Now that we’ve seen all the different brands you can get of white tea, each with different properties, it’s time to look at the various kinds of white tea.
Best Types of White Tea
Silver needle
This is the most popular white tea you can find on the market. Silver Needle, also known as Yin Zhen, is only made from young white tea buds. You won’t find any other tea leaves in the silver needle mix. However, you might find many different silver needle teas which have their origins in different countries. The most popular silver needles come from the Chinese Fujian province, known as Bai Hao Yin Zhen. With a sweet and light flavor, brimming with smoothness and freshness, you’ll find light silver hairs hovering on the surface.
White peony
The second most popular white tea from the Chinese Fujian province is the white peony. The white peony has both buds and a few leaves that are either fresh green or brown. These leaves and stalks can become quite big when you get the white peony in a loose-leaf tea. This tea has a light and sweet aroma and gives you fresh touches of fresh dry hay and ripe fruits. The name of the white peony in Chinese is Bai Mu Dan or Pai Mu Tan.
The white peony is a much better option for people looking for healthy alternatives as it has more EGCg, which helps boost the immune system and offers anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial activity.
Gong mei
Another white tea delight from the Chinese is similar to white peony. However, it is made from a different tea cultivar with smaller leaves than other teas. You’ll find the color of this tea to be darker than white peony with a slightly stronger flavor.
Shou mei
Like Gong Mei, Shou Mei hails from China too, but you’ll find fewer buds in this than in Gong Mei. Also known as “Long Life Eyebrow Tea,” it is usually darker but the perfect choice to make white tea blends. Shou mei contains much less caffeine than the silver needle or white peony. So, it is a good option if you want to take a step back from the amount of caffeine you consume every day. However, you may have to deal with high levels of catechins, much like Pai Mu Tan.
Moonlight white
Last on our list is the Silver Moonlight tea, also known as Yue Guang Bai, a unique Chinese white tea from Yunnan. It looks closer to black, and the flavor is that of a dark tea than you’ll find it to be of a typical white tea. However, in contrast with the look, the flavor has no bitterness at all; instead tastes sweet and rich.
How To Choose the Best Quality White Tea
When choosing the best white tea, it is important to pay attention to a few things, such as:
Appearance
The best way to know that your Chinese silver needle is high quality is to check for abundant white buds and hair. It will also feature big plump buds without any leaves at all. The color of the tea would also be silverish green. However, one thing that is very important for you to note is that tea leaves should always have an attractive appearance no matter when the tea has been harvested.
Scent
If there is no scent, the tea leaves are either low quality or stored in bad conditions. Every tea should always have a fresh scent.
Touch
Tea leaves should feel gentle and silky to the touch. If they are plump buds, the tea is of high quality.
Flavor
Since white tea is naturally lightly sweet, any tea that tastes moldy or has a strong wet hay flavor with excessive bitterness is not of good quality.
