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LuckiestRaccoon
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2020 12:48 pm
Location: Austin, TX

Thu Nov 05, 2020 3:07 pm

I don't think that I saw them mentioned here so I have to recommend Hojotea's Silver Needle teas. Not sure if it's what you're looking for @Shine Magical but I really enjoy his Gu Shu Yinzhen. I drank some periodically over the past 3ish, maybe, years and it just got sweeter and more date-like as time went on.
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aet
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Posts: 409
Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2018 7:56 pm
Location: Kunming ( China )

Thu Nov 05, 2020 8:18 pm

Just a bit education if I may:
The tea made only of tips is made from the bush. There is no way that anybody would use Gushu material and make a 1 kg of tea only from tips. Why? Because arbor trees have significant less tips ( ratio tips and leave per tree / tree branch ) , so the labor is extremely high and efficiency very low ( as they don't grow in line next to each other as bush tai di cha ) , that would cause the price go ridiculously high.
Dianhong tipsy teas ( like golden needles ) are made from Yun Keng Shi Hao varietal which is a man made ( modified ) type of bush and has more tips density than regular tea bush / shrub , yet the price is much higher than other black just because the labor around it and still you need to harvest bigger area / volume ( I don't know if can explain it this way ) of T-bush in order to get 1kg of that type of tea.
Some areas like Jing Gu naming those with some poetic names like Snow Buds , or whatever beautiful it sounds to make it sell better..nothing wrong with that.
Should you be eager to discover vendors beyond the traditional western facing concept ( English names or translations of teas ), I'd suggest to look up on Chinese names in Pinyin ( no need to write actual cn character , as that would give you sites only in Chinese ) and try those in google ( I think time ago I wrote a post about those , not sure where it was pinned ).
I believe it's better to learn how to swim than asking community for safe boat ;-)
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LuckiestRaccoon
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2020 12:48 pm
Location: Austin, TX

Fri Nov 06, 2020 4:09 pm

Thank you for your insight @aet. Assuming you're addressing me somewhat directly: I totally believe what you are saying about tips and varietal/tree vs. bush to be true but I personally don't have the expertise to contradict Hojo's article about his "Gu Shu Yinzhen". (https://hojotea.com/en/posts-58/) Sounds like the Gushu in the name is inappropriate. Looking for tea via pinyin makes so much more sense I am embarrassed I haven't tried that strategy. As time goes on I am hoping to learn some Chinese anyway so I will gratefully be using that technique. Not exactly sure what you mean by "asking community for safe boat".
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aet
Vendor
Posts: 409
Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2018 7:56 pm
Location: Kunming ( China )

Fri Nov 06, 2020 10:15 pm

LuckiestRaccoon wrote:
Fri Nov 06, 2020 4:09 pm
Not exactly sure what you mean by "asking community for safe boat".
"I'm looking to sample some high quality Silver Needle offerings. Do you have any recommendations?" ...is asking for the safe boat

"'Id suggest to look up on Chinese names in Pinyin and try those in google ." ....is teaching you how to swim ;-)

Difference between bush and small arbor is that bush grows in line / row , packed next to each other but small arbors are more spread in area as on pictures from vendor you have linked. The age and type of tea bush / arbor can be absolutely same , only mentioned YKHao has some modification ( I believe DNA ) ,so by some tasting can be proved origin , other than that...nope.
Means , it is very easy to say anything about tea leaf or tips.

I'm not questioning any vendor , as vendor my self I'd found not ethical to do so. But this vendor just confirms what I wrote about efficiency. Look at the branch of that arbor tree. How many tips you see?

What I wrote was from what I know about the labor costs ( people who pluck tea leafs ). How much they are paid per 1kg of fresh tea leaves in Yunnan ( of course not everywhere , but in general there are not huge differences ).
In some areas you hire / pay workers per day. Still , to fill basket with tips only , is way way different from general plucking ratio 1tip 2-3 leaves .

Again , I'm not saying it is not doable / not possible , but I don't see it as business profitable. If farmer has only those trees and client orders only tips, then of course , they will do it for client. But for what price? Then add the costs of sourcing person and costs for company, profits..etc.

Another tip for you "how to swim" ...look "about us" on each website / vendor u want to buy stuff and think.
How many people have to be employed and how many people to get their "cut" . If business is based in place A , sourcing tea from A,B,C,D and having shops , offices in place E ,F, G...fancy retail shops.

"Capital 8 Million Yen" ;-))))

Marketing is based on customer not knowing the fact behind and having desire to obtain something special , rare, unique , authentic ...yet not paying astronomical ( real ) price for that. We all naturally want the best for our selves, and the right marketing will make you feel that.
I know that in some way people / consumers think "supermarket / big company" way , that such a big company might have different ( cheaper ) prices because buying in bulk. ..yes, the "bulk" tea.....not luxury stuff. ..that doesn't exist in bulk.

Again, I'm not claiming that vendor you linked is selling bush tips with pictures of some arbors. I don't have any proof of it and even if I had , I wouldn't post it , because not my business and we all have our karma. In fact, the way some tea companies sourcing the tea ( from middleman or even directly from farmers ) is very easy being cheated. Some farmers have just few trees but resell other tea as well claiming as their own.
So please take it as I'm sharing my opinion based on experience on the actual field ...coz I live in Yunnan and do biz on the actual tea field / garden and local tea market.
GaoShan
Posts: 322
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:06 am
Location: Toronto, Canada

Fri May 14, 2021 9:11 am

Has anyone had some good Fuding Silver Needle from this spring? I'm looking at the imperial version from Yunnan Sourcing, but other vendor recommendations would be appreciated.
GaoShan
Posts: 322
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:06 am
Location: Toronto, Canada

Mon Feb 28, 2022 2:51 pm

I'm bumping this thread in the hope that someone has had some good Fuding Silver Needle this winter. I didn't end up getting any last year and am still looking for recommendations. It doesn't have to be incredibly high end as long as it's tasty and representative of the Fuding style, which I've read is sweeter and more delicate than Zhenghe Silver Needle. Any tips would be appreciated!
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