How to brew white tea: gentle and sweet
White tea is hardly processed: the buds and leaves are only withered and dried. The taste is soft, sweet and delicate, and it is easy to drown it with water that is too hot.
The basics
White tea has a lot of volume: a spoonful of leaf looks like a lot more than a spoonful of black tea. Weigh it if you can.
- Silver Needle (buds): 80 to 85°C, 4 g for 100 ml in gongfu style, or 2 to 3 g for 200 ml for 3 to 5 minutes
- White Peony and Shou Mei (leaf and buds): 90 to 95°C, 3 to 5 minutes
- Aged white tea: 95 to 100°C, with a short rinse, and 2 to 3 minutes
Step by step
- Heat the water to the temperature that fits your tea.
- Put the leaf in a pot or a glass.
- Pour the water gently over the leaf.
- Steep for 3 to 5 minutes. Watch the colour: it should be pale gold.
- Pour off the tea and steep again. White tea gives many cups, each a little deeper than the one before.
Gongfu style
White tea works well in many short steeps: steeps of 20 to 30 seconds that grow a little longer each time. See the guide on gongfu brewing for the full method.