Silver Needle Guangxi White Tea

Silver Needle Guangxi White Tea

This white tea is from Guangxi, close to Yunnan Province. The buds are carefully picked and gently processed.

It takes between 7,000 and 15,000 buds to make 1 kilo, depending on the size of the buds. The selection of suitable buds is based on the size of the shoot; the largest buds with an intact sheath are nipped off and collected in small baskets. They are then gently poured out onto large woven bamboo trays and placed in the midday sun to dry – ferment – oxidize. After just 2 hours, they are ready to be packed into bags. All of this happens in the first part of April. Fermentation level approx. 12%.

The tea itself has a beautiful light cup and a fresh, not large and not strong, but full-bodied taste. Those of you tea drinkers who have hiked in the great Swedish forests, and who have tried drinking the fresh, clear spring water from the streams, know what this wonderful water tastes like. When you brew tea with the new buds from the tea tree, you get the same taste as the aforementioned spring water, though with a hint of tea flavor.

Tea type: White tea (Bai Cha)

Country of origin: Baise, Guangxi, China

Brewing instructions:

It is best to brew the tea in a Gaiwan, a Chinese tea brewer, where you can brew up to 4-5 times using 3-4 grams of leaves and 1-1½ dl of tempered water at 72 - 74⁰ C with steeping times of 20-40 seconds.

The instructions here are for a 1-liter pot:

• Dosage: 10 grams per liter (3-4 teaspoons)
• Steeping time: 1-3 min.
• Water temperature: 72 - 74⁰ C