White tea is a lightly oxidized tea grown and harvested almost exclusively in China, primarily in the Fujian province.
White tea comes from the delicate buds and younger leaves of the Chinese Camellia sinensis plant. These buds and leaves are allowed to wither in natural sunlight before they are lightly processed to prevent oxidation or further fermentation. This preserves the characteristic flavour of the white tea.
The name "white tea" derives from the fine silvery-white hairs on the unopened buds of the tea plant, which gives the plant a whitish appearance.
The manufacturing of white tea is relatively simple compared to the manufacturing of other teas. The base process for manufacturing white tea is as follows:
Fresh tea leaf → Withering → Drying (air drying, solar drying or mechanical drying) → White tea
White tea belongs to the group of tea that does not require panning, rolling or shaking. Therefore, its manufacture saves time and labour. However, the selection of raw material in white tea manufacture is extremely stringent; only the plucking of young tea leaves with much fine hair can produce good-quality white tea with lots of pekoe.