Yin Luo

Yin Luo — silver snail — is one of the rare Chinese teas defined by shape rather than place. Its name describes the leaf exactly: silvery down on tightly curled spirals, like tiny silver shells. It is made across several provinces — Zhejiang, Fujian, Yunnan, Sichuan — each lending its own terroir, and it belongs to the wider luó family of spiral greens that includes the famous Biluochun.

Because it is not tied to one origin, Yin Luo wears its identity plainly. The cup is fresh and clean — spring green and white flowers, a light nut and a touch of honey — soft and faintly sweet, with a gentle returning sweetness and none of the “floral-fruity” complexity of a Dongting Biluochun. The Yunnan versions, from big-leaf material, run a little fuller and more honeyed. It is less layered than a famous-mountain green, but clean and honest, and a fine first step for a newcomer to Chinese greens.

In the cup

Brew it cool, around 75 °C, in a glass. It forgives small errors of temperature and timing — part of why it is so often recommended to beginners — and rewards a watchful eye as the silver spirals sink and open. Drink it young.