- This topic has 13 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 5 months ago by
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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.
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Thank you, Leo. I started thinking about this after I saw the Bai Mudan page on this site, and saw the similarities between the fresh Fuding Bai Mudan and the green tea Bai Mudan. I believe your point #7 is the difference here visually: the leaves should have a clearly oxidized appearance, although there may be some green left in the leaves.
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@Pancake,
Thx for improving that sentence for me
. There is so much work and writing in a day that it is really a great feeling to know there are people out there helping with a watchful eye. I know I make bad mistakes that escape into the open sometimes. Can I use your sentence to replace that part in my original posting? -
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Ah, I don’t mean to correct you, Leo. Your point #7 was clear enough for me, and helped to illustrate what to look for in a good Bai Mudan. Of course, if I post anything useful, feel free to use it as you please. 🙂
It’s interesting to me that categories of tea like white tea and pu’er already have the interests of quite a few westerners. When I was in China, I always got the feeling that green tea was the most popular and almost the “standard” for fine tea.
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I thought you are in China. Good that where you are now there are people interested in more varieties of tea. As way back as 2003, the perceived popularity of white tea had prompted such luxurious brand as Bvlgari to develop a white tea perfume series with which my tea brand at that time made a joint promotion in Hong Kong. I dearly wished such marketing would improve the awareness of better quality tea around the world.
What you said tells me that I need to do a lot more work to improve the situation. -
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This is a bit of a bump but I felt it was better than making a new thread.
Leo: You have your own brand of tea? I’ve not seen it mentioned on the site. Can you tell me more?
Also, as to there being more US readers, maybe it’s because tea is somewhat more exotic to we USicans than those in China? Can’t speak for a lack of European readership, though. Noted that everyone here speaks English well, so figured we were all Euromerican.
M.
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MEversbergII: That’s a funny way of putting it.
As for my brand, I have almost long given up retail until the idea of an internet shop persuaded me. The shop is still being tested right now, and there are bits and pieces that perhaps a user wouldn’t notice, but it is operable:I try not to mix my editorial role with my trade role, that’s why you don’t see the name in the Tea Guardian site. Not just yet. -
I have a habit of putting things funny.
That aside, I’m checking into your webstore now. Looks good visually; I’ll have to order from there at some point in the near future – it’s a bit more expensive than JKTeas so I think I might have to wait until my teawares are on a high enough grade for it to count.
Thanks,
M.
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It looks like these teas are not the typical low or medium quality commonly sold in the West, but are actually quite special varieties — Leo’s choice picks. As such, they may have a little higher price, since higher grades will naturally have a higher price than a lower grade.
There are also numerous inexpensive but beautiful teas there that also look interesting. For example, the Zhenghe Bai Mudan white teas, and some of the more obscure green teas. Those are what I am interested in. For example, Longjing is an excellent premium type of green tea, but I’ve had it so many times… I would prefer to try a Yun Wu (Cloud and Mist) green tea and maybe find something new and special. 🙂
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. There is so much work and writing in a day that it is really a great feeling to know there are people out there helping with a watchful eye. I know I make bad mistakes that escape into the open sometimes. Can I use your sentence to replace that part in my original posting?
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