Culture · Tea · Yellow tea (黄茶)
Junshan Yinzhen (Silver Needle)
君山银针 · Jūnshān Yínzhēn. China's rarest yellow tea — needle buds from a small island on Dongting Lake, wrapped and slowly yellowed to produce a mellow, honey-sweet liquor.
About this tea
Junshan Yinzhen is produced exclusively on Junshan Island, a 0.96 km² island in Dongting Lake in Hunan. The island's moist, misty environment and rich lacustrine soils create distinctive growing conditions. Production is tiny — genuine Junshan Yinzhen totals only a few hundred kilograms per year — and the tea is among the most expensive in China by weight.
The processing makes it a yellow tea rather than a green tea. After initial pan-firing, the leaves undergo a process called menhuang ("sealed yellowing") — wrapped in cloth or paper and left in a warm, humid environment for 40–70 hours. This controlled oxidation breaks down some of the chlorophyll and grassy compounds, producing the characteristic mellow, softer character that distinguishes yellow from green tea.
The dry needle is plump, uniform, and covered in fine white hairs. In a glass cup of hot water, the needles first float on the surface, then slowly stand vertically and sink — a visual spectacle traditionally called "three up, three down". The liquor is clear golden-yellow with a honey sweetness, low bitterness, and a clean, lingering finish that lacks the grassy edge of equivalent green teas.
How to brew
Water at 70–75 °C. 3 g per 150 ml. Steep 60 seconds for first infusion; 45 seconds thereafter. Use a tall glass to watch the needles dance. Do not over-brew — this tea's subtlety vanishes with excessive heat or time. Good for 3 infusions.
Where to buy
- Yueyang city tea shops (the nearest city to Junshan Island, Hunan)
- Junshan Island visitor centre — small quantities sold directly
- Hunan Provincial speciality shops in Changsha
- Online: Yunnan Sourcing, Camellia Sinensis (Canada), reputable Chinese e-commerce with provenance documentation