Details:

For the world’s top tea collectors, Fujian’s Fuding County holds a special place as the home of the world’s finest white teas. Each has its own special characteristics resulting from the unique soil conditions, rain, sunlight, tea genus, production method and story. That’s right…story. Were they better known, Fuding County’s many “tea legends” would make the region a required stop for the world’s top storytellers. From one end of Fuding to the other stories abound describing the way certain teas were discovered and how they got their names. One of the lesser known of these tales has to do with 2 Doves Silver Needle, a fabulously delicate “buds only” white tea plucked from a Fujian genus known as Fuding Da Hao.

The story we were told took place during the early days of Fuding – (the county was established during the Qing Dynasty in 1739 AD.) In those days, a tea grower and his family found themselves indebted to a mercenary who lived in a neighboring county and had protected them during a local squabble. The mercenary told the grower that he had one year to pay back the debt he owed or he would claim their daughter. Faced with the prospect of giving his only daughter to be the man’s concubine, the grower began to pray. After a few weeks, the grower and his wife both had the same dream. In the dream a pair of doves told them that in the morning, two real doves would appear on the farm gate. The grower and his wife should follow the birds deep into the woods where they would find a tract of undiscovered wild tea. From this tea they were to pluck only the top downy buds. These they were to process in a special new style that would help them make enough money to save their daughter.

< class="gatext">The next morning, just as the doves had said, the grower and his wife found the wild tea. They plucked as many baskets as they could carry and brought them back to their house where they set to processing them. 3 days later they brought the tea to market and made enough money in one day to pay back their debt – a miracle! From that day forward they called their new tea 2 Doves Silver Needle in honor of the birds who had saved their daughter. It’s an amazing story. Whether or not you choose to believe it, the amazing qualities of this tea can’t be disputed. The wiry, silvery buds coated in a light down resemble dove’s wings while the flavor is light, sweet and loaded with nuance - a wonderful tea to add to your collection today.

Cup Characteristics:

A premium tea that has exquisite haunting hints of peach whit a fresh lingering finish. This is one of China’s best white teas.

Infusion:

Shimmering with light yellow notes.

Grade:

Silver Dove Tips

Manufacture Type:

White Tea - naturally withered

Region:

Fujian is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of China. Fujian borders Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait. The name Fujian comes from the combination of Fuzhou and Jian'ou, two cities in Fujian. The name was coined during Tang Dynasty. Most of Fujian is administered by the People's Republic of China (PRC). However, the archipelagoes of Quemoy and Matsu are under the control of the Republic of China (ROC) based in Taiwan. Thus, de facto there are two provinces (in the sense of government organizations) with the same name. The two sides are rendered in different Romanizations. The PRC side renders the name of the province in Hanyu Pinyin, yielding "Fujian", while the ROC side renders the name of the province in Tongyong Pinyin, Wade-Giles and Postal System Pinyin, resulting in "FuJian", "Fuchien" and "Fukien", respectively.

History & Origin:

The story we were told took place during the early days of Fuding – (the county was established during the Qing Dynasty in 1739 AD.) In those days, a tea grower and his family found themselves indebted to a mercenary who lived in a neighboring county and had protected them during a local squabble. The mercenary told the grower that he had one year to pay back the debt he owed or he would claim their daughter. Faced with the prospect of giving his only daughter to be the man’s concubine, the grower began to pray. After a few weeks, the grower and his wife both had the same dream. In the dream a pair of doves told them that in the morning, two real doves would appear on the farm gate. The grower and his wife should follow the birds deep into the woods where they would find a tract of undiscovered wild tea. From this tea they were to pluck only the top downy buds. These they were to process in a special new style that would help them make enough money to save their daughter.

The next morning, just as the doves had said, the grower and his wife found the wild tea. They plucked as many baskets as they could carry and brought them back to their house where they set to processing them. 3 days later they brought the tea to market and made enough money in one day to pay back their debt – a miracle! From that day forward they called their new tea 2 Doves Silver Needle in honor of the birds who had saved their daughter. It’s an amazing story. Whether or not you choose to believe it, the amazing qualities of this tea can’t be disputed. The wiry, silvery buds coated in a light down resemble dove’s wings while the flavor is light, sweet and loaded with nuance - a wonderful tea to add to your collection today.

Hot Tea Brewing Method:

When preparing by the cup, this tea can be used repeatedly (à la chinoise) - about 3 times. The secret is to use water that is about 180ºF or 90ºC. Place 1-2 teaspoons of leaves in your cup and let the tea steep for 3 minutes. Then begin enjoying a cup of enchantment - do not remove the leaves from the cup. Once the water level is low - add more water, and so on - until the tea flavor is exhausted. Milk or sugar will mask the delicate characters of this tea and are not recommended. Look at the pattern of the leaves - they foretell life.

Iced Tea Brewing Method: (not generally consumed iced)

It is not customary to make iced tea from white tea, nevertheless if you wish to do so we would recommend the following method: Place 6 teaspoons of tea into a teapot or heat resistant pitcher. Pour 1 1/4 cups of freshly boiled water over the tea. Steep for 5 minutes. Quarter fill a serving pitcher with cold water. Pour the tea into your serving pitcher straining the leaves. Add ice and top up the pitcher with cold water. Garnish and sweeten to taste. [A rule of thumb when preparing fresh brewed iced tea is to double the strength of hot tea since it will be poured over ice and diluted with cold water.]

Tea & Health

No matter what your age, tea delivers a multitude of health benefits that range from: being cardio-protective, a good source of fluid and being friendly to your teeth. As educated people we know the importance of eating a balanced diet that contains five portions of fruit and vegetables, plenty of complex carbohydrates and restricted amounts of saturated fat. However, when it comes to what we drink, even health experts can get a little confused. In a recent survey of health professionals, only 23% of GPs thought that tea could be included in the daily fluid allowance, whereas more than a fifth of practice nurses believed tea to contain the same amount of caffeine as coffee.

Not All Tea Is the Same

Roughly 2.5 million tons of dried tea is produced each year, and about 20% of it is "green tea", which is made by steaming the fresh tea leaves lightly, and drying them quickly. The rest of it is called "black tea", and it involves fermentation of the fresh tea leaves. For medicinal purposes, green tea is considered superior to regular black tea, since it has as much as five times more of the polyphenols that are of interest to us as potent anti-oxidants and cancer preventives. The composition of the green tea varies with the geography, climate, seasonal fluctuations and the methods used in growing it. When tea is harvested, they are supposed to take only the leaf bud and the two adjacent young leaves. Older leaves are considered inferior, and they have much less of the medicinal polyphenols. Usually, a good quality green tea has about 10% by weight of polyphenols. Our teas are of the best quality which promotes the high concentration of polyphenols.