It has taken me more than one day to come back to discuss the second half of the question list. Apologies.
For the questions c & d, as said earlier, teas produced from the two cultivars are of different taste and appearance characters. They appeal to different preferences, so I really cannot say which is better even from a taster’s perspective. Silver Needles are produced from both cultivars in the two Fujian regions.
However, all consumers have to be aware that regions outside of Fujian (and even outside of China) also produce the tea with or without using the two cultivars. I have mentioned in many occasions that there are plenty of downy shoot teas in the market that are in reality green teas. Silver Needle is a name that has been so well marketed that it is an enough temptation to name anything looking almost the same with it.
To answer the question, I really cannot point out these two teas, with their simplified “1” and “2” cultivar names, no origin declaration, and obscure photos, which is better, or even if they may be real white tea Silver Needle.
By the way, real Silver Needle maybe a bit more expensive than the run of the mill whole leaf green tea, but it should be well within reasonable price range, and below that of traditional quality, fine first flush green teas, such as Longjing etc. I am stating this here because I have seen too many people hijacking the price unreasonably, albeit the recent increase in price and currency exchange.
