Moonlight White

↑About Moonlight White

Moonlight white tea or yueguang bai cha(月光白茶) is a particular style of tea originating in China's Yunnan province. Although we classify moonlight white as a white tea, and the Chinese name contains the word white (bai/白), it is sometimes classified as Pu-erh, sometimes even classified as a black tea, and other times treated as a category of its own. Like oolong tea, moonlight white is a semi-oxidized tea, but its production process is fundamentally different from oolongs and it is typically not classified with them.

Moonlight white is sometimes sold in compressed cakes like Pu-erh, and aged like Pu-erh, although it is also sold in loose-leaf form, and consumed sooner after production. We classify this style as a white tea because its production involves withering and drying like other white teas, and its character resembles other white teas to a large degree, although its processing differs from that of other white teas in some ways.

Moonlight white is grown from a particular cultivar of the tea plant, of the long-leafed Assamica cultivar, that has leaves covered in silver hair. Because of the large leaf size and production method involving natural withering and air-drying, this tea tends to have greater levels of oxidation and thus a darker color than white teas made from smaller-leafed cultivars. The partial oxidation resulting from large leaf size and natural withering without heating is shared in common between this tea and other white teas such as shou mei and to a lesser degree, white peony.

The level of oxidation, and thus the color, flavor, and aroma of this tea are sensitive to moisture levels. Dry or drought conditions will result in the leaves drying out more quickly after harvest, resulting in less oxidation, reflected in a lighter color, and a fresher and "edgier" quality. Moister conditions, characteristic of most years, will result in a darker, smoother tea.

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