WhiteCaffeinatedSingle Origin · China

Chinese Silver Needle

Name: Chinese Silver Needle
Brand: Harney & Sons Fine Teas
SKU: 41806
Price: 36.00 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.74 (137 reviews)

Downy buds from Fuding, the home of white tea

4.7 · 137 reviews

White tea buds withering on angled bamboo racks in the sun, Fuding, Fujian

Chinese Silver Needle

$ 36.00

Select Packaging Type:Loose

Select Unit:2 oz. Tin

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Description

In the northeastern corner of the Fujian Province of China is the coastal city of Fuding. This is the hometown of white tea. This is where the commercialization of white tea began.

In the hills outside of Fuding, the fields are full of the special tea cultivar called Da Bai or Big White. The name is apt. These tea plants form fat buds, thickly coated with down. The plant stockpiles goodness in the bud, for it is the plant's future. Inside the tiny silver needle are extra sugars, polyphenols, and even extra caffeine. The downy fuzz is made up of trichomes, which help the immature bud to survive this cold, cruel world. After the buds are painstakingly plucked by hand, most teamakers put the buds in a barn and let them slowly dry out.

This subtly sweet tea can be appreciated in a cup, or you can drink it like the Chinese and float a spoonful into a clear glass of hot water. Watch the buds slowly sink in the water. It can be very therapeutic.

Mike's Rating

1 Briskness

2 Body

2 Aroma

Details: Chinese Silver Needle (Yin Zhen) is widely considered the best white tea in the world. It is a beauty to behold with all the fuzzy tea buds. The light brew is a subtle and slightly sweet delight.

Dry Leaves: There are no dry leaves in this tea, but rather the silvery buds of the tea plant.

Liquor: Since there are no leaves, the liquor is a very pale yellow green, sometimes with a rose cast to it. The color may darken if the needle spent some extra time before it dried out. There might be a bit of oxidation occurring.

Aroma: The aromas are light and might be overlooked. However, one can smell a light sweetness mixed with subtle vegetal notes, like wet sweet hay or cotton candy. There are also light floral notes of honeysuckle.

Flavors: If you are not paying attention, you might think you are drinking water. However, a bit of concentration brings out the light, subtle sweetness, dulled with the gentle vegetal flavors of steamed bok choy. It reminds Mike of maple sap.

Caffeine Level: Caffeinated

Body: Light-bodied. Silver Needle may have more body than other whites, but it is quite thin in comparison to most green or black teas.

Brewing Time: 3 minutes

Brewing Temp: 175º

Ingredients

White tea.

Loose Tea: Bulk whole or broken leaves

Tea Bags: Finely cut tea in paper bags

Sachets: Whole-leaf tea in mesh bags

Tea Pods: Single-serve pods for Keurig® brewers

Iced Tea Pouches: Large bags for batches of iced tea

Where it grows

Fuding, the hometown of white tea

Fuding sits on the coast in the northeastern corner of Fujian, and it is where the commercial making of white tea began. The hills outside town are planted with Da Bai, the Big White cultivar, and the name is apt: these plants form unusually fat buds under a thick coat of down. The plant packs its resources into that bud because the bud is its future, and the downy fuzz is there to help it survive a cold spring. Nothing is rolled and nothing is fired. The buds are plucked by hand, then left in a barn to dry slowly, which is as close to doing nothing as tea making gets, and far harder than it sounds.

RegionFuding, Fujian, China
CultivarDa Bai (Big White)

Map of Fuding, Fujian, China — Fuding, Fujian, China

From our tasting table

We choose the cup

Every single-origin tea we list is chosen the same way, at our tasting table. Silver Needle, or Yin Zhen, is widely held to be the finest white tea in the world, which means the name alone sells a great many bags of ordinary buds. The difference is visible before you brew it: whole buds, evenly silvered, thick with down. We are not the grower, and we will not pretend to be. What we bring is the eye to tell a true Fuding needle from a passable one, and the patience to wait for it.

At the Harney & Sons tasting table, Millerton

At a glance

TypeWhite

Caffeine ContentCaffeinated

FlavorsIf you are not paying attention, you might think you are drinking water. However, a bit of concentration brings out the light, subtle sweetness, dulled with the gentle vegetal flavors of steamed bok choy. It reminds Mike of maple sap.

Mike Harney's Ratings

Aroma

Body

Briskness

Chinese Silver Needle (Yin Zhen) is widely considered the best white tea in the world. It is a beauty to behold with all the fuzzy tea buds. The light brew is a subtle and slightly sweet delight.

Tasting notes

Aroma: The aromas are light and might be overlooked. However, one can smell a light sweetness mixed with subtle vegetal notes, like wet sweet hay or cotton candy. There are also light floral notes of honeysuckle.
Dry Leaves: There are no dry leaves in this tea, but rather the silvery buds of the tea plant.
Liquor: Since there are no leaves, the liquor is a very pale yellow green, sometimes with a rose cast to it. The color may darken if the needle spent some extra time before it dried out. There might be a bit of oxidation occurring.
Body: Light-bodied. Silver Needle may have more body than other whites, but it is quite thin in comparison to most green or black teas.

This season's lot

One picking, once a year

Silver Needle is made from buds alone, and the buds come early, in a short window in spring before the leaf opens. There is no second chance at it. So each year we taste what Fuding offers and carry the lot that earns the name: whole silvery needles, that faint honeysuckle sweetness, a liquor so pale it barely colors the cup. The name on the tin stays the same. Our job is to make sure the buds inside still deserve it.