The scarcity of white tea is part of its appeal

White tea is not rare, but it is relatively scarce. Some 800-900 tons of white tea are produced each year in the world, which doesn’t exactly sound like scarcity, does it. However, compared to the 4.5 million tons of all tea produced worldwide annually, white tea’s share is pretty small. The relative scarcity is pegged to its harvesting. White tea is made only from the unfurled spring buds on a tea bush. A typical bush has 3,000 leaves. Because only a small portion of them are budded on any given harvest day, the spring harvest is pretty meager. Furthermore, it is said to take 70-80,000 buds to make a kilogram of quality white tea. Production numbers don’t add up very fast at that rate. The center of white tea production in the world is Fujian Province in China. Growing conditions are perfect there and centuries of tea-making have honed the process to an art as much as a science. Some quality white teas are grown elsewhere, but there also are teas called “white” that are more mongrel than pureblood. That’s not true in Fujian. A tea plant’s potent and immature buds, including its silvery hairs, are the ingredients for white tea. White tea cannot be made from more mature and fully open leaves, no matter how healthy and fresh they are. While such leaves will be harvested and processed into Chinese oolong tea or green tea or some other quality tea, they are too old to be of any use for white tea production. White tea also is the least processed of any Chinese teas. That is, it is not baked or otherwise cooked to halt oxidization. Rather it is air-dried till it wilts naturally, which minimizes enzyme breakdown. The result is a tea that is full of polyphenols, catechins, and other nutrients. This rich content is what gives white tea its reputation as an especially healthful tea. Almost all tea is good for a drinker, but white tea has some unique properties. For one, its antioxidants are more concentrated than in, for example, green tea. For another thing, its minimal processing creates less of the chemical compound called caffeine, which can be a problem for some consumers of tea. The specialty nature of white tea means that it is a little pricier than, say, green or black tea. Mass production is what drives down prices and white tea is anything but mass-produced. So lovers of white tea must be prepared to savor the tea and forget about how much was paid for it. White tea has a special reputation because it is special. If someone pours you a cup, recognize that you have been honored.