Gently Stirred
Loose Leaf Tea
Yin Zhen Silver Needles
Worth its weight in gold, this
tea is grown in a “Sacred Garden” hidden on a high Chinese plateau in Fujian.
The garden maintains the tradition of “Imperial plucking”.
This tea was formally reserved
for the Emperor and his dignitaries. Nothing was permitted to alter the purity
from the time it was plucked to the Emperor’s bowl. Young virgins, wearing silk
gloves and using gold scissors, delicately removed the silvery hirsute bud
before drying them in golden baskets.
The buds are plucked at dawn,
on only two days, selected according to minute botanical observations, should unanticipatedly
winds and rains occur on these two days then the annual harvest is simply
cancelled.