
- HOME >
- Types of Tea
Making Silver Needle from Yunnan Natural Farming Tea
- [2016.05.04] Posted By Akira Hojo
Silver Needle is the name of single bud white tea. It’s a well-known white tea produced in Fujian Province. Nowadays, it is getting more and more difficult to procure the Silver Needle from Fujian Province. There are a number of factors to take into account: pesticide issue, price increases, and the down trend of quality. As we are pretty well aware of the on-going situation of tea in Fujian, we have come to the conclusion to develop the Silver Needle tea using the natural farming tea in Yunnan.
Very unhealthy market situation of Fujian white tea
Due to the newly introduced concept that white tea can be aged, and aged white tea can be valued at higher price, in Fujian a number of tea companies tend to stock up their white tea for speculation. As a result, in Fujian Province, the market price of white tea has been increasing in the past several years. Nowadays, the China economy and the tea consumption rate are slowing down, yet the price of white tea in Fujian Province kept increasing every year. In my personal point of view, the gap between the quality and the price is getting too wide, and this situation is not favorable to many tea drinkers.
Less attractive quality
Most of tea in Fu Ding of Fujian Province is grown under the modern agricultural method. Due to the on-going speculation of aged white tea, many tea manufacturers are eager to produce more output and to keep more teas for the speculation in future; in other words, more fertilizer is being used to produce more teas. Obviously, a lot of efforts are made in order to increase the productivity.
Pesticide status
Fujian has been one of the most renown tea production areas. Due to the ideal weather and strategic geographic location, it was the hub of tea export to overseas. Throughout the history, many famous teas were produced in Fujian. Majority of Fujian teas are consumed domestically. In China there is a huge demand of Fujian teas. In fact, most of the premium teas, including the high-end white tea made in Fujian province are meant for the Chinese domestic market. Thus, generally tea manufacturers are less concern about the pesticide status. It is technically difficult to find Fujian tea that meets the pesticide standard of Japan or Europe. Categorically there are organic teas too. However, the price of organic teas is very high. In addition, the quality of those organic teas is not very outstanding; the reason being too much organic fertilizer is used, causing the tea grows faster to ensure the output, and eventually tea tastes light and thin.
We have been visiting Fujian province every year. Ironically, year by year the price versus quality goes opposite direction. The price versus quality divergence is getting far away. If we look for the same quality now in 2016, compared to the price of previous year, the current price could be more than double. It is very unrealistic.
Use natural farming tea from Yunnan to process into Fujian style Silver Needle
Throughout our years of tea expedition in Yunnan, we have found many natural farming tea gardens. Tea is totally grown without pesticide and fertilizer. These teas are not only safe for consumption, furthermore very good quality; the aftertaste lasts extraordinarily long. Therefore, we wanted to produce Silver Needle, the single bud white tea, from those naturally farmed Yunnan tea, and follow the Fujian white tea processing method. In fact, the history of white tea was the longest among the teas in China. According to the history of tea, the white tea had been produced in Yunnan since 2000 years ago. In general, the white tea in Yunnan is produced with sunshine drying method; it is same method as producing the raw pu-erh tea. It was also used to be one of the traditional processes of making white tea in Fujian Province once upon a time. But nowadays in Fujian they use hot air dryer to dry the white tea, so as to keep the tea greener and more attractive. Thus, we also follow the similar drying method of Fujian Province.
- Yunnan Silver Needle:Withering → Sunshine Drying
- Fujian Silver Needle 1:Withering → Sunshine Drying
- Fujian Silver Needle 2:Withering → Hot Air Drying
Silver Needle that gives extraordinarily strong aftertaste
We selected the tea garden that practices complete natural farming method. They do not use any pesticide or fertilizer. I felt that the quality of the fresh tealeaf is outstandingly good. The experimental process of making Silver Needle went through pretty well. Tea gives very long lasting aftertaste; I cannot believe it is Silver Needle. The aftertaste was so strong; it is like drinking fine raw pu-erh. I am very happy with the outcome. In addition, from time to time I wish to further study the process and make different attempts in process to find out more outcome in detail.
Related Articles
How to get the latest update on HOJO Tea?
1. Follow Twitter, 2. Click "Like" on Facebook, and 3. Subscribe in newsletter. You can have the latest tea news from HOJO Tea.
Subscribe the Newsletter to enjoy the privileges
- You may receive a free sample upon purchase, or you may have the priority to purchase special products. So please remember to subscribe our newsletter as well as the social network.
- New Release of Tsuge Zairai Sencha from Sustainable Tea Garden
- Tsuge Zairai Sencha 都祁在来煎茶 is made from “zairai” tea plucked in spring, from the naturally farmed tea garden located in Tsuge, Nara City, Nara Prefecture. The tea garden of Tsuge Zairai Sencha is maintained in sustainable manner applying neither pesticide nor fertilizer. Tsuge Zairai Sencha has a subtle and refreshing floral scent with a hint …
- New Release of Da Xue Shan Wild White Tea Cake 2021
- Da Xue Shan Wild White Tea 2021 is available now. This tea is always very popular in our shop. In Japan, we brought in loose tea this year, and for Malaysia we produced 200g cake. Mao cha before compressing into cake Very limited resources This tea is made from the wild tea, called Camelia taliensis. …
NEW ARTICLES
New Release of Tsuge Zairai Sencha from Sustainable Tea Garden
- Tsuge Zairai Sencha 都祁在来煎茶 is made from “zairai” tea plucked in spring, from the naturally farmed tea garden located in Tsuge, Nara City, Nara Prefecture. The tea garden of Tsuge Zairai Sencha is maintained in sustainable manner applying neither pesticide nor fertilizer. Tsuge Zairai Sencha has a subtle and refreshing floral scent with a hint …
New Release of Da Xue Shan Wild White Tea Cake 2021
- Da Xue Shan Wild White Tea 2021 is available now. This tea is always very popular in our shop. In Japan, we brought in loose tea this year, and for Malaysia we produced 200g cake. Mao cha before compressing into cake Very limited resources This tea is made from the wild tea, called Camelia taliensis. …
New Release of 2 Types of Darjeeling 1st Flush
- We have released two types of Darjeeling 1st Flush Tea. The reason why the Darjeeling 1st Flush is greenish In Darjeeling tea, the 1st flush refers to the first-plucked spring tea. Usually, the Darjeeling 1st Flush tea is greenish. From the outlook, it looks like a green tea. Many people misunderstand that it is green …
Gushu Dian Hong, The Rare Yunnan Black Tea made from Ancient Tea Tree
- The characteristic of Gushu Dian Hong is its intense aftertaste, and this is far better than ordinary black tea. Dian Hong means Yunnan Black Tea Yunnan black tea is called “Dian Hong” in Chinese. “Dian” means Yunnan, and “Hong” means black tea. Gushu means Ancient Tree in Chinese. After all, Gu Shu Dian Hong means …
Limited Release of Single Tree Raw Pu-erh Tea from Pine Forest Ancient Tea Garden
- We have released Pine Forest Single Tree Raw Pu-erh 2019. This tea was made from the fresh tea leaves collected from very old tea trees grown under the shade of the pine forest. The tea trees are more than 300 years old. It is a good chance for you to experience the distinctive characteristic of …
New Release of Wu Jia Zhai Raw Pu-erh Tea 2018 Loose
- We have released Wu Jia Zhai Raw Pu-erh Tea. It is a Loose Tea (Mao-cha). This tea was made in 2018 and has been aged for nearly three years. Thanks to the aging, it has developed more distinctive flavour with sweet scent of sugar cane and dried fruits. Sustainable Tea Garden at high altitude of …
New Release of Tong Mu Shui Xian Black Tea
- We have released very rare black tea, Tong Mu Shui Xian Black Tea. This tea is from Tong Mu Guan in Wuyishan, Fujian Province, China. The tea garden is located at 1000m above sea level, and the tea garden is totally sustainable, the tea trees are grown without pesticide and fertilizer. Tong Mu Shui Xian …
New Release of Da Xue Shan Wild White Tea 2020
- We have launched Da Xue Shan Wild White Tea 2020, in loose tea. For Malaysia, we release the 200g cake version. This year, we have made major improvements in the raw material, producer, and production method, resulting in a very satisfying quality. However, the production volume is extremely small; it will likely to be sold …
Limited Release of Yunnan 10 Years Vintage Black Tea 2010
- We release 10-year vintage Yunnan black tea. This tea was produced in 2010 and aged in Yunnan for 8 years in aerobic storage. We bought this year in 2018, and it has been aged in Japan and Malaysia for two years in anoxic storage condition. The production area is very near to the Myanmar border …
Da Xue Shan Wild Raw Pu-erh Tea 2020 was Released
- We have launched 2020 wild puerh tea. This wild tea is from Da Xue Shan located in Lincang of Yunnan Province, China. We started to introduce Da Xue Shan Wild tea since 2010. But 2020 version was completely renewed. This year, we changed the source of tea, the producers and the production method too. Why …
Shop Info

Address:Lot No. T-215, 3rd Floor, The Gardens Mall, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603-2287-4537
Business Hour: 10am to 10pm
Category
- New Arrival at HOJO Online Shop
- Featured Articles
- Newsletter
- Types of Tea
- Origin of Tea
- Teapot and Tea Equipment
- Tea Column
- How to enjoy tea
- Tea Processing
- How to choose quality tea
- Tea constituents and functional effect
- Safety of Tea
- Foods
- Tea Business Operation
- Hobby and Outdoor Activity
- Ranking of Tea
- Video
- FAQ
- Media Release
Profile

- AKIRA HOJO
- I invite you to experience my tea selections.I was born in Nagano, Japan. In university, I studied agricultural chemistry, and I have the master degree in food science. I worked in Japanese food industry for 10 years. I involved in R&D, QC and QA. As a factory manager, I implemented ISO9000 series and managed the factory.
- The Art of Tea Magazine
- We posted the article on “The Art of Tea Magazine No.9, the magazine is published in Taiwan. We featured some scientific view about the tetsubin
- New Straits Times
- The Malaysian National Newspaper, New Straits Times featured HOJO Tea on 17-Oct-2007.