White tea in China: Silver Needle, White Peony and Shoumei

What white tea is

White tea is the least processed Chinese tea. Fresh buds and young leaves are withered, indoors and in the sun on bamboo trays, and dried slowly at low heat. There is no panning, as with green tea, and no rolling or shaking, as with oolong. Oxidation is light. The name refers to the fine silvery-white hairs on the buds, not the colour of the drink, which is pale yellow.

In 2025 white tea made up 2.75% of China’s 3.64 million tonnes of dry tea, roughly 100,000 tonnes by our calculation, the second-smallest of the six categories after yellow tea. China’s six categories and the customs around them were inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2022; Fuding’s white-tea craft is part of that inscription, and had been on China’s national heritage list since 2011.[1][2][3][5][6][9][14][16]

Fuding and Zhenghe: two hometowns of white tea

Most Chinese white tea comes from Fujian, and two places there claim to be its home. Fuding (福鼎), on the coast at the Zhejiang border, is the bigger producer. ‘Fuding white tea’ is a protected geographical indication, its craft is a national heritage item, and in November 2022 the International Tea Committee named it the ‘world origin of white tea’. The city reported 25,300 tonnes of white tea in 2020, about 78% of its tea, and 23,000 tonnes in 2022. Its bushes, Fuding Dabai and Fuding Dahao, were bred locally in the Qing dynasty; the usual account dates Silver Needle in Fuding to 1796, with exports from 1891.

Zhenghe (政和), inland in northern Fujian, calls itself ‘China’s hometown of white tea’ and the birthplace of white tea, with the motto ‘a thousand years of white tea’. People’s Daily reports that more than two-thirds of the county’s households grow tea. Zhenghe uses its own Zhenghe Dabai bush, and its style is darker and fuller-bodied than Fuding’s, which is lighter.

Both are worth knowing: a Silver Needle or White Peony labelled with either name is a mainstream, credible origin.[3][4][5][8][9][10][12][13]

Aged white tea: ‘one year tea, three years medicine, seven years treasure’

The newest twist in white tea is keeping it. Fuding has a folk saying, ‘one-year-old is tea, three-year-old is medicine, seven-year-old is a treasure’ (一年茶，三年药，七年宝). Since the 1960s white tea has been pressed into cakes for transport and storage, and the cakes change in flavour as they age.

Xinhua’s science service describes ‘aged’ white tea as tea stored for years within a reasonable life of about 10 to 20 years. With time the aroma fades, the liquor turns redder and the taste mellows. It should be kept sealed, dry, at room temperature and away from smells; if tea stored for two or three years climbs above 9% moisture, it should be re-roasted. Fuding’s officials say its tea can be boiled or stewed as well as steeped.

Chinese media regularly report research suggesting aged white tea has extra health benefits. We found no clinical trials in people behind those claims, so treat them, and the proverb, as tradition rather than evidence.[3][5][6][7]