As discussed in our What is White Tea blog, White Teas are often perceived as the most enigmatic of the tea types.
Hailed as delicate, yet comprised of sturdy, frost-resisting downy buds, it's no wonder that White Tea as a category can feel somewhat ambiguous. That's why we like to liken White Teas to ballet dancers - they are delicate in appearance and performance in a way that belies their inner strength.
White Tea is the least processed of the tea types, undergoing only withering and drying with no step to either prevent or encourage enzymatic oxidation. So, you might say that White Teas are delicate because they are handled delicately. Indeed, White Teas are delicate in that they are more subject to the vagaries of storage conditions than other teas due to their processing. But it is the aroma, liquor, and flavor of White Teas that truly contribute to its delicate reputation - and those three factors depend heavily on how you brew your White Tea.
The best way to brew White Tea is going to depend on what White Tea you're brewing. We will spend some time discussing how to brew both the popular Silver Needles and White Peony teas, as well as scented White Teas like our Sweet White Peach or The Canfield in Red.
As a general rule, we tend to recommend using weight to measure your tea, regardless of the type of tea you're using. With White Teas, we especially recommend pulling out a kitchen scale to measure your tea because the buds tend to be long and light, making teaspoons, scoops, and your eyeballs imperfect measuring methods.
Most teas brew best in the Western-style at a ratio of 5 grams tea to 16 ounces of water.
The exception to this weight recommendation is if you are brewing in a traditional gaiwan. In this instance, it is appropriate to fill your gaiwan to approximately 1/3 with the leaves.
How to Brew White Tea
How to Brew White Tea
How to Brew White Tea
Gaiwans are wonderful for brewing white teas, and very simple to use! We recommend using a Silver Needle tea, though White Peony will also brew nicely in a gaiwan (though you may want to be sure to pour over a strainer to catch small pieces of leaf.)
Gaiwain
Sharing pitcher
Small cup(s)
White Tea
185° F filtered water
1. Warm your gaiwan with at-temperature water
2. Pour this warming water into the sharing pitcher and then into the cups
3. Fill your gaiwan by 1/3 with Silver Needle White Tea
4. Pour 185° F water over the buds and replace the lid
5. Steep for 45 seconds to 1 minute
6. While the tea is steeping, discard your warming water
7. Pour the steeped tea into your sharing pitcher and serve in your cup(s)
8. Resteep multiple times at decreasing time intervals
Try brewing in a gaiwan with your favorite white tea and our favorite gaiwan for beginners.
Caffeine in White Tea continues the pattern of ambiguity and equivocation that we've seen so far. Some sources will tell you that White Tea has the lowest caffeine of traditional teas while others will argue that it has the most. We're going to briefly talk about why there's so much confusion about something that should arguably be measurable and then discuss how you can play around with the levels of caffeine in your cup.
The short answer to this is, simply, no. A stem tea like Wood Dragon or a roasted tea like Hojicha will have less caffeine than a White Tea.
How much caffeine is in White Tea, however, is a bit more complicated. Arguably because White Tea is made from the young, tender buds and leaves that comprise the early spring new growth on the tea plant - and because White Tea is the closest to the natural state of the leaves - White Tea could have as much if not more caffeine than other types of tea. This line of thought has challenged conventional wisdom that White Tea has the least caffeine and inspired new research into the properties of White Tea.
The results? Researchers have found White Tea in laboratory settings to contain similar amounts of caffeine as other types of tea.
The catch? We don't drink laboratory teas and, as we've discussed in other blogs, each type of tea exhibits its best flavor profiles under different brewing conditions.
For this reason, the amount of caffeine in your cup is going to vary based on the type of White Tea you're drinking and how you choose to brew it.
In general, the higher the temperature and the longer the steep, the more caffeine you will extract from the leaves. As we mentioned previously, the downy hairs on the tea buds are hydrophobic and caffeine is water-soluble, so a cup of Silver Needle tea is likely to have less caffeine than a cup of White Peony.
Scented White Teas will have the lowest caffeine among the White Teas we've discussed today (outside of our Nan Mei Wild Buds, which is naturally caffeine-free). This is because the 5 grams of tea you're using to brew your cup is comprised of not only tea, but also fruits and / or florals. This lowers the caffeine proportionally.
At the end of the day, the "right" way to brew is the way that tastes best to you. If you find your cup is too strong or too light, play around with the ratio of tea to water, the temperature of the water, and the length of your brew.
Happy steeping!
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