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White Silver Tip Tea
(Also known as Silver Needle and Bai Hao Yinzhen ) Silver tips are delicate leaf-buds at the point of unfurling. They are the most prized of all white teas. Exceptionally pure and natural, white silver tips undergo the least processing retaining higher levels of antioxidants than other teas. White Silver Tip won the most coveted three gold stars in the 2008 Great Taste Awards. This is not mass produced tea from large industrial gardens but loving crafted and you can taste the difference. Our white silver tip is sourced from a farm high in the Fujian mountains near the village of Fuding. This is the 'champagne' of white tea regions. The farm has no electricity and everything is done by hand to exacting traditional methods. Tea may have the same name and come from the same area, but like wine, not all tea is equal. You can read about Henrietta's quest to find the best here The finest silver tips can only be plucked for a few weeks in late March/early April and only on days when there is no rain or cloud so that they can be carefully dried in the high mountain sunshine. Hand processing allows the tips to retain their exquisitely delicate flavour. Sweet and soft white silver tips are low in tannin and caffeine . This makes them perfect for the morning or evening and also for the most delicate constitution. Customers and staff undergoing chemotherapy have found white silver tip a rare treat in the lowest moments. We don''t say it cures cancer but we believe all those antioxidants help. Above all, white silver tips have the most delicious aroma and a wonderfully clean and refreshing taste. In the Song dynasty, the Emperor Hui Zong wrote that "white tea has the rarest and most delicate flavour". When infused white silver tip tea brews to a pale golden cup. For really detailed brewing techniques specifically for white tea have a look at the tea-lady's blog here . Using 1g per cup, each tin makes 25 cups or 12 pots of tea for two - 26p a cup. These whole leaves can be re-infused. The second cup is even better than the first. |
