White Tea

White tea was considered a rarity among the twenty types of tea mentioned in the Ta Kuan Ch’a Lun. According to this 12th-century volume, white tea came from trees with heavily branched branches that grew on the forested slopes of mountains. In the emperor’s opinion, the best leaves were those “whitish and shaped like swallows’ tongues.” White tea was so rare that it could only be found in three or four tea gardens, and no more than three bags full of leaves were harvested each year. The Tea Council of the United States of America is currently leading efforts to develop an internationally recognized standard definition for white tea. The following wording has been proposed: tea produced either from the first race bud, or from the bud and one leaf, either by air drying or by direct mechanical heating—where the leaves are heated by mechanical means. The leaves used to make white tea are not subjected to the processes of wilting, fermentation, or rolling, resulting in a liquid that is either pale yellow or clear. We recommend the white tea from the teahouse: Ginger Mint Organic, you can also order it for home use here: Ginger Mint Organic