How To Brew White Tea

Firstly, ensure that yo purchase your white tea as “fresh” as possible from a reputable tea merchant. White tea is one of the most expensive varieties of tea you can purchase, so make sure you get your money’s worth!

Once you’ve purchased you tea, it should be kept in a dark, cool and dry place and preferably stored in an air tight container. This will ensure that your tea is kept at it’s “optimum” for the longest period possible. Exposing tea to moisture and heat will rapidly degrade the leaves. This is especially the case with white tea, due to its silver young buds, but will also apply to green tea and black tea.

White tea is the least processed and most delicate of all teas, and it is important to make sure that all its qualities survive the brewing process. One of the reasons, along with its superb taste, to buy white tea is to take advantage of their strong concentrations of antioxidants. Therefore, it is imperative that care is taken whilst brewing to best ensure that the high antioxidants contained in the buds and leaves are not weakened or depleted in anyway.

However, do not allow the above cautionary notes, spoil the enjoyment and natural benefits of the end result, a superbly aromatic tea.

Water

Two easily avoidable, but all too common factors, that can drastically impare the flavours and aromas within a cup of white tea are, “hard water” and water that is too hot. Hard water containing high mineral contents, mainly calcium and magnesium, are not ideal for making the “perfect cup”. These minerals will impair the taste of the tea, and may also inhibit and bind many of the antioxidants contained within. Unfortunately, many of us live in “hard water” areas and if this is the case, it is a good idea to filter it before you use it to brew white tea. A good water filter such as a “Brita Filter” would be ideal and come with the added benefit of using carbon as their filtration method, a desireable method for brewing any tea, not just white tea.

Always use fresh water that has been left to run from the tap to brew white tea. Leaving the tap run for a few seconds allows any standing water within the pipes to be disspelled before use. Do not use water that has been sitting in your water filter or teapot, always use “freshly filtered” water. White tea in itself has such a subtle taste that any residue or impurities will make themselves felt, and the tea will not taste as good.

Water temperature

This is the second most important part of the brewing stage after using the “right” water. Heat you filter water to the boiling point, then let it cool, never steep white tea in boiling water (this is aslo applied to any tea). 175-185 degrees Fahrenheit, or 80-85 degrees Celsius, is considered the optimal temperature for brewing white tea. Some will advise you to use water at 200 degrees Fahrenheit, or 95 degrees Celsius, but that would be too hot. Many antioxidants are destroyed at temperatures that close to the boiling point, and the tea becomes astringent and loses some of its best qualities. Water temperatures that are too high can effectively boil or cook the the tea.

Amount of tea

The amount of tea you should use per cup of tea is a matter of taste and economics, since top quality white tea is by some margin the most expensive tea there is and you probably don’t want to waste it. At The Blending Room, we usually recommend using one teaspoon of white tea per cup, or one tablespoon for a four cup pot.

Steeping

Most white tea should be steeped for under one minute, slightly more if you prefer a stronger flavour. This can also be dependant on the quality of white tea being drunk. Silver needle quality tea should not be steeped for more than 30-40 seconds for the first steeping, Silver Yunnan slightly longer and Pai Mu Tan slightly longer still. You can further calculate the steeping time depending on how you like your tea to taste. The longer you steep, the stronger the taste and the more pronounced the golden color and aromas become. As with any tea, practice makes perfect, but remeber that white tea’s are uniquely delicate.

As with many green tea’s, white tea can be steeped more than once. A single serving (one teaspoon) of white tea can be brewed several times, for roughly one minute longer each time you brew. As you pass through each steeping phase, new aromas and flavour will be revealed bringing a new experience each time.

Milk or no milk?

White tea, along with green tea, is naturally high in antioxidants, which is important reason to drink the tea. Adding milk or cream to white tea not only detracts from their flavour, but drastically effects their potent health benefits. Milk contains casein, an enzyme that is found within most dairy products. Casein binds with the antioxidants, thus neutralising the beneficial health effects of the tea.