Why is my white tea dark?

[Sententia]

I had white tea for the very first time today. It's "Long Life White tea" and it's from Fujian China. I love the taste, the smell is superb. It's a euphoric feeling I started experiencing after the first few sips and continued. The flavor doesn't stand out like green tea- but it's more distinct like a here and now taste- though it doesn't linger on in my mouth. It was more broad than I thought it would be, exceeding my expectations. What truly threw me off though was the color however.. It's a dark, redwood color with a hint of jasper. I heard it gets dark color because it's picked in the end of the year.. and that's why but I'm curious because I thought the color would be light, maybe even a whiteish light green color. Please feedback would be great.

[Victoria]

Not sure I have had any that dark, but yeah, it can be a light amberish color. Not that unusual.

[Marky]

It could be that you had a Shou Mei or Sow Mee white tea which is sometimes translated as "longevity eyebrow" tea. It is a different grade of white tea that is usually a darker color than Bai Mu Dan (white peony) or Bau Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle). White peony and silver needle are a much lighter color than longevity eyebrow tea and tend to have a more delicate flavor. Hope that helps.

[brad4419]

How long did you infuse it?

I used to make very strong white tea using shou mei and bai mu dan, they came out pretty dark, especially the shou mei if I remember correctly. I Infused them for like 4-5 minutes.

[teacast]

Maybe they bagged it wrong

[entropyembrace]

white teas can get very dark depending on how long they take to dry because they sun dry unlike green teas and oolongs which are heat dried to stop the oxidation process. If they´re dried quickly they´re silvery and light like silver needles but if they dry more slowly they can get quite dark like you´re describing.

[Oni]

I read a bit about white tea, at sevencups, they say that only Fuding Da Bai, Zhen He Da Bai bushes produce the old authentic white tea,specially the fist one was invented in 1796, so I think the rest that are sold as white tea, and are not silver needle aka Jin Zhen, from the original Da Bai big white teabush, those are not really white tea, but imitations of it named white tea only for comercial reasons.

[entropyembrace]

The processing is still distinct from any other type of tea...I think in common usage we use white tea to describe the processing method and not the varietal...otherwise we would have no simple term to describe the processing method available...

[AlexZorach]

entropyembrace is right...white teas can be very dark!

My favorite white teas tend to be the darker ones, particularly, Shou Mei, and some Pai Mu Tan (white peony) that are on the darker side. I've had other dark white teas too. Many of them are darker than most green teas and darker than some oolongs, in terms of the color of the cup of brewed tea.