White Tea (baihao
Yinxhen, white down silver needles)
It
sounds rather fabulous, and indeed it is, for this tea consists of
nothing but buds, which are covered with whitish hairs. A rare tea
produced only in China, chiefly in Fujian province, it originally
came from wild mountain trees. The connoisseurs seem to have been
seeking the ultimate, and tender young leaves while they were still
more delicate, before they had even burst from the bud.
The
Song dynasty "Tea Emperor" Hui Zong wrote that white tea has the
rarest and most delicate flavor. He called it a special kind
different from all others, but some people now consider it a form of
green tea.
White tea has now become more widely available, often sold as
Silvery Tip Pekoe, a form of its traditional name, and now also
under the simpler designations China White and Fujian White. Its
main area of production is Jianyang county in northern Fujian
province.
When the buds are fully grown in spring, just before they open,
they are plucked from the ends of the branches, along with a few
attached leaves. Buds an inch long are picked out for first quality
tea. The leaves are from two strains, Shui Hsien (Water Sprite) and
Dai Bai (Dabai, Big White).
Rolling and fermenting are not part of this tea's processing. The
leaves are de-enzymized by steaming. When they are infused, the buds
stand upright like a forest of stalagmites in the cup. The pale
yellow brew has a mellow, sweet taste.
The smaller buds and leaves become raw material for the Pai Mu
Tan (Baimudan, White Peony) and Show Mee (Shoumei, Longevity
Eyebrow) varieties. The bulk White Peony looks like a lot of tiny
bouquets, with clusters of small round white flowers surrounded by
gray-green leaves. They produce a clear orange-yellow beverage. This
is also a rare tea. The Show Mee silvery leaves produce a light
brownish orange drink with a sweet taste.
White tea is held to be particularly valuable for lowering heat,
combating the influence of dampness, and stimulating the intestinal
tract.
