Yunnan Snow Buds (Xue Ya)
Yunnan Snow Buds, Xue Ya, is a bud-forward white tea made from the downy spring buds of Yunnan's large-leaf trees, named for the snow-white pekoe that coats them. It is essentially Yunnan's answer to Silver Needle: a delicate, sweet, bud-driven white, but built on assamica rather than the small-leaf Fujian cultivars, which gives it its own fuller, fruitier accent. The snow buds name is descriptive and widely reused, so the Yunnan version is one of several unrelated teas that share it.
Look for plump, intact buds heavily coated in silver-white down, larger and more substantial than a Fujian Silver Needle bud because of the assamica leaf. Color should be silvery to pale green-gold, clean and bright, with little broken leaf or stem mixed in. The dry aroma is sweet and fresh, with melon, hay, and a cool, light floral note. The liquor brews pale gold and clear, sweet and soft, with a little more body and stone-fruit depth than a Fujian bud white. Because snow buds is a marketing-friendly name attached to several different teas, confirm you are getting a Yunnan large-leaf white and not a same-named green or yellow tea from elsewhere.
This is a Yunnan tea, made from the large-leaf assamica trees that also give the region its puerh and its other downy whites. The buds are picked early in spring, before the main flush, and processed as white tea: withered and dried, with no rolling or firing. It is closely related to Yunnan's other bud-forward whites and overlaps in spirit with Moonlight White, though Xue Ya leans toward a clean, silvery, bud-pure presentation. Note that the name Xue Ya (snow bud) is shared with unrelated teas such as Sichuan's Meng Ding Xue Ya, so origin matters when sorting them out.
80-85°C; like any bud-only white it wants cool water and patience, though the assamica buds are a touch more forgiving than Fujian ones. Western: 3 g per 200 ml at 85°C, 2-3 minutes, 3-4 infusions, lengthening as the buds open. Gongfu: 5 g per 100 ml in a glass or porcelain gaiwan at 85°C, 40-60 seconds first steep, ascending 15-20 seconds per infusion for 6-8 steeps. Cold brewing over several hours in the refrigerator gives a clean, sweet expression that flatters the buds.
Yunnan Snow Buds runs €20-45 (about $22-49) per 100 g, carrying the labor premium of a bud-only pick while generally undercutting top-grade Fuding Silver Needle. Clear Yunnan provenance justifies the upper end.
Prices reviewed June 2026
As a Yunnan large-leaf white, Xue Ya can be aged in the same way Yunnan and Fujian whites are, slowly trading fresh sweetness for honey and dried-fruit depth over a few years of dry storage. Keep it sealed, dry, and odor-free; bud-only material is delicate, so fresh enjoyment within the first year or two is also entirely fair.
Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yinzhen)
The Fujian bud-white standard; Xue Ya offers the same single-bud delicacy but with the fuller, fruitier signature of Yunnan assamica.
Moonlight White (Yue Guang Bai)
Yunnan's better-known bud-and-leaf white, with its dark-and-light leaf contrast; Xue Ya is the cleaner, more bud-pure, more silver-presenting cousin.
Ya Bao (Wild Tea Buds)
Another Yunnan bud white, but from wild or old trees and unmistakably different: resinous and herbal where Xue Ya is sweet and soft.
Meng Ding Xue Ya (Snow Buds, Sichuan)
A name-twin from Sichuan that is a different tea entirely; the shared snow buds label is a frequent source of confusion.
The snow in Xue Ya refers to the dense white down (pekoe trichomes) on the buds, not the season or the weather, and several unrelated Chinese teas borrow the same evocative name. Yunnan's large-leaf buds wear that down more heavily than most, which is part of why the region's whites look so frosted.