White tea 白茶

Of the six types, white tea has the shortest processing: the leaf is only withered and dried. The name comes from the white down on the buds.

White tea takes two steps, withering and then drying. There is no fixing or rolling, so leaves and buds keep their natural shape, and oxidation runs on its own, slowly and lightly. The liquor is pale and sweet, with a scent of hay, honey and dried flowers.

Withering

Nearly everything depends on withering, wei diao (萎凋). Producers spread fresh leaf on bamboo trays, in the shade or in a well-ventilated room, and leave it for two to three days. It loses most of its water, turns soft and darkens slightly at the edges. In damp weather they warm it with hot air to keep mold away. A final drying over a low fire finishes the tea.

Fujian and the four types

Classic white tea comes from northeastern Fujian, from the counties of Fuding and Zhenghe. The local cultivars Fuding Da Bai and Zhenghe Da Bai have large buds thickly covered in silvery down, bai hao (白毫). The Chinese national standard divides white tea into four types by raw material¹:

The more buds a tea has, the paler and more delicate it is. Shou Mei brews fuller and darker and is the type most often pressed into cakes.

Aging

Green tea goes flat with time. White tea kept in dry storage changes instead: the liquor darkens to amber, the grassy notes fade, and dates, prunes and medicinal herbs appear. Sellers love quoting Fuding sayings about the virtues of age, but aged Shou Mei really is noticeably different from fresh.

How to brew

White tea is hard to ruin: it has little bitterness, and a long steep only makes the liquor denser. Brew Bai Hao Yin Zhen at 80–85 °C in a glass or a gaiwan. Shou Mei and aged cakes take water straight off the boil.