As I am sure many of the members here are aware, finding a true representation of a tea is tough to do with all the online vendors out there. I am looking for a recommended vendor of Bai Hao Yin Zhen (which I am to understand is a high quality white?) - can someone point me in the right direction here? Even better, is there some listing of truly quality vendors that ship into Canada around? I have searched through archives of this list - but not been able to find something comprehensive....
Well, Spring Garden, in the Vancouver area, had some great Yinzhen last summer, though they don't have a web site. (The mother of one of the owners actually *grew* the stuff.) I posted their contact details last year, so you should be able to find that info in the archives.
Do you mean the Spring Cottage Tea House in Richmond? that is what I found in a previous post of yours anyhow? If that is it, I am heading to Van in beginning of Sept to get my daughter to University out there
- and I would love to make a side trip based on what you posted...
Not the exact type - but it was a real high quality reputable white that I was looking for - so that will do the trick - I found that particular white that I was looking for @ teaspring as well - and I am told that they have good teas too - I may purchase from there as well.
I tried 4 yinzhen silver needles recently, two from inpursuitoftea, one from hou de, and one from jing tea shop as in the link above. The best of them was the more expensive bai hao from IPOT. It's about
2 times more expensive than the one from hou de. But it is the most balanced, with a rich taste but without "sharpness" that is very common in white teas. Hou De silver needles tastes fresher and sweeter, and closer to Pai Mutan teas. In fact I think IPOTs Pai Mutan might be the best deal of all these teas because it only gives up a little bit of smoothness but has everything that's great about bai hao yinzhen.
I ordered eight different teas from jing tea shop recently and this yinzhen silver needles was the only disappointment - the other 7 teas are excellent, but the silver needles have a slightly sweet/sour taste and leaves aroma that I haven't noticed in other silver needles, and is generally blander than either hou de or ipot tea; but, to be fair, it's also less expensive.
On the other hand, their Pai Mutan is quite amazing, especially at the price, and in fact far better than their Yinzhen Silver Needles.
I only made a few pots so far so maybe it will grow on me, but hou de and ipot silver needles were perfect right away - I find it very hard to screw up silver needles if I don't totally overbrew it.
In fairness Jing's makes it clear that this year has been particularly bad for it and that is why they have sourced this one from elsewhere. I actually posted that link because of the explanation given as to this years crop, but I could see how it doesn't stack up especially if any of the ones you tested were from last years harvest. Thanks for the info though, I tend to just trust Jing's fairly implicitly.
I'd second the Spring Cottage Tea House recommendation. We buy our Silver Needles there every year, and no other source has come close to their quality. Their year's shipment came in a few weeks ago and we made a special trip to buy our pound for the year (it's $100/lb, but silver needle is so fluffy that a pound is a LOT of tea).
Best Tea House is also very good, but their Silver Needles can't quite compare and their prices are usually higher for similar quality. However I would absolutely recommend them for their vintage Pu-erh variety, and they sell an excellent English-language, full-color, 287 page, hardbound textbook/reference guide on pu-erh called "First Step To Chinese Pu-Erh Tea" by Chan Kam Pong (ISBN 978957896-2).
Definitely a scale to get a good sense of true weight at least in the beginning until you get a good feel for it. Even then I tend to re- weigh a new vendor/years tea because it can vary by quite a lot. There is a fairly recent thread about scales and dealextreme.com which is where I buy mine from.
I tend to count the plump fat silver needles variety. OP is more dense than SN so more 'heavy'. Anyway my measuring stick is that looks about right in the palm of my hand which does vary from tea to tea based on experience. I think taste buds are more accurate than any scale.
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