Basic Introduction to Tailaoshan Green Snow Bud Tea
Tailaoshan “Green Snow Bud,” is a renowned tea both at home and abroad.
Green Snow Bud, commonly known as “White Tea Core,” is slender and soft, covered with fine hairs and silver-white in color. It's also called “Silver Needle” or “White Down.” Its inferior grade is called “Flag and Spear:” because the leaves resemble flags and the tips of the buds resemble spears. This type of tea is made from one bud and one leaf.
Green Snow Bud is a superior tea tree. Not only can it be consumed and used medicinally, but legend has it that in the past, people carved teacups from the root of the old tea plant in Hongxue Cave. Without using tea leaves, simply pouring hot water would impart the taste of Green Snow Bud tea. Travelers would use it as a small bowl, and if they encountered a malicious inn or someone who secretly poisoned their food, the bowl would magically show black stains.
One of China's oldest historical teas, it was already famous during the Ming Dynasty and considered a rare treasure among teas. In the Qing Dynasty, Zhou Lianggong recorded in his “Fujian Miscellany” that “Tailaoshan had ancient Green Snow Buds, now known as White Down…”
Green Snow Bud is a divine tea, traditionally said to have been planted by Lady Tailao herself, making it the ancestor of “Fuding White Tea.”
In the national scenic area and geological park of Tailaoshan, Fuding, Fujian, there grows a wild ancient tea tree named Green Snow Bud beside the “Hongxue Cave.” This tree is the original Fuding Da Bai tea, having survived for over a century. According to Lu Yancan's “Continuation of the Tea Classic” in the Qing Dynasty, citing “Guangxing Ji,” “In Funing Prefecture, Tailaoshan produces tea called Green Snow Bud.”
The white tea and gongfu tea made from Fuding Da Bai tea are the pinnacle of teas and the top among all Chinese teas. They are widely cultivated in nine provinces, covering more area than any other famous tea. As a result, Fuding is honored as a national tea base; the British Queen especially favors them, and foreign merchants seek them out, exporting them to Europe and Asia.
Nutritional Value
Green Snow Bud tea can effectively protect our liver. It is rich in dihydroquercetin, which has excellent liver-protective properties.
Product Characteristics
The appearance of Green Snow Bud white tea features plump, robust buds covered entirely with white down, with shiny silver-white hairs and a loose, soft texture. The inner quality has a significant downy aroma, with a fresh, cool, and sweet taste; the tea soup is a light apricot yellow, clear and bright. The abundant down blends into the water, and through the light, one can observe a shimmering phosphorescence. One year as tea, three years as medicine, seven years as a treasure – time treats it well, and its value increases with age.
Historical Folklore
The Green Snow Bud tea plant in Hongxue Cave is the progenitor of the Green Snow Bud in the Tailao Mountains. Legend has it that it was cultivated by a poor woman named Lan Gu from Cai Village in Tailaoshan during the reign of Emperor Yao. She took refuge in a cave in the mountains and one day, while walking around Hongxue Cave, she discovered an unusual, elegant tea tree amidst the weeds. She cleared the weeds, added soil around the tree, and watered it with water from the Dan Well at the entrance to Hongxue Cave. Over time, the tea grew leaves and buds that were crystal-clear and green like snow. She picked the leaves and buds to make tea, calling it “Green Snow Bud tea.”
This tea, when brewed with mountain spring water, tasted particularly sweet and fragrant. Whenever the poor villagers from Cai Village came to visit her, she served them Green Snow Bud tea. Those who tasted it praised it highly. One year, children in Cai Village suffered from measles, and thanks to her offering of Green Snow Bud tea, many lives were saved. Therefore, people began to call it “divine tea.” Lan Gu was kind-hearted and generous, so she passed on the cultivation of this tea to the poor living below the mountains. Year after year, the Green Snow Bud tea spread across the fields, turning everything green.
Flowers bloomed and then faded, the moon waxed and waned, and many years passed. Eventually, Lan Gu ascended to immortality. People were very grateful to her, and late at night under the bright mountain moon, they would call out to her in the Echo Valley. Her spirit heard their calls from heaven. Thus, every July 7th, she would meet with the people at Wangxian Bridge.
On that day, she would ride a five-colored dragon horse, her robes fluttering in the wind, her jade pendants jingling, her face like a lotus, her eyebrows gracefully curved, looking very benevolent.
Afterward, people built a stone tomb for her beside Hongxue Cave and erected a lifelike statue of her at Baiyun Temple, honoring her as “Lady Tailao.” To this day, every year during Qingming Festival in March, some people place newly picked Green Snow Bud tea on a red-lacquered tray in front of her statue as a sacrifice.
The tea from Tailaoshan quickly gained a reputation due to its high quality. The tea merchants felt that such good tea deserved a good name, so they invited several scholars to deliberate together. As they savored the fragrant tea and examined the leaves—long and slender with pointed ends, resembling a green sparrow's tongue; covered in white down, like a pure silver needle—they debated whether to call it Sparrow Tongue or Silver Needle. However, Sparrow Tongue captured the shape but not the color, while Silver Needle emphasized the whiteness but lacked the greenness. A scholar suggested the name “Green Snow Bud.” Everyone savored the name, finding it increasingly wonderful. Thus, a unique tea brand was born. According to Shu Guo's “Record of Fujian Products” in the Qing Dynasty, “There is Tailaoshan Green Snow Bud in Funing Prefecture (the old name for eastern Fujian).” It is evident that Green Snow Bud was already famous before the Qing Dynasty.
Awards and Honors of Tailaoshan Green Snow Bud Tea
Green Snow Bud tea has received praise and won various gold and silver awards at international and domestic exhibitions. “Green Snow Bud” won the International Famous Tea Gold Award, the National First “Jue Nong Cup” Famous Tea Gold Award, the National High-Quality Jasmine Tea Raw Material Quality Gold Award, and in 2003, “Green Snow Bud” won the King of Tea award at the China Tailao Cup Quality Competition. Green Snow Bud tea has passed the national origin protection certification, becoming a beloved tea in people's hearts and a representative brand of high-quality Fujian Green Tea. At the Ningde Tea culture Festival in 2004, 100 grams of the mother tea Fuding Da Bai “Green Snow Bud” was sold for the astronomical price of 710,000 yuan by Fujian Wuyi Star Tea Co., Ltd.
Tasting Method
When moistening the Green Snow Bud white tea, pour the water gently, like a silent spring rain. Fill the main brewing vessel to about one-third, ensuring each bud is immersed, then pour normally to let the tea leaves tumble, allowing the tea and water to fully blend. Use the middle infusion method, first warming and shaking the tea with boiling water, then infusing it with boiling water. The aroma is pure, the downy aroma is apparent, the taste is fresh, cool, and sweet, with ample downiness, the tea soup is light apricot yellow, clear and bright, and the leaves at the bottom are plump, soft, and bright.