The Differences of Moonlight White, Anji White and Fuding White Tea
There are Anji White Tea, Fuding White Tea and Yunnan Moonlight White, all of these which are called white tea. Then what is the difference of these white teas? We have another article explaining more specific about Fuding white teas. You can also substantially try out some samples of these teas after finish this article.
Anji White Tea
Anji White Tea is a green tea among the six major Chinese teas. Anji White Tea is a special white leaf tea variety which is a different concept to white peony tea from the white silver needles in the white tea category of six major Chinese teas. Anji white tea is different from traditional white tea. It is categorized to green tea.
The young shoots of Anji White tea in early spring are jade white, especially the forms of “one-bud and two-leaves” are the whitest. In the late spring tea, as the temperature rises and the light increases, the leaf color gradually turns to green. When the temperature exceeds 25 ° C in summer and autumn, leaves completely turn to green. Therefore, the picking time of Anji white tea is only about 20 days in earlier spring, and the annual picking production time is from QingMing to Grain Rain. High ammonia and low phenol is the biochemical basis of the aromatic flavor of Anji White Tea. In the winter, the low temperature in Anji County sustained around -8 ° C to -10 ° C for more than 20 days, that resulting in the loss of green pigment in Anji white tea.
The appearance of fine Anji White Tea buds look strong and straight, fresh and green touched with golden through. After brewing, the leaves are turned to pale white while leaf veins are revealed with green, which is the symbol for identifying Anji White tea.
Fuding White Tea
Fuding White Tea is one of the six major teas in China, is a local specialty of Fujian province. The main producing areas are in Fuding, Zhenghe and other surrounding places. The processing technique is simple but not easy, only withering and drying. Withering is the key process in the formation of white tea quality. Fuding White tea has the characteristics of complete buds, fully hair covered body, honey fragrance, clear apricot tea liquor, and light sweet tastes. It is a natural slightly fermented tea which is a special treasure of Chinese teas. Name of white tea is come from white hair silver needle because of its silver-like white hairy leaves.
Huacha No.1 Cultivar is a good variety of Fuding white tea. The tea bud leaves are covered with white velvet hair. It is a good raw material for making tea. People pick the young delicate leaves and the leaves with white hairy back. White tea is not being fried and rolled during processing, but only either sun-dried or simmer dried, so that the white hair is completely preserved in the appearance of the tea.
Moonlight White Tea
Moonlight White tea, in Chinese(Yue Guang Bai), is also known as Moonlight Beauty or Moonlight Tea. It is a specialty tea in Pu'er Tea. This tea is mainly produced in Simao area of Yunnan Province. Its picking method is unique and must be made in the moonlight. The each batch of coarse tea should be completed in one day. The name of Moonlight White is come from different sayings. One of saying is: This tea is made with special technique. The leaves surface of finished tea looks black, while the back of leaves are white, so that the leaves buds are alternated with white and black like a round of curved moon. The overall looking of one-bud and two-leaves looks like the moon in the night, hence named "moonlight white”. Another way of saying is: This tea is being picked as raw materials in the night, under the light of the bright moon. It cannot receive sunlight from beginning of picking to the end of processing, and dry slowly in the moonlight. Moreover, this tea is only picked by local beautiful young girls, hence named "Moonlight Beauty".
In terms of quality conversion, the floral fragrance and honey fragrance of Moonlight White is similar to the fragrance of oolong tea, the taste and tea color is even closer. However, the shelf life of moonlight white is relatively short compared to Pu'er tea. Moonlight white tea is generally stored up to 2-5 years, during the time which the aroma will gradually weaken. The Moonlight White tea should not be stored for long period of time. The aroma is weakened by the time passes. Unlike Fuding white tea which tastes differently by the time transformation.
Although Yunnan Moonlight White is called white tea, it is not the same as the nominal orthodox Fuding white tea. It is a kind of Pu'er tea. It uses a processing technique similar to Fuding white tea. The taste of the moonlight white is swam between in raw Pu’er and oolong tea, is a special variety of white tea.
