White tea may be the simplest class of tea to describe, but one of the hardest teas to produce. The manufacture of China’s white tea is a centuries old pro- cess, predating most all other types of tea, dating back to the Tang Dynasty during which it was an imperial tribute tea under Emperor Huizong (r 626-649). Today it resides on China’s Famous Teas list. |
The original pure form of white tea consists of only the tender, un- opened budsets. Specific varieties of China bush tea plants are cultivated especially for this class of tea in Fujian Province, located on China’s eastern coast.Ninety-five percent of the cultivars are mem- bers of the Da Hao (Big Sprout) variety of Camillia Sinensis var. sinensis. These tea bushes must be cultivars of tea |
lie north of the geographically important Minjiang River.
The unique vegetation of these specific plants including; Fuding Da This downy white covering of soft hairs are called “tricomes,” and |
Traditional Style Fujian Budset White Tea |
White tea is plucked in the early spring, before the buds develop into leaves. The weather must be exacting and perfect during the entire tea harvest for plucking Fujian white tea. There cannot be any rain, dew, or frost.The buds must be fully developed and plump, not too long, not too thin. Any slight varia- tions in the condition of the fresh leaf must be countered by the tea maker, to draw out the perfect flavor and style from the leaves. The end result is a lightly colored liquor, subtlety sweet, and slightly nutty, with tones of honey and peaches and no astringency or grassy undertones of green teas.During the final three weeks before white tea budsets are As you can imagine, it’s hard to control all the different Since the days of the Song Dynasty the traditional growing region for white tea has been Anhui Province in China, and tea growing regions in Assam, Sri Lanka is proving to be a
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New Style White Tea – Answering the Demand for More White Tea |
New style leaf white tea was created in the late 1900s as an answer to providing more white tea at a lower cost. New style white tea is given a light oxidation and bruising (rolling), before it’s fired at a higher temperature than usual for white teas. This causes a deepening of the teas flavor and a darkening of the leaf, turning it a gray-green color.This minor adjustment to the normal processing procedure changes the classification but just enough so that they are no longer considered to be traditional budset white teas, form an apt new classification as “new style white teas.” Although this makes sense to the Fujian tea mak- ers, it just adds confusion and uncertainty to buyers when labeling the product to be sold in the West. The two versions of white tea are quite different from one another and definitely not interchang- New style white tea is made from the first leaf bunch on the tea plant, and is processed just as carefully and minimally The processing is similar for both teas with outdoor withering in the shade and indoor withering with cool air, but the There are four different styles of pluck for new style white tea. They are:
Bai Mudan is made from a careful plucking of the first leaf and bud. The first leaf is The added availability of new style white tea has worked to satisfy the increasing demand, allowing more people to |