White tea

White tea is tea made from young leaves and buds of Camellia sinensis, usually withering and drying but little rolling or oxidation. Its pale appearance and delicate flavor vary with cultivar, harvest, and processing.

Camellia sinensis: An evergreen shrub whose leaves and buds are processed into tea. White tea comes from this species, as do green, oolong, and black teas.
Tea bud: An undeveloped shoot at the tip of a tea plant branch. Some white teas are harvested chiefly for their unopened buds.
Baihao Yinzhen: A Chinese white tea made primarily from down-covered tea buds. Its bud-only harvest makes it a classic example of a narrowly plucked white tea.
Tea brewing: The preparation of tea by extracting soluble compounds from leaves with water. White tea’s flavor depends on how its leaves are infused.
Green tea: Tea made from Camellia sinensis leaves whose oxidation is limited, usually by heat treatment. Green tea is also lightly oxidized, but typically receives early heat to inactivate enzymes.
Tea processing: The methods used to transform harvested tea leaves into finished tea. White tea’s identity rests on a comparatively simple sequence of leaf-processing steps.
Tea leaf: The leaf of Camellia sinensis, harvested and processed to make tea. Leaf size and maturity distinguish many white-tea harvests.
Bai Mudan: A Chinese white tea typically made from one bud and two young leaves. Its mix of buds and leaves contrasts with bud-only white tea.
Gongfu tea ceremony: A Chinese tea-preparation practice using small vessels and repeated short infusions. Repeated infusions can reveal changing aromas in white tea.
Yellow tea: A lightly oxidized tea made through a distinctive warming and yellowing process. Its additional yellowing step distinguishes it from the simpler processing of many white teas.

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TeaBroader topic: Gentle handling distinguishes it from more extensively shaped or oxidized teas.