What is white tea? Learn more about white tea.

What does it mean for a tea to be white? Aren’t they all some shade of brown, darker or lighter? It seems that white tea doesn’t imply the tea, once steeped, is white, but rather refers to the tiny silver white hairs on the buds of the plant when they are plucked. As we have established all teas come from the Camellia sinenesis plant. White teas as well but the leaves are younger and processed far less than the others teas, such as green, black, pu’erh and yellow. There are different schools of thought on what a white tea is. Below are some of the more common ones. We will look more at what is what tea exactly.

Some refer to a tea as white if it has only been dried with no additional processing.
Tea made from the buds and immature tea leaves picked just before the buds have completed opened. And then withered and dried in the sun naturally.
Tea buds and very young leaves are plucked. They are then steamed or fired before drying.

Everyone seems to agree though, that white tea isn’t rolled or oxidized. This is what gives it it’s “lighter “flavour. And as stated at the beginning, white tea is not white after being brewed but a pale yellow. The first white teas were from Fujian province in China. But now many countries produce white teas such as Nepal, Taiwan, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India.

Manufacturing process for White Tea

The manufacturing process for white tea is simple: take the free tea leaves, with them, dry them in the air, sun or by heating, this then gives white tea.

All teas follow this basic process. What makes white tea different from the others? White teas don’t require extra rolling or shaking in the latter stages of the manufacturing process. However, the initial stages when plucking the tea leaves is important. It has to be early on when there are still fine hairs on the buds.

There are 3 main steps to the production of white tea (and tea in general)

Withering

The plucked leaves are spread out to soften the cell walls of the leaves. The idea is the moisture comes towards the surface to be evaporated, the leaves soften and the natural fermentation process starts. This process helps minimize the grassy/herby taste of the tea leaves. This can be done indoors or outdoors. Ideal is to start outdoor withering on a mild summer day followed by more withering inside. Stems are removed from the leaves. When the moisture content is about 4-5% then the leaves are ready to be packaged.

“Kill green” (fixing)

The leaves are steamed, hand pressed in a hot pan and / or baked. The idea is to stop the natural fermentation and growing process of the leaves without damaging them.

Rolling/Forming

The leaves are put through hot and/or cold rollers to gently break down the leaves. This helps establish the shape of the leaves and intensify the flavour.

Drying

The leaves are now dried either in the sun, by heating them or using hot air. This stops the fermentation process, prevents any mold growth, removes any final grassy taste and helps enhance the tea’s aroma.

Varieties of White Tea

There are different varieties of white tea the following being the most popular:

White Peony white tea (Bai Mu Dan):

This white tea is made from the first and second tips of a tea stem. This seems to relate to the quality white tea. Definitely a future blog post to talk about first and second tips of a tea stem. When the tea leaves are brewed it’s as if they bloom like buds of flowers in spring. Hence the name, white peony.

Silver Needle White tea (Bai Hao Yin Zhen):

This is the most expensive of the white teas. Made from the single tips of the tea stem. When they are dried they look like needles. It has a refreshing taste.

Monkey picked white tea:

Very high quality Chinese tea. It’s made from the buds and very young tea leaves of the tea plant. There is a rumor that these buds and leaves were once harvested by Buddhist trained monkeys in the mountainous regions of China, hence the name “monkey picked”.

Darjeeling White Tea:

This tea is cultivated from the tea plants native to the Darjeeling region of India rather than the original Chinese white tea plant making the flavour profile different. The processing of the tea, however, is similar to the Fujian white teas.

Buying and storing tea.

Tea never really goes bad but it can go stale. White tea and some of the more delicate green teas and lower oxidized teas can stay fresh for up to a year. The way the tea is stored will determine exactly how long it stays fresh. Some storage tips to consider are,

Store in a cool dark place
Store away from heat, light, oxygen and moisture. Never store in the refrigerator.
Store in an opaque, airtight container.
Store separately from items like coffee, spices whose flavour can get into the tea leaves.

Preparing White Tea

All tea is steeped or brewed in some form. How long, how much and at what temperature is what makes the difference. Here are some guidelines:

Some white tea varieties can be brewed longer and slighter hotter than green teas. 3-5 minutes around 190 degrees.
However, the more delicate white teas are best steeped for 2-3 minutes at 160-180 degrees.
Never overstep tea. I have a tendency to forget I’m steeping tea and overstep. This may result in that bitter taste and astringency. So, steep for the recommended time, taste, and steep more if needed.
About 2g of loose leaf tea for each 8 ounce cup of water is the best way to measure your tea and water.
Cover the teapot or teacup while steeping. This keeps all the heat in the cup or teapot.
The better quality teas can be steeped more than once. The intensity of the flavour will differ slightly but this can be nice.

References:

About White Tea, The Chinese Tea Shop, URL: http://www.thechineseteashop.com/whitetea.html
White Tea, Wikipedia,URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_tea
What is White Tea?, Teatulia Organic Teas, URL:https://www.teatulia.com/tea-varieties/what-is-white-tea.htm

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Lani and Norm

I enjoy learning and sharing that knowledge.Sharing has been in many forms over the years, as a teaching assistant, university lecturer, Pilates instructor, math tutor and just sharing with friends and family.Throughout, summarizing what I have learnt in words has always been there and continues to through blog posts, articles, video and the ever growing forms of content out there!