Silver Needle white tea ◆

Thé blanc Aiguilles d’argent (Yin Zhen)

What it is

Only the unopened bud is picked, and nothing is done to it but withering and drying — no pan, no rolling, no bruising, which is why the silver down is still on the leaf in the cup. A kilo is tens of thousands of buds, all taken in a short window at the start of spring.

In the kitchen

Cold-infuse it: 6 g per litre of cold water, four hours in the fridge, and you have a melon-scented liquid for dressing raw shellfish or setting a clear jelly. Water above 85 °C strips the down and leaves it flat.

Goes with

Cantaloupe melon Scallop Cucumber Honey Langoustine Pear

Same species

Assam tea Ceylon tea Da Hong Pao Darjeeling tea Earl Grey Genmaicha

In season alongside

Bee pollen Orange blossom honey Rosemary honey Sweet violet Tupelo honey

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