What Is White Tea? Taste, Caffeine and How It Is Made
Updated October 2026
White tea is tea that has had almost nothing done to it. The youngest buds and leaves of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, are picked, left to wither, and dried. That is the whole process. Of the six true teas it is the least processed, and you can taste it. The cup is pale, soft and a little sweet, with less caffeine than green tea and none of the grassy edge.
Quick answer: white tea is made from buds and young leaves that are withered and dried. It is light and a little sweet, it has about 15 to 30 mg of caffeine per 8 oz cup, and the same leaves can be steeped two or three times. Brew 2 teaspoons in 8 oz of water at 180 to 185°F for 3 to 4 minutes.
White tea at a glance
| White tea | |
|---|---|
| Plant | Camellia sinensis, the same plant as green, oolong and black tea |
| Leaf used | Unopened buds, or a bud with the first leaf or two. Mostly picked in spring, sometimes in autumn |
| Processing | Withered, then dried. As a rule no rolling and no pan-firing |
| Dry leaf | Silvery, downy buds and soft green leaves |
| Liquor | Pale yellow-green to golden straw |
| Taste | Light and a little sweet, with flowers, fruit and fresh almond. Very little bitterness |
| Caffeine per 8 oz | About 15 to 30 mg |
| Water and time | 180 to 185°F, 3 to 4 minutes, 2 to 3 re-steeps |
How white tea is made
Every tea starts as a fresh leaf. What the maker does next decides what kind of tea it becomes. Green tea is heated within hours of picking so it stays green. Black tea is rolled and left to oxidize until it turns dark. White tea skips both steps. The buds are spread out in cool, moving air, left to wither for many hours, and then dried at a low heat.
As a rule the leaf is not rolled, which is why white tea still looks like the bud that came off the bush. Tea makers in Nepal do bend that rule. Our Spring White Buds is withered for more than 16 hours and then gently rolled. Rara Willow is rolled and dried at a high temperature, which gives it a flavor of its own.
With so little done to the leaf, the picking matters more than in any other tea. What you taste is the bud and the care taken in withering it. Our types of tea guide shows where white tea sits next to the other five.
Types of white tea
Silver needle tea (bud only)
Silver needle tea is made from unopened buds and nothing else. The dry tea looks like thin silver needles covered in soft down, and it brews the lightest cup of any white tea. In Nepal this style is usually sold as silver tips. Ours, Nepalese Silver Tips, has notes of fresh almond, white pepper and dried peony, and it keeps its flavor over several steeps. There is more on this style in what is silver tea.
Bud and leaf (white peony style)
Here the picker takes the bud along with the first leaf or two, the style known in China as white peony tea (Bai Mu Dan). The leaf adds body and a little more color, so the cup is fuller than a silver needle. Most Nepali white teas are made this way, Spring White Buds and Rara Willow among them, and it is an easy style to drink every day.
Autumn and later-harvest white teas
Most white tea is picked in spring, but some is made in autumn. Ama Dablam is our autumn-picked white, made from silvery buds and one leaf. It brews a golden straw color, with notes of sweetgrass, water chestnut and dried gardenia.
What white tea tastes like
Light, soft and a little sweet. White tea has very little of the bite you can get from black tea, and it does not have the cooked, grassy taste of many green teas. What you notice instead are flowers, fruit and nuts, and they change from one tea to the next.
Our own white teas show the range. Spring White Buds tastes of wildflowers, muscat grape and clover. Rara Willow leans toward apricot, clover honey and dried orange peel. Silver Tips is fresh almond with a touch of white pepper. Jade Spring goes the other way, with coriander, bean sprout and asparagus. All of them are grown at 6,000 to 7,000 ft in Ilam, where the cool air makes the leaf grow slowly.
I brewed a cup of Spring White Buds this morning and just sat with it. Pale straw-gold, wildflowers on the nose, and a soft buttery finish that stays quiet long after the sip.
Caffeine in white tea
An 8 oz cup of white tea has about 15 to 30 mg of caffeine. Green tea runs 20 to 45 mg, black tea 40 to 70 mg and coffee 80 to 100 mg, so white tea sits at the low end. Two things push the number up. Teas made mostly from buds carry more caffeine, because the plant stores it in the young bud. Hotter water and longer steeps pull more of it out. For the lightest cup, brew at 180°F and stop the first steep at three minutes. We go deeper in does white tea have caffeine.
How to brew white tea
- Use 2 teaspoons per 8 oz of water. White tea leaves are light and fluffy, so you need more by the spoon than you would expect.
- Heat water to 180 to 185°F. No thermometer? Bring the water to a boil and let it rest for about two minutes.
- Steep 3 to 4 minutes. If you forget it for a minute, it will still be good. White tea does not turn bitter the way green tea does.
- Steep the same leaves two or three more times, adding about a minute each round. Many people like the second cup best.
White tea also makes a good cold brew. Put 2 teaspoons in 12 oz of cold water, leave it in the refrigerator for 6 to 8 hours, and strain. Step-by-step instructions are in our white tea brewing guide.
White tea vs green tea vs black tea
All three come from the same plant. The difference is what happens after picking. White tea is withered and dried. Green tea is heated early to stop oxidation, which keeps it green and gives it a fresh, vegetal taste. Black tea is rolled and fully oxidized, so it comes out dark, malty and strong. Caffeine climbs in the same order, white, then green, then black. We compare them side by side in white tea vs green tea and black tea vs green tea.
Nepali white tea vs Chinese white tea
White tea was first made in Fujian, China, which is still its best-known source. Nepal's white teas come from the Ilam district in the eastern Himalaya, the same hills that grow the country's black teas. The gardens sit at 6,000 to 7,000 ft, so the bud grows slowly. Silver Tips is made by the classic white tea method and is the closest of ours to a Chinese silver needle. Others, like Spring White Buds, are made in a way that belongs to Nepal. Most of our white teas are USDA Organic. Nepali Tea Traders sources them direct from Ilam.
Which white tea should you try?
- Want the classic silver needle style: Silver Tips, USDA Organic buds with fresh almond, white pepper and dried peony.
- Want a white that leans green and vegetal: Jade Spring, USDA Organic first flush with coriander and asparagus notes.
- Want a bud-and-leaf everyday white: Spring White Buds, USDA Organic, featured in The New York Times. Wildflowers, muscat grape and clover.
- Want something bright and citrusy: Rara Willow, USDA Organic, with apricot, clover honey and dried orange peel.
- Want an autumn-flush white: Ama Dablam, sweetgrass, water chestnut and dried gardenia. Good hot or iced.
- Want to compare all three types: the Organic Nepal Tea Trio pairs a white with a black and a green.
Related reading
- Types of Tea: The 6 True Teas Explained
- What Is Silver Tea? Why This Rare Nepali White Tea Stands Out
- How to Brew the Perfect Cup of White Tea
- White Tea vs Green Tea