Silver Needle is one of the rarest and most spectacular teas. The production of this tea merely makes up not even 0.1% of the tea produced in China. This needle shaped white tea is mainly produced in Fujian, China, which is famous for the outstanding quality of their white tea. Sri Lanka makes a small amount of silver tips white tea from a different varietals and they are making other styles of white tea in Darjeeling. The reason for the name, "Silver Needles", is quite apparent as with one glance at the buds; the prominence of the delicate white hairs on the buds is quite striking.

During early Spring, each bud is carefully plucked from the Da-bai cultivar (大白茶树 Da-bai cha-shu). White teas differed from green teas in that their processing does not incorporate any steaming or pan-firing. To produce Silver Needle, the tea has to undergo the long-hour withering which causes the non-enzymatic oxidation that gives the unique characteristics of white tea. The withered buds are then dried on smoldering fire (文火 Wen-huo). One of the unique processing steps is this tea is packed right after drying while the tea is still warm. This is vital to preserve its needle shape; if it is cooled down, the tea is susceptible to breakage while packing.

When brewed in hot water, the buds point upwards, and while remaining in the upright position, the water-absorbed buds gradually sink downward to the bottom of glass, which looks like stalactite.

HOJO particularly focuses on Silver Needle produced from Fu-Ding areas. In addition, we choose no-pesticide tea as our own particular standard.

A long time ago, legend has it that the people who lived at the Fujian area were experiencing a dry spell which was threatening the lives of the villagers. It was believed that a celestial plant was growing at a mountain in the Fujian region which was guarded by a black dragon. This plant is believed to cure many kinds of illnesses and it will bring up the water when the juice of this plant is dropped into the river which had run dry. Many villages went looking for this special plant but failed and subsequently were turned into rocks at the mountain. A young lady, whose two brothers also went there but were sacrificed, decided to try her luck too. When she reached the mountain, the black dragon attacked her viciously but she cunningly managed to kill the dragon. The young lady then was able to pluck the celestial plant and dropped its juice onto the people who has turned into rocks, and all the villagers were transformed back into human beings. Thanks to her courage and good effort, the villagers were very grateful to be alive. They transferred the plant from the mountain and planted it widely in their villages. Due to its silvery white color and needle shape, it was named "Silver Needle".

During the Song Dynasty (year 1107), white tea was developed using the tea leaves plucked from the specific tea cultivars, and processed according to the way of making green tea. Its unique process is also documented in the Ming Dynasty tea books. During the Qing Dynasty (1772-1782), the commercial production of white tea emerged. During early 19th century, Zheng-He district (政和) started its mass production of Silver Needles and mostly sold it to European countries; the production was interrupted during World War I (1918), and resumed after 1926. In year 1855, Fu-Ding district (福鼎) started the cultivation of Fuding Da-bai cultivar (大白茶树 Da-bai cha-shu). It then gave rise to the massive production of Silver Needle at Fuding district thanks to its fleshy bud which was highly appreciated.

White teas are mostly grown and produced in Fujian province. The original growing place is the mountainous area at 245m a.s.l. The average atmospheric temperature is 18.2?C, rainfall is at 2837.5 mm per year. At this area, there is a huge temperature difference between the day and night. During the day, there is sufficient sun light and tea leaves vigorously produce plentiful of substances such as amino acid and carbohydrate, which are essential for the production of exclusive quality tea which will well influence its growth. At night, if the temperature is high, the metabolism is continually taking place, and the tea leaves will consume the substances that were produced during the day time. However, at the mountain area, the lower atmospheric temperature at night caused tea leaves to become less active and therefore those substances remain in the leaves. It contributes to the mellow taste of tea.

The main cultivars are the Fu-Ding Da-bai-cha (福鼎大白茶) and Zheng-He Da-bai-cha (政和大白茶). These cultivars are suitable for making Silver Needle because of its fleshy bud.

After pruning by machine, the first batch of Spring tea leaves is the fleshiest leaves for the white tea. White teas are often picked when the buds are tightly enclosed in new leaves. Only one fleshy bud or one bud and one leaf are picked. These leaves maintain the silky white hairs that denote new growth.

Production Point of Silver Needle

White teas are the least processed of all teas and are not rolled prior to drying. Since they have such little processing these hairs are often intact in the final product.