Junshan Silver Needles – 2021 Hunan Yueyang Jun Mountain Yellow Tea

Origin: Jun Mountain, Yueyang, Hunan Province

Harvest: 2021 spring tea, the picking time is 7 days before the Qingming Festival. The picking standard is single bud.

Direction:

use covered tea bowl or glass to brew 4-6 rounds and above (100″C, 3-5 mins)

Junshan silver needle was originally called Baihe white crane tea. It is said that in the early Tang Dynasty, a wandering Taoist named Baihe immortal returned from overseas immortal mountains, brought eight tea seedlings given by immortals and planted them on Junshan island. Later, he built a magnificent white crane temple and dug a white crane well. Immortal Baihe took Baihe well water to brew immortal tea. He saw a white gas curling up in the cup and a white crane flying away in the water. This tea was named “Baihe tea”. Because the tea is golden in color and looks like the feathers of a yellow Finch, it is also called “yellow feather”. Later, this tea was introduced to Chang’an and won the favor of the emperor. Therefore, Baihe tea and Baihe well water were designated as tribute. One year, when paying tribute, the ship crossed the Yangtze River. Due to the turbulence of the wind and waves, the water from the Baihe well brought with the ship was spilled. The state officials who charged the boat were so frightened that they had to take the river water. After being transported to Chang’an, the emperor made tea. He saw the tea floating up and down, but he didn’t see the white crane soaring into the sky. He wondered and said casually, “the white crane is dead!”! Unexpectedly, from then on, the water in Baihe well dried up, and Baihe immortal disappeared. But Baihe tea has been handed down, that is, today’s Junshan silver needle tea.

Junshan silver needle is one of the famous Chinese teas. Jun Mountain tea, produced in Dongting Lake, Yueyang, Hunan, is as thin as a needle, so it is called Junshan silver needle. It belongs to yellow tea. The finished tea bud head is robust, with uniform length and size. The inner surface of the tea bud is golden yellow, the outer shows hair completely, and the body is solid. The shape of the tea bud is like a silver needle, which is nicknamed “gold inlaid jade”. Junshan tea has a long history, it was produced and famous in the Tang Dynasty. It is said that Princess Wencheng brought Junshan silver needle tea into Tibet when she married. Junshan silver needle began in the Tang Dynasty and was listed as “tribute tea” in the Qing Dynasty. In August 1956, it won the gold medal at the Leipzig International Fair.

There are strict requirements for the picking and production of Junshan silver needle. It can only be picked seven to ten days before and after the Qingming Festival every year. The picking standard is the first round of tender buds of spring tea. To make this kind of tea, it takes 78 hours to go through eight processes: killing green, cooling and drying, initial baking, initial packaging, re cooling and drying, re baking, re packaging and baking. After brewing, the buds are suspended vertically in the soup, rising to the water surface, sinking slowly, rising and sinking again, rising and falling three times, forming an interesting view.