White Silver Needle: Are you team Fujian or Yunnan?

If you ever try some of the finest white silver needles, you won't forget their mildly sweet and floral taste, sometimes with corn silk notes and a hint of barley pekoe aroma in the aftertaste. Those were the unforgettable moments when I first tried silver needles. White tea is known for its floral, sweet, light, and non-bitter taste, which makes it the perfect choice for beginners. However, I soon got confused when I saw how many white silver needles were available in the market, not to mention the different varieties, regions, seasonal picks, and qualities.

Can you tell which one is from the Fujian region and which is from the Yunnan region?

Fuding White Silver Needle

Yunnan White Silver Needle

Anji Bai Cha

My Bizarre Hunt for Fuding Silver Needle

One day at a tea shop in Paris, I wanted to drink white tea, so I ordered *Fuding silver needle on the menu. To my surprise, the tea tasted like green tea. As the tea was already brewed in a ceramic mug upon serving, I didn't get to look at the dry leaves beforehand. Still, I suspected that the shop might have served me Anji Bai Cha (安吉白茶), which is a confusing name even for Chinese people because it is translated to "Anji White Tea," but in fact, it is a very famous green tea in the Zhejiang province. When I reconfirmed with the tea shop owner whether this white tea was from Fuding, she said, "Yes.".

Another encounter in another tea shop in Paris happened when I asked for a Fuding silver needle. The young employee at the counter, who looked like she was new to the job, gave me a white silver needle that didn't look like it was from Fuding; I am confident that it was from Yunnan due to its appearance. I then asked the owner of the shop, who happened to pass by the counter, whether the tea shown to me was a white silver needle from Fuding, and she confirmed it was.

The two encounters mentioned above surprised me in distinct ways, but they have reinforced my decision to write this blog. I had always been aware that there might be differences in tea knowledge across various markets. Still, I had not anticipated that it could be so far-fetched that the region and the varietals are entirely misidentified.

*Fuding is the most famous white tea production region in the Fujian province.

Passing the sham as the genuine silver needle

It is important to note that although Anji Bai Cha and Yunnan Silver Needle are not counterfeit teas, they are still used as a substitute for genuine Fuding Silver Needle. While I would like to believe that both tea owners made an honest mistake and genuinely did not know they were selling the wrong silver needles, they were more likely trying to reduce costs for higher profits.

Why is getting authentic Fujian white Silver Needle outside of China so hard?

The price of authentic Fuding Silver Needle tea is relatively high. Fresh-harvested Fuding Silver Needle can cost anywhere from RMB 2500 to RMB 4000 (USD 347 - USD 555) per kilogram, while Yunnan Silver Needle tea is priced between RMB 500 and RMB 1000 (USD 69 - USD 138) per kilogram. Since most people can't differentiate between the two, it is possible to profit by selling the cheaper Yunnan Silver Needle tea instead. This is particularly true because Yunnan Silver Needle is more prominent in size, is juicier, and can be steeped more times than Fuding Silver Needle. Due to the significant cost difference, most tea shops outside of China only offer Yunnan Silver Needles and market them as "White Silver Needles" or "Bai Hao Yin Zhen" (without specifying the region), so they can charge a similar price to Fuding white tea. Many people who drink Yunnan Silver Needle tea regularly prefer it over Fuding Silver Needle tea because it has a more robust, fruity, and honey-like aroma than the mild, light, and floral white tea from Fuding.

"Why is there such a big price difference between the two White Silver Needles?"

Margin of error

We often prefer to buy products from experienced makers to ensure high quality and authenticity, just like we do with wine, cheese, and cheese knives. Yunnan province started producing white tea in 2000, with their first white tea called "Moonlight White" (月光白/月光美人) [Fang. K. & Lou Z.T 2022, Yunnan Bai Cha, p127]. However, it wasn't until 2015 that most tea factories in Yunnan began investing in white tea production due to a sudden increase in demand. In contrast, Fuding has been producing white tea since the Qing dynasty (between 1772 and 1782) [Li, Z.G. (2021), Bai Cha Xin Yu, p.7] and has been able to retain many of its best practices through generations of tea makers. As a result, Yunnan still has a lot of room for improvement in white tea production compared to Fuding and is yet to gather its fan base compared to Fujian white teas.

Spring tea vs. others

Most bud teas are produced in spring when the tea buds contain abundant theanine and amino acids after long winter hibernation. Teas higher in price for spring picking are green, white, yellow, and raw pu'er. However, Yunnan white tea is not made of teas of the spring harvest, as the spring harvest teas would earn higher value when processed into the highly sought-after raw pu'er. Therefore, with the significant difference in the cost of raw materials between the spring harvest of Fuding white tea and the autumn/summer harvest of Yunnan white tea, it is no wonder the selling price is also significantly different.

How do we tell the differences between the Fuding Silver Needle and Yunnan Silver Needle?

Fuding Silver Needle | Image Credit: 茶书院

Yunnan Silver Needle White Tea｜Image Credit: 茶书院

	Fuding Silver Needle	Yunnan Silver Needle
Appearance	Smaller buds greenish silver grey (fresh) brownish silver grey (aged) pekoe easily fallen off	bigger buds silver yellow pekoe not easily fallen off
Infusion	light yellow and will not change much even with longer infusion (except aged tea)	yellowish orange and will become darker with longer infusion
Taste & Fragrance	corn barley light floral	sweet floral honey aroma fruity due to its 30% fermentation, tastes closer to red tea

If you haven't had the opportunity to try, I hope the above chart helps. I recommend comparing two different types of silver needle teas in one session to taste the differences and determine your preference. This way, you can ensure that you purchase your preferred type of silver needle white tea or at the least, not paying more for the 'wrong' label. There is a lot more information to share about each type of silver needle, which I will cover in future posts about white teas. It is fascinating to learn how different regions, tea varietals, weather, altitude, and choices of tea processing impact tea production.