Baihao Yinzhen (白毫银针) / Silver Needle White Tea
Silver Needle white tea is renowned and recognized as the finest among all teas and its name [in Chinese] Bai Hao Yinzhen (白毫银针) vividly encapsulates the appearance of the tea - white fur, silver needle, consisting purely of the very tenderest tip leaf buds.
The hand-skilled and natural production process preserves this tender tea’s maximum antioxidant and active enzyme level, the least concentration of caffeine and of course, its one-of-a-kind white tea characters to spoil your senses. The Chinese have given the aged white tea the praise of “one-year tea, three-year medicine, and seven-year treasure”!
This tea gives a bright, clear golden infusion and a beautifully lingering aftertaste. So light and refreshing that it indeed lifts the day and is a truly spectacular treat for everybody. These greyish snowy white needles resemble one another in a very uniform appearance – a prime hallmark of a special white tea.
Tasting Details
Specification
Storage: Store in a cool, dry place, away from sunlight. Re-seal packaging between use.
How to Brew
- Use 1 teaspoon of leaves (roughly 3g) for each person you are brewing tea for.
- Use cooler water for YinZhen white tea, around 75-80 degrees is perfect
- Steep for 2-3 minutes according to taste.
- Reuse the leaves a further 3 times, by simply adding more hot water.
Farming process:
Only the very light-green almost greyish-white coloured leaves which are covered with velvety downy fuzz (a sign of tenderness) are selected during white tea flush seasons. These revered leaves are not harvested if the dew has not evaporated or if there is frost on the ground, therefore it must be a cool sunny day between mid-March and mid-April). Furthermore, no purple buds (sun or cold burnt) are allowed in the sorting and the stems must not be too long or too short. Any damaged leaves caused by wind, insects or over-handling or that which are partially open are often rejected or classified as a lower grade.
The ideal appearance of this premium white tea is a leaf or two wrappings around a developing new shoot which overall looks like a needle. These tips are plucked and segregated from the rest and then naturally withered and dried under the light sun before a painstaking process of further manual sorting to select the long velvet furry white needles. The tea leaves are not kneaded nor undergo fixation, which preserves much of the white hair on the leaves and gives the tea a relatively mild flavour. If mechanical drying is required, the leaves are gently baked at temperatures less than 35°C to preserve its maximum antioxidant and active enzyme level, the least concentration of caffeine and of course, its one-of-a-kind white tea character to spoil our senses.
Baihao YinZhen (Silver Needle)
This is a nice gentle hydrating cup of tea. The longer it is stood for it gets stronger and a little drier, however, it still tastes amazing and refreshing.
The colour starts of light and gets darker the longer it’s left, you can gauge the strength but the colour, wonderful tea.
An excellent high quality tea. The Baihao YinZhen is crisp and refreshing. We found it great over several infusions. It also came in beautiful packaging and was delivered promptly.
Will definitely be ordering again in future.
Delicate, light and refreshing. My go to tea from my go to Chinese tea vendor!
One of the finest teas I’ve tasted in a long time - incredibly delicate yet complex and satisfying even on the 3rd infusion. So happy to have discovered this vendor and will definitely recommend to my friends.
Lovely tea, very delicate flavour. Arrived very promptly and beautifully packaged.
