What is white tea?
White tea is known for its pale color and subtle flavor. Like other types of tea, it is produced from the camellia sinensis tea plant. Some common types of white tea include White Peony white tea and silver tip white tea.
After harvesting, white tea leaves are dried and shaped. Unlike other types of tea, white tea usually undergoes little to no further processing. White teas receive very little oxidation. These teas tend to be more delicate than other types of tea, with a mellow floral flavor.
Choosing a white tea
Which white tea is right for you depends on a number of factors, including whether you're interested in a classic or flavored tea, how much caffeine you want, what flavors you're looking for, and what your budget is.
If you want: a silver tip white tea
Silver tip white teas are made from the first downy tips and buds of the tea plant. They tend to be very light and mellow. Because they're made from very young tea leaves, they're often slightly higher in caffeine than other types of white tea. They also tend to be higher in l-theanine, a beneficial compound that can help with calm and focus.
1. Jasmine Silver Needle White Tea
Bai Hao Silver Needle tea leaves are scented with fresh jasmine blossoms to create a delicate, aromatic tea with the tantalizing floral scent of jasmine. Jasmine Silver Needle is composed of downy, silver-tipped tea leaves of the finest quality.
2. Kenya Silverback White Tea
Kenya Silverback is a silver needle tea made from the first downy buds and tips of the tea plant, and has a light, mellow flavor, with a subtle sweetness and notes of honey and vanilla. This tea is sourced from the Nandi Highlands in Kenya.
If you're looking for: a flavored white tea
White tea is often best-known for the delicate, floral flavor of the tea leaves on their own. But white tea can also be blended with other fruits, flowers, and herbs to create delicious flavored tea blends! Here are a few of our favorite flavored white teas.
1. Mango Pear White Tea
White Peony tea leaves combine with mango, apple, and pear for a delicate, fruity tea with tons of flavor. Mango Pear is delicious hot and also makes an excellent iced tea.
2. Peachy Keen White Tea
This fruity white tea is reminiscent of the heart of summer, when fresh fruit is in abundance. Delicate white tea leaves are flavored with peach, quince, orange, and tangerine. Peachy Keen is excellent hot or iced.
3. Spring Fancy White & Green Tea
Spring Fancy is a light, fruity tea that’s perfect for spring and great year-round. This tea blends white and green tea leaves with papaya, pineapple, rose petals, strawberry pieces, and passion fruit for a mellow, tropical tea that’s bursting with flavor.
If you're looking for: a mellow full leaf white tea
While some white teas are made from the very first downy buds and tips of the tea plant, other white teas are made from more mature tea leaves. These teas still have a light, delicate flavor, but they tend to be slightly lower in caffeine, and have more floral and fewer umami notes.
1. White Peony White Tea
White Peony, also known as Bai Mu Dan, is an organic full-leaf white tea sourced from the Fujian Province of China. Consisting of both buds and leaves that are air dried after harvesting, this subtle white tea has a floral aroma and velvety taste.
If you're looking for: white tea from a unique source
Most white teas are grown in China, where the tea plant originated. But some other countries, like Nepal, are making a name for themselves as producers of specialty teas, including white tea.
1. Himalayan Spring White Tea
The first leaves of the spring season are hand-plucked in the foothills of Nepal to produce this refreshing organic white tea. Himalayan Spring brews up into a pale, peachy straw color, and embodies the characteristic lightness and brightness of a spring harvest white tea. This tea is smooth and buttery, with no hint of bitterness.
Preparing white teas
White teas are delicate, and optimal preparation involves steeping the tea in water that is steaming but not yet boiling.
To prepare white tea, heat water to approximately 180 degrees. We recommend using one teaspoon of tea leaves for every six ounces of water. Steep the tea for two to three minutes, then remove the leaves and enjoy. White teas can be infused multiple times in order to enjoy successive cups of tea using the same leaves.
