This is truly a gorgeous tea with full plump leaves covered with the characteristic white hair. According to Canton Tea Co.’s website “This rare and delicious Silver Needle white tea is entirely hand-made from Fuding Da Bai Hao tips and is simply picked at dawn and scattered in the sun to dry.” You can really tell the care that has gone into producing this tea. My sample didn’t have any broken leaves at all which really impressed me considering how many times it was shipped to reach my home.

I set up to brew this wonderful tea using my IngenuiTea tea pot using 2 teaspoons of tea and water that had cooled to 75c as was recommended by the website. The resulting tea is a very light green, almost clear with a sweet, nutty scent. My first thought upon taking a sip was amazement that a tea so light in color could have so much taste! The taste bears out the scent in that it is sweet and nutty. There is a lingering bite of dryness that remains after you swallow.

The website also recommended at least three steeps. I am currently on my second. Again a delight. Now the nutty taste is clearer and I can almost determine that I am tasting hazelnut. Canton Tea Co.Yin Zhen (Silver Needle) 2009 has to be one of the finest examples of a white tea that I have tried to date.

Canton Tea Co. Yin Zhen (Silver Needle) 2009 is a wonderful tea that I highly recommend especially for our readers in England or Europe. Since I so enjoyed the tea, I spent some time on the Canton Tea Co. website trying to find out just what shipping would be to the States but wasn’t able to find out. So it doesn’t look as though I will be ordering any but don’t let that stop you.

— To purchase Canton Tea Co. Yin Zhen (Silver Needle) 2009, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular tea, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.

Shaiha Teaviews.com Reviewer » Read more about this reviewer on Shaiha's profile page. » Find a list of recent posts by Shaiha.

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