Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yinzhen)

Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yinzhen, "white-hair silver needle") is the premier grade of white tea: made from the plump, unopened terminal buds of Camellia sinensis alone, with no leaf, simply withered in air and dried. Each bud is wrapped in fine silvery-white down that gives the dry tea a frosted, needle-like look, and steeping yields an almost colourless pale-straw liquor that is exceptionally soft, mellow and quietly sweet — honeyed and lightly floral with a cool, cucumber-and-melon freshness and barely any astringency. It is a Fujian speciality of the Fuding and Zhenghe counties, hand-plucked over just a few spring mornings, and is among the costliest and most delicate of all teas.