White tea is the least processed of all teas. White teas may be made from just the buds (needles) or from the topmost young leaf. Fine white hairs cover the loosely rolled leaves that may be dark green or even black. The true ‘white’ character is seen in the liquor- clear and almost colourless with a delightful sweet and mellow taste-but this tea is sensitive so never use water hotter than 70C to brew your white tea. Caffeine content is naturally low, and antioxidants are abundant, sometimes as much as three times the level of regular teas.

White tea is the rarest type of tea because of its limited availability. What separates white tea from black, green and oolong is the way it is made – carefully selected plants plucked gently at dawn with the dew fresh on the leaf, and manufactured by hand with natural wither and drying using sunlight.

Like green tea, White tea is unfermented but fermentation is avoided by gentle handling rather than by steaming or roasting. Initial drying is done in the morning sun, followed by gentle hand rolling to give some curl to the leaf but not hard enough to break the cells and cause fermentation. The leaf is then dried completely in the strong afternoon sun. White tea is rare and expensive because of the skilled hand making involved, and because conditions are only right for making it at certain parts of the year.

More Tea is always seeking new and unusual sources for tea. While white tea has traditional been from China, we have stocked small quantities of white tea from many other sources over the years. Malawi, Zimbabwe, Turkey, Sri Lanka, where they are made in very small quantities.