The world of tea is not all black and green. There is white tea as well. Delicately flavored white tea is made by steeping the tea shrub’s newly developed, fuzzy white buds. All true teas–for example, a white “silver needle,” a black Darjeeling or a green Tencha–are made with leaves from the same species of evergreen shrub, Camellia sinensis. The color and flavor come, for the most part, from the degree of processing.
After the tea leaves are harvested, some leaves are fermented, heated and then dried to make black tea varieties. Others are steamed and dried to produce green teas. But of all tea types, white tea undergoes the least processing. The best large white tea buds grow only on certain plants. The buds are difficult to pluck properly. The harvest season is limited to a couple of days per year. Therefore, white teas command a premium price.
Just as with tea in general, though, white tea has its grades. The least expensive and least delicate is sowmee, said Bill Holland, a co-owner of Todd & Holland Tea Merchants in River Forest. This can leave a “bitey” impression. Next up is pai mutan, which is a favorite of some academics and acupuncturists (“not deadline types”) who drink it all day, infusing the same pot of leaves four or five times. It makes a lighter tea than green teas do.
“The special teas, the ones that people fawn over, tend to be ‘silver needles,’ ” Holland said. The tea gets its name from silvery down on the furled leaves, plucked from the tip of the branch. Naturally, there are grades of silver needles too. “The best of the best would be ‘before the rains’ tea,” he said, which is the plant’s first, slow growth before the spring rainy season spurs growth. It has the most flavor and is the most succulent.
If black tea can be compared to a sturdy red wine, Holland said, then white tea is like a delicate white wine. The liquid will be light in color, without the greenish yellow of a green tea, and a very good silver needles will have an almost sweet aroma. There’s very little tannin. “You have to squish the liquor against the roof of your mouth to get the dryness, but it’s there. It’s very subtle.”
As befits a rarified commodity, the prices can be breathtaking on first hearing: $220 buys a quarter-pound of Todd & Holland’s Ceylon silver needles special.
“If you spent that kind of money on a white tea, you don’t answer the door and you don’t pick up the pager” when the tea is ready, Holland said. “There aren’t a lot of foods that you do that with.”
Holland points out that you can infuse the same leaves multiple times, bringing the cost per cup down to below that of a grande latte, but the up-front cost still daunts. For $22, you can buy a quarter-pound of mutan special China white tea.
“If the tea doesn’t taste good to you, then heavens to Betsy, don’t pay for it,” he said.
Preparing white teas isn’t as simple as pouring boiling water over loose tea in a pot, the preferred treatment for most black teas.
“You treat it as you would a green tea,” Holland said. With whites, the better the tea, the lower the temperature, because the water doesn’t need to break through the oxidized crust of a black tea.
Let the boiled water cool to 175 degrees before infusing a pai mutan. A very good silver needles needs only 158-degree water. A great silver needles tea should be able to provide the enthusiast with seven or eight infusions, with subtle changes occurring from batch to batch.
This level of attention may be hard for a coffee drinker to fathom, but there’s at least one reason to consider white tea: Some research groups, such as the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, have suggested that white tea may provide more health benefits than black or green tea.
Republic of Tea has a new line of plain and flavored white teas grown in China’s Fujian province. The Emperor’s White Tea has a subtle and fresh flavor; it’s about $14 for a 50-tea bag can. To order by mail from Republic of Tea, call 800-298-4832. Web site: www.republicoftea.com.
The Chinese Bai Mei sold by Harney & Sons tea blenders has the silvery leaves tied in star shapes. The flavor is mellow and a tad floral. A three-ounce tin of loose, star-shaped Bai Mei is $25 and available by mail; call 888-427-6398. Web site: www.harney.com. Harney also sells a Ceylon silver tips.
Todd & Holland, which sells its teas in airtight zippered pouches, is at 7577 Lake St., River Forest. Call 708-488-1136 or visit www.todd-holland.com.
