White tea refers to tea that has only undergone deactivation of its enzymes but is not rolled and twiddled and dried in the sun or with gentle heat. It is a slightly fermented tea and the special precious tea of China’s different varieties of tea. Since people pick the tender tea sprouts and leaves with its white fluff coated leaf backs and people do not fry or knead the leaves when processing but only dry them in sun or with a gentle heat, the white fluff on the surface of the tea is retained in its entirety. This is the reason for which the end products of white tea are white.
The manufacturing of white tea has a history about 200 years and the practice originated in Fuding County, hence the name Fuding White Tea. The white tea is a specialty of Fujian and its major producing areas are Fuding, Zhenghe, Songxi and Jianyang etc. Moreover, the leaves of Anji white tea produced in Zhejiang China and Zheng’an white tea produced in Guizhou China are white all over due to natural variation, accounting for differentiation from common white tea with its white fluff.
The main varieties of white tea include the Silver Needle, White Peony Tea,Gongmeiand the Long Brow etc. The Silver Needle Pekoe is notable in particular, as all its tea sprouts are covered in white fluff and its shape is straight and upright like a needle. It is one of the teas with the most graceful appearances amongst a variety of tea leaves, which makes it very attractive. The tea water is light yellow and fresh, and it smells mellow as well as refreshing. What's more, it has a fantastic aftertaste.
The Silver Needle Peko, also called Silver Needle or ‘Peko’ for short, is densely covered with white fluff and is as white as silver, with the shape of a needle, hence it received the name ‘Silver Needle Peko’. It has a pure and fresh fragrance, light yellow tea water and fresh and refreshing flavor, so it is the highest-quality white tea and hailed as “beauty of teas” and the “Tea King”. Since the raw materials of fresh leaves are all large sprouts picked from the big white leaf trees, its product is more than 3cm long and the whole tea sprout is covered with white fluffs like luminescent silver fabric which is most pleasing to the eye. After mixing with water, the tea has a pure and fresh fragrance and mellow flavor. The landscape in a cup of the tea is also aesthetically pleasing and interesting.
The White Peony Tea is made of the short and small first growing sprouts and the first and second growing leaves from large white tea tress or one of the narcissus-species. It is the highest in quality of the white teas. There is silvery white fluff in the heart of its green leaves which causes it to resemble a flower, which, when immersed in water takes on the appearance of a tender budding sprout in early bloom, hence the beautiful name “White Peony Tea”.
Source: Confucius Institute Online
