Junshan Silver Needle Spring Tea
Encounter a heart-warming tea container, taking a sip or two of light and elegant tea in the middle of a busy schedule; between touch and vision, clearly comprehend heaven, earth and people of nature and ingenuity.
Frequently Bought Together
- Chinese: míng qián jūn shān yín zhēn chūn chá
- Translation: Pre-Qingming Junshan Silver Needle Spring Tea
- Type: Yellow Tea
- Cultivar: Silver Needle No. 1
- Origin: Yueyang, Hunan
- Harvest Date: 2026/03/27
- Storage Methods: Refrigeration, Sealing, Moistureproof, Avoid light.
-
A Tea That Moves
There are teas you drink, and then there are teas that perform.
Junshan Yinzhen belongs to the latter.When hot water meets these slender, silvery buds, something remarkable happens: they rise, one by one, to the surface, stand upright for a suspended moment, then slowly drift down like leaves in a slow‑motion autumn. It is a quiet ballet—one that has captivated tea drinkers for centuries, from the Tang dynasty poets to Chairman Mao, who reputedly reserved this tea for honored guests.
But the spectacle is only half the story.
What makes Junshan Yinzhen (Junshan Island Needle) Yellow Tea truly rare is its processing. Unlike green tea, which is quickly fired to halt oxidation, this tea undergoes menghuang—a patient, almost secretive “sealing yellow” step. The leaves are gently wrapped, allowed to transform, developing a sweetness that green tea rarely touches. Bitterness simply does not exist here. -
The 2026 Harvest: A Season Worth Waiting For
Spring 2026 was extraordinary on Junshan Island. A mild winter, then weeks of soft lake mist rolling off Dongting Lake, coaxed the tea bushes to produce buds of unusual plumpness and uniformity. The heirloom Qun Ti Zhong cultivar—the same used for generations—yielded needles thick with silvery down, each one hand‑picked at dawn before the sun could diminish their delicate fragrance.
- Though it shares the 'silver needle' portion of its name with a famous white tea, the darkness of the leaf buds and the particular tinge their downy white hairs have taken on indicates something even rarer: the most refined of one of the few yellow teas. Only the highest grades, and “true” iteration of Junshan Silver Needle tea, hails from Junshan Island, a small island that’s not even a mile across, and is situated on Dongting Lake in the Hunan province. The summer floodwaters provide the island with rich and fertile soil, and a yearlong hovering mist adds to the pristine tea-growing conditions. Another important factor in its quality is the use of a very rare local cultivar which is recognized by its slender buds.
- Another factor that contributes to the tea’s prestige is that as a yellow tea, Junshan Silver Needle undergoes quite a labor-intensive production process. First off, the harvesting season is really short, from the end of March to early April. Furthermore, only the most perfect, undamaged buds are hand-picked. After picking, the leaves undergo a withering process on bamboo sheets in the shade for about 5-6 hours, after which they are fried for about 5 minutes. After the frying process, small quantities of leaves are bundled and left to lightly oxidize, after which they are packaged and stored in a cabinet to let them slowly oxidize. The packages are opened at very specific times to roast them for short periods. After about 40 to 50 hours the leaves will have taken on their golden color and specific aroma. The final step is making sure to remove any broken leaves by hand.
-
What You’ll Taste (If You Brew It Right)
Pour 170°F water over the buds, and the first infusion whispers of fresh sugarcane and morning dew. A second steep reveals a more unexpected layer: sweet corn, like the milky essence of corn just shucked from the stalk. By the third infusion, the tea settles into a long, mineral finish with a faint trace of osmanthus flowers—never sharp, always soothing.
There is no astringency. No need to add sugar or honey. The sweetness is innate, a result of the unhurried yellowing process that transforms the leaf’s polyphenols into something gentler on the palate.
Customer Reviews
The tea is fragrant, the tea soup is sweet and refreshing; the overall feeling is that the color is mellow, the yellow bud soup, the aftertaste is not bad, the roots are all tea buds, the yellow leaf soup is authentic Junshan Yinzhen!
Greatest tasting tea I have ever had. Enhances focus, I find it works well in the morning or anytime you find yourself wanting a bit of a boost.
The price is worth it- will be buying again.
The shape is as thin as a needle, the length is uniform, and the bag is firm. The shape of the tea buds is like a silver needle. The taste is fragrant, the tea soup is slightly yellow, the bottom of the leaves is full, the taste is light, and the fragrance stays in the teeth.
Ci vuole molto tempo per averlo e costa caro ma ne vale la pena.
Per intenditori
Great tea for the price; just be prepared to wait patiently for the slow shipping from China. Pricewise much better than equivalent tea from US dealers. Flavor is nice, aroma is good. Overall a good quality bargain in tea.