This is a great question. That’s one reason why I have created Tea Guardian: to tell people what is genuine and quality in tea. I think the tea review articles abt White Peonies and Silver Needles, and the chapter on White Teas have quite explicitly explained this very considerate question of yours for the general consumers.
However, I am thankful of you for this opportunity to further clarify. To answer the question very briefly, here are a few points as a quick guide:
- Silver Needle is a leaf shoot tea. There are no open leaves attached to the silvery shoots.
- The leaf shoots should be around 2 cm long, silvery in shades of very light warm grays, no greenish tints.
- Smell of hay and hints of flower rather than grassy or herbaceous.
- Liquor should be a light canary yellow rather than lime yellow.
- White Peony is a leaf shoot with one or two second leaves, all attached during production, but some leaves maybe separated during handling and transportation.
- The leaf shoots of White Peony should be judged the same as real Silver Needles as above.
- The leaves should have a clearly oxidized appearance, although there may be some green left in the leaves. (this point as edited by “pancake”)
- The liquor should be canary yellow rather than lime yellow and the taste fuller than Silver Needles.
Please do take time to read the linked articles in teaguardian.com for better understanding. The pictures there are important clues.
