What is white tea? Pai Mu Tan explained
White tea is tea with almost nothing done to it. The young leaves and silvery buds are picked, left to wither, and dried. No rolling, no oxidising, no firing. What you get is the gentlest cup from the tea plant, pale, soft and subtly sweet. Pai Mu Tan, which means White Peony, is the best known style and the one we sell.
Where it comes from
Fujian province in China, the same region that gives us jasmine tea and Lapsang Souchong. Pai Mu Tan is made from the bud and the first two leaves of the spring growth. The buds are covered in fine white down, which is where the name white tea comes from. A dearer style called Silver Needle uses only the buds. Pai Mu Tan includes the leaves too, which gives it a bit more flavour and makes it the better everyday white tea.
What it tastes like
Pale gold in the cup, soft and smooth, lightly sweet with a note of hay and melon. There is no bitterness and no astringency if you brew it right. It is not a tea for someone who wants a strong cup. It is a tea for a quiet afternoon, and for anyone who finds even green tea too sharp.
How to brew it
Cooler water and more leaf. Boil the kettle and leave it for three minutes to reach about 80°C. Use two heaped teaspoons per 200ml, because the leaf is big and light and a single spoon is barely anything. Brew four to five minutes. It is the one tea where a long steep does not punish you. Use a basket infuser or a pot, since a ball cannot hold enough of it. No milk.
It steeps well two or three times. Add a minute each round.
Caffeine
Low, roughly 15 to 30mg a mug, less than green tea, though not zero. The idea that white tea is caffeine free is a myth. For none at all, you want rooibos, honeybush or a herbal.
Why it costs more
Only the youngest leaves and buds are used, picked for a few weeks in spring, and the yield is small. A 50g pouch is £11.95, but at two spoons a cup steeped twice it still works out around 50p a mug.