silver needles

type: white

caffeine: light

price level: $$$$

Also known as “Yin Zhen,” Silver Needles is a famous organic white tea with a rich history.

Known as “Bai Cha” in Chinese, white teas are made only from the newly sprouted buds of the tea plant. The young buds are best in spring. These buds have a silvery white down that provides a honey texture to the brew. The buds are heat braised in covered pans or dried in direct sun with minimal or no oxidation.

Original White teas are native to areas of China’s Fujian province. Recently, more areas in China, such as Hunan and other tea countries, have started to process white tea, each region with a distinct flavor profile.

Hunan is located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting (hence its name meaning ‘South of the lake’). Silver Needles is grown on the southern mountain of Nán Yuè Héng Shan, known locally as Nán Yuè (Southern Mountain) or Héng Shan, one of the five sacred peaks (symbolizing the four directions and the center) of Taoism. It was believed that these peaks were supernatural channels connecting heaven and earth. For Taoists, mountains were the sites where qì (cosmic energy) was at its most refined.