What is White Tea?

WHAT IS WHITE TEA? 
Like so many concepts in a universe as broad as that of tea, many people disagree about some of the fine details that allow us to categorize a tea as 'white'. 

Some commonalities among most definitions of 'white tea':

• Not rolled 
• Not steamed or pan-fired (but air-dried, with or without sunshine)

Leaves for White Moonlight tea, in Jingu, Yunnan (2012) 

 Picking standards are the more controversial topic: 

• Many people accept only tea buds (as in 'silver needles'), one bud and one leaf (some 'bai mudan'), or buds and young leaves.
• We also know some folks in Taiwan who produce 'white tea' with larger, sun-dried leaves; some of our tea friends in China flinch at such idea... but the tea is actually very tasty. 

Freshly picked tea buds and finished tea in Jingu, Yunnan. This tea is called Silver Needles, or sometimes White Moonlight Buds. 

A noteable commonality among most white teas is the use of cultivars that have a significant amount of 'down' on the buds (and therefore, on the backside of young leaves). This is quite important. 
The down protects young buds from oxidizing (hence they look white). As the young leaves dry slowly, the inner part will oxidize (taking on a dark brown colour) and the outer part, covered with down, will remain white. 

We encountered an exception in eastern Kyushu Island: 
Miyazaki Akira is an exceptional, organic farmer who specializes in kamairi (pan-fired) tea. He also produces a small amount of 白茶 (called 'haku cha', locally), using local, non-fuzzy tea cultivars. 

These old trees near Chiang Rai (Thailand) are used to craft a tea that is very similar to White Moonlight, with some characteristics highly reminiscent of raw Pu Er; we call it 'Thai Moonlight'.

ORIGINS OF WHITE TEA
Perhaps the most celebrated (and ancient) origin for white tea is Fuding, in Fujian Province. 
Taiwanese people have historical links to Fujianese, and also have a rich tradition of handcrafting white tea. More recently, the style has become popular in far-away lands, including Darjeeling and the Kanchenjunga region in Nepal, where local cultivars and terroir add an interesting spiciness to many of the teas we've tried. 

In the latter part of the 20th century, white tea began to be produced in Yunnan Province, the 'cradle of tea'. It is extremely interesting to experience these minimally processed teas crafted with leaves from assamica trees that can be several hundred years old!  

This is Gao Feng in Ba Da Shan, very close to the Old Tree White Moonlight tea trees. Fun fact... that massive tea beside him is a tea tree! 

IS YOUNG OR OLD BETTER? 
We only started hearing about aged white tea about 10 years ago. 
In the early 200s, in China, most of our friends suggested that fresh white tea, just like green tea, is much better. The same was true of our Western 'tea expert' friends. 
These days, however, aged white tea is trending all over China.