THIS IS THE REAL DEAL! Crafted using traditional methods including sun withering and a secondary charcoal roasting, this tea is the taste of an heirloom Silver Needle.
While there are many beautiful and tasty Silver Needle teas on the market, they have a tendency to lack that extra special character that justifies their price. This is because producers are modernising and taking shortcuts to produce more tea and bring it quickly to the market. In our video series below you can watch as we search for producers in Fujian who are ignoring these pressures and focussing on simply producing the absolute pinnacle of White tea.
After many days of searching, we finally found Mr Ling and his tea production partner - young classmates who have made it their goal to craft the absolute best White tea possible by using modern systems to ensure consistency yet maintaining the essential traditional techniques to give their tea deeper, richer and more immersive character.
- This Heirloom silver needle is picked from 30-50-year-old tea bushes around Taimu mountain. The picking is perfect - fat and furry Da Hao buds.
- The tea is partially sun withered in single layers and then left at body temperature for about 60 hours to develop flavour.
- The Silver Needle would normally be dried and sent to market but these producers insist on leaving it a week in a room to release the green aromatics making a warmer and nuttier tea. They turn the buds once per day.
- The buds are then baked at about 50 degrees Celsius (120 Fahrenheit) until dry. They are then sealed in double wrappings to keep the tea dry and airtight for about 3 months.
- The Silver Needle is then roasted in small batches by hand over charcoal at extremely low temperature (body temperature) for about 6 hours. This concentrates flavour, changes the character and taste of the tea to be warmer, adds thickness and smoothness to the texture and stickiness to the finish. The charcoal baking of tea will improve its ability for ageing.
Quite simply, this is the best fresh Silver Needle that we have ever tasted and we have a very small batch for you to try.
