Organic Spike Bud Tea: Single Buds from Old Shan Trees

Goo Farm Tea Vietnam now supplies organic spike bud tea, a green tea made only from single tea buds. Each bud is picked by hand before its first leaf opens, from old Shan tea trees in the same organic partner garden as our Organic Snow Shan grades. It is the rarest pick of our organic range, for specialty tea shops, gift tins and premium private labels. The full specification and the indicative FOB price are on the Organic Spike Bud Tea page.

What is spike bud tea?

A tea shoot ends in a bud wrapped tight around the leaves still to come. Spike bud tea uses that bud alone: no open leaf and no stalk. The buds are picked in the short window when they are plump but still closed, then dried whole and straight, so the finished tea looks like a heap of silver-green needles covered in fine white down.

In Vietnam this style is called dinh tra, "nail tea", after the straight, slender shape of the buds. Every bud is picked one by one, and a kilo needs far more picking than leaf tea, so it is the most expensive tea we offer from this garden.

From old Shan trees in an organic garden

The buds come from old Shan tea trees (Camellia sinensis var. assamica) growing above 1,000 metres in the mountains of northern Vietnam. The partner garden is farmed organically, with no synthetic fertilisers or chemical pesticides. The buds are processed on the day of picking: withered, pan-fired to keep them green, and dried without heavy rolling so that each bud stays whole.

Leaf and cup

• Dry leaf: whole, straight buds, silver-green with fine white down.
• Liquor: clear, bright golden.
• Aroma: fresh and delicate.
• Taste: smooth and sweet, with no bitterness.
• Infused leaf: plump, whole buds that turn a soft yellow-green in the cup.

Spike bud tea or Snow Shan Premium?

All three teas below come from the same garden. The difference is the plucking:

The bud alone gives a lighter, sweeter and more delicate cup than the bud-and-leaf grades. For a fully oxidised tea from the same garden, see our Organic Red Tea.

Testing, samples and orders

The garden is farmed to Vietnam's national organic standard (TCVN 11041-6:2018). The tea does not hold EU or USDA organic certification, and each shipment can be tested for pesticides and heavy metals by an independent laboratory on request.

Organic spike bud tea is a small-harvest tea, supplied in smaller lots than our standard grades and packed in vacuum aluminium bags or private-label retail packs. Ask for a sample of Organic Spike Bud Tea and we will confirm the available volume and lead time.