WHITE TEA

Tea of Emperors and Legends

Since the days of the Song Emperors, white tea has been synonymous with Fujian Province, and, like other famous place specific teas such as Lung Ching from Hangzhou or Tieguanyin from Anxi , white tea is unique. Its elegant appearance and ethereal style delivers a flavor that no other tea can claim. As with all originals, finished white tea is the result of the unique combination of soil, climate, tea bush cultivar and processing techniques that cannot be duplicated elsewhere. In the best of years the production of authentic Fujian budset white tea is small, so the tea is costly.

Fujian white tea is produced in three restricted locales: Fuding county, Jianyang county and Zhenghe county, all located north of the Min River. The tea must be plucked from tea bush cultivars that were developed in the late 1800’s from tea bushes indigenous to these locations. The leaves of these specific plants – Fuding Da Bai ( Fuding Big White ), Zhenghe Da Bai ( Zhenghe Big White ), Narcissus, and Vegetable or Xiao Bai ( Small White ) - are broad and large and uniquely able to produce buds and leaf that, after processing, maintain a covering of fine, downy white hair. Some white teas are used in the creation of presentation or ‘blooming’ flower teas and for some strictly-top-shelf Jasmine tea.