White Tea - Bai Cha
White tea (Bai Cha) is the tea category with the least amount of processing. In general, tea farmers pick the leaves, sort for the type of leaves they want, and wither outdoors over a couple weeks.
Although there is a grading system for White tea, we do not use it in our shop. Customers typically think that higher grade White tea means higher quality, when in fact it only distinguishes the type of pick. Higher grade tends to be higher price because it is harder to pick, not because the quality of the pick is higher.
Because of our exclusive connections in the Chinese market, we have been able to bring back the most interesting White teas to sell in the US. What distinguishes our White teas from those in other tea shops is that we carry true ancient tree White tea ("Gu Shu Bai Cha") and many of our White teas have been properly aged. Aged White teas are scarce and sought after because of their additional purported health benefits and richer flavors compared to regular Whites.