White tea has caught the wide attention of tea lovers, nutritionists, and scientists. The numerous studies indicating that white teas are abundant with anti-oxidants, anti-viral and anti-bacterial benefits, are leading more people to drink white tea. Combined with increasing demand, more brands as well as tea producing countries are actually offering white tea. Yet it’s important to understand that there are great variations in quality at brands that supply white tea products. Just how do the consumer distinguish the quality and value with the white tea that they are buying? Bill Lee, tea master of China Flair Tea Company and founding father of the Institute of Masters of Tea Arts, explains the best way to distinguish the standard of white tea by its most significant aspect–taste.

Varieties of White Tea

White tea is a group of tea manufactured in many areas of China, Taiwan and countries such as India and Nepal. White tea gets its name from the beautiful silvery white down that covers the young leaf buds. However, to be classified as a white tea it requires to even be processed based on the orthodox white tea method. That is why silvery young leaf buds are also seen in other tea categories including green teas and black teas, however they are not classified as a white tea.

The most traditional and prized white tea emanates from Zhenghe and Fuding counties in China’s southeastern province of Fujian. Traditional white teas from China are broken into several grades, each which has a different name. Each grade represents the quantity of young leaf buds which can be included and whether or not the lower leaves within the bud are incorporated. White teas with more silver leaf buds are likely to be considered a finer grade. The following are the traditional grades of white tea by name:

o Bai Hao Yin Zhen (White Downy Silver Needles, or simply just Silver Needles) – made entirely of young silver leaf buds

o Bai Mu Dan (White Peony) – contains the young silver leaf bud along with the two lower leaves

o Shou Mei (Longevity Brows) also known as Gong Mei (Tribute Brows) – almost entirely consists of mature leaves, with few silver buds.

What they are Silver Needles, White Peony, and Shou Mei represent grades of white tea, however these names particularly indicate the appearance of white tea, rather than your quality of white tea. Each name only indicates the percentage of young silver buds and mature leaves which might be incorporated to produce that design of tea. Forms of white tea with an increase of silver leaf buds much less mature leaves can create a lighter flavour along with a more delicate character. Incorporating elderly leaves will create a warmer and nuttier style.

Precisely why these styles are termed as grades is simply because producing white tea with an increase of silver leaf buds requires higher costs. White teas such as Silver Needles, that are made up of 100% silver leaf buds, therefore are more expensive and thought of a better grade.

So the issue of quality isn’t really concerning the grade that individuals choose, though the actual tea we buy within that exact grade. We may elect to drink a White Peony because we love that type of white tea, but we need to distinguish its quality by comparing it with other White Peony teas. Many brands now offer a white tea called White Peony, the quality of White Peony made available from brand X is not necessarily the identical quality as brand Y. Factors that determine its quality like the time of harvest, the age of the trees, their environment, along with the proper processing with the foliage is not indicated by its name.

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