What is white tea?
White tea is the least processed category and the most misunderstood. Two beliefs about it are near-universal and both are wrong: that it is unoxidised, and that it is low in caffeine.
tea type
What is being compared
Why these get confused
'Anji Bai Cha' translates as Anji white tea and is a green tea. The name refers to an albino cultivar’s pale leaf, not to white-tea processing.
Point by point
| Aspect | White tea | Green tea |
|---|---|---|
| Processing | Withered and dried. No fixing, no rolling. | Fixed by heat, then shaped and dried. |
| Is it unoxidised | No. Slow oxidation occurs across the long wither because nothing halts enzyme activity abruptly. | Yes, deliberately and quickly. |
| Caffeine | Not low. Bud-only grades are made from the part of the plant with the highest concentration. | Varies, and also not reliably low. |
| Grades | A picking ladder — Silver Needle, White Peony, Gong Mei, Shou Mei — rather than four styles. | Named teas that differ by region, cultivar and shaping. |
| Ageing | Ages well, and the cheapest grades age best. Aged white tea is a genuinely different drink. | Does not age. It fades. |
The short answer
White tea is delicate rather than weak, and the most common mistake is under-brewing it — more leaf and a longer steep, not less.
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