Classifying the Silver Snail presents some difficulties: some believe that Yin Lo is a white tea, while others refer it to it as a green tea. Such disagreements arise from the fact that the tea leaves from which the Silver Snail is produced are harvested from the same bushes that serve as a source of raw materials for white teas. However, they undergo the same heating and curling procedures as other green teas.

Only young tea buds are selected in production of Yin Luo tea. The tea buds are covered with a delicate silver down, hence the "silver" in the name. The unusual shape of this tea is made with special bamboo sticks. At the final stage of production, the tea leaves are twisted into small snail-shaped spirals. Due to the painstaking work and expensive raw materials, the Silver Snail belongs in the elite category of teas.