. The history of white tea is longer than that of any other tea, and teas resembling modern white tea were being produced in various parts of China around 1000 BC.
White tea has long been produced in Yunnan Province as well. While Yunnan is famous for Pu-erh tea and black tea, white tea is also produced there.
However, traditional sun-drying methods are used for white tea in Yunnan Province, giving it somewhat different flavor compared to Fujian white tea.
The Further You Go into Remote Areas, the Better the Raw Materials and the Lower the Processing Level
A distinctive trend in Yunnan Province is that the further you go into remote mountain villages, the better the quality of the tea leaves.
Especially in areas near the Myanmar border, there are many naturally grown, pesticide-free tea gardens with excellent quality tea leaves.
We can obtain dream-like tea leaves with a very long aftertaste and strong flavor.
However, going to remote areas also means that producers often lack adequate production facilities and processing skills, leading to improper processing of the excellent raw materials.
Especially, the plucking standards can cause inconsistency during withering, requiring management from the plucking stage and strict quality control.
Producing Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yinzhen) Using Fujian Methods, Not Yunnan Methods
I have relationships with various farmers who owns the garden of naturally grown tea in Yunnan Province, so the challenge was how to process these high-quality raw materials effectively.
When white tea is made using traditional Yunnan methods, it often results in poorly processed white tea with brown leaves, like the common Yue Guang Bai.
Therefore, I selected a producer from my contacts who had the management capability to produce white tea, and spent a month teaching them how to set up the equipment and produce Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yinzhen).
Through continuous improvement every year, we have now reached a point where we can produce tea of ideal quality. The raw material is completely pesticide-free, naturally grown tea from a tea garden at an altitude of 2000m in Lincang, harvested in March as the first flush.
Completion of Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yinzhen) with Unprecedented Deep Aftertaste
This tea has a very long aftertaste characteristic of naturally grown tea, with a transparent and sweet flavor without any off-flavors.
Despite the long aftertaste like Pu-erh tea, it is elegantly finished like white tea from Fujian Province. The long withering process results in a milder and creamier mouthfeel.
It is good to drink immediately, but if you age it for several years while unopened, sweet flavors like honey, muscat, and peach will develop. White tea can also be delicious when cold-brewed, making it popular with children.
Uncertain Future Production of Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yinzhen)
To produce Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yinzhen), only the buds are plucked, but this task is not familiar to the ethnic minorities in Yunnan Province, making it very challenging to persuade them.
Only 400-500g of tea leaves can be plucked per day, and after processing, each person can only produce 100g of tea.
Due to the difficulty in plucking tea this time, I was told, "We don't want to pluck it next year." I plan to convince them to continue producing it, but the future of this tea remains uncertain.
