Baihao Yinzhen
Baihao Yinzhen, also known as White Hair Silver Needle, is a white tea produced in Fujian Province in China. Amongst white teas, this is the most expensive variety and the most prized, as only top buds of the Camellia sinensis plant are used to produce the tea. Genuine Silver Needles are made from cultivars of the Da Bai tea tree family. There are other productions that look similar with downy leaf shoots but most are green teas, and as green teas, they taste differently and have a different biochemical potency than the genuine white tea Silver Needle. It is commonly included among China's famous teas.
Possible origins
In the early years of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty, Baihao Yinzhen was successfully cultivated from vegetable tea in Fuding. The export of Baihao Yinzhen started in 1891. Baihao Yinzhen used to be called Lüxueya, which is regarded as the ancestor of white tea. The mother tree is planted in Hongxue Cave on Taimu Mountain in Fuding.Plantation
, located in the northeast of Fujian Province, has mild and warm climate and plenty of rainfall. Perennial mean temperature is 18.4 °C. It is surrounded by hills on 3 sides and the East China Sea on 1 side. The position is 26°52′～27°26′ north, 119°55′～120°43′ east.Production
A genuine Silver Needle is a white tea. As such, it is only lightly oxidized. The most sought after productions are from the first flushes, which generally take place between late March to early April, when the year's first new buds "flush". For the production of Silver Needle, only the leaf shoots, i.e. the leaf buds before opening, are plucked. Unlike the plucking of green tea, the ideal time and weather for plucking white tea is a sunny morning when the sun is high enough to have dried any remaining moisture on the buds.Traditionally, the plucks are laid in shallow baskets to wilt under the sun for an extended period, and the best quality produced today are still made this way. To avoid loss due to sudden rain, gusts, or other accidents, some producers are taking the plucks indoors to wilt in a chamber with artificial warm air flow. The softened shoots are then piled for the required enzyme oxidation before they are taken for a low temperature bake-dry.
Two regions, Zhenghe and Fuding, spanning the north to north-eastern parts of the Fujian province are the major and original producers of this tea, although neighboring counties have also been producing. The two major cultivars employed by these regions are Fuding Da Bai and Zhenghe Da Bai, named after their origins. These differences are important to distinguish the two major styles of Silver Needles—the Zhenghe style and the Fuding style. The former is usually a lot darker, with significantly longer piled-up time for oxidation, yielding a tea with fuller body than the latter style, which is generally lighter with shorter oxidation. The character of the tea tree leaves of the former allows for the extended piled-up time without turning bad. Both styles have their own group of followers, as taste is a rather personal preference.
Baihao Yinzhen can be harvested in spring, summer and autumn. Spring tea has the highest quality and most abundant which makes up half of annual production.