Best White Tea to Buy: Silver Needle, White Peony and Shou Mei Compared

White tea is the gentlest of the teas, and one of the easiest to buy badly, because the best and the blandest can look alike in a photo. Knowing three grades and what age does to them takes most of the guesswork away. For background, read white tea explained.

The three grades to know

Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yin Zhen). Only buds, covered in fine white hairs. It is the lightest and sweetest of the three, with a clean, delicate, honeyed cup. It is also the most expensive, because it takes the most buds per gram. It rewards careful brewing and quiet attention.

White Peony (Bai Mu Dan). A bud with one or two leaves. It has more body than Silver Needle, with a fuller, slightly fruity cup. It is a good all-rounder, and often the best value among the fine whites.

Shou Mei. Picked later, from more mature leaves. The cup is darker, stronger and more rounded, with notes of dried fruit and, in older tea, something close to hay and honey. It is generally the most affordable and ages very well. See Just Shou Mei.

Our full comparison is in white tea grades explained.

Yunnan white tea

White tea is not only a Fujian story. Yunnan produces it from large-leaf trees, often with a deeper, sweeter cup. Try Wild Yabao white tea buds, Jinggu Yangta white tea or Wild Purple Bud, or compare them in the Yunnan white tea discovery set.

Fresh or aged?

Young white tea is fresh, light and floral. White tea ages, becoming deeper, sweeter and more medicinal-herbal in character, and aged white tea has its own following. If you are buying aged tea, apply the same care as with pu-erh and read how to tell genuinely aged tea from fake. It is also an interesting question whether it is truly unoxidised; see is white tea really unoxidised?

How to choose

• Want delicate and sweet: Silver Needle.
• Want balance and value: White Peony.
• Want warm, dark and good for ageing: Shou Mei.

How to brew it

White tea tolerates slightly hotter water than people expect, around 85 to 95 °C, with about 5 g per 100 ml in a gaiwan and gentle pours. See the gongfu guide. If caffeine matters to you, our caffeine by type comparison shows the range.

Browse all white tea.