The types of white tea in Taiwan align with China’s white tea classification, primarily categorized into four types: Silver Needle, White Peony, Gongmei, and Shoumei. These varieties are mainly determined by the tenderness of the fresh leaves and the number of buds and leaves. Additionally, Taiwan white tea types can be classified by vintage and tea tree cultivar.
Types of Taiwan White Tea: Silver Needle / White Peony / Gongmei / Shoumei
- Silver Needle: Silver Needle is the highest grade of white tea, made from exceptionally premium selections. It must be crafted using intact leaf buds plucked from the new shoots of early spring tea trees. How to distinguish: Silver Needle consists exclusively of needle-like buds with no leaves. (Pictured above: Silver Needle)
- White Peony: White Peony is made from tender leaves featuring one bud with either one or two leaves. The finished tea leaves wrap around the bud like a budding flower, with dense white hairs covering both the bud and the back of the leaves. How to distinguish: It features needle-like buds, but each bud is accompanied by only one or two leaves, never exceeding two leaves. (Pictured below: White Peony)
- Gongmei: Gongmei uses fresh leaves with one bud and two or three leaves as raw material. The finished tea is robust, with buds and leaves attached to the branch, and the leaves range from yellowish-brown to green. How to distinguish: It features buds, with each bud accompanied by two or three leaves that remain attached to the branch. (Pictured below: Gongmei)
- Shoumei: Shoumei is made from mature leaves or leftover trimmings from Gongmei production. It has a slightly lower bud content, with thicker stems and yellowish-brown leaves. How to distinguish: It has virtually no buds or makes white buds very difficult to find, consisting primarily of mature tea leaves. (Pictured below: Shoumei)
Production Status of Taiwan White Tea Types
Silver Needle: Extremely rare and practically unseen on the market; you’ll generally only find tea farmers picking and enjoying it themselves. Farmers rarely produce Silver Needle because harvesting is so difficult. Since only the tender leaf buds are picked, a single worker can harvest at most 300 g a day. The low yield makes the production costs economically unviable.
White Peony: Most premium white tea produced in Taiwan falls into the White Peony grade. Harvesting remains challenging, with a single worker able to pick only 1.2 kg to 1.8 kg a day—a difficulty level comparable to harvesting Oriental Beauty tea. Retail prices for this grade of white tea start at NT$4,000 per 600 g.
Gongmei: This is the most abundantly produced type of Taiwan white tea. The fresh leaves a single worker can harvest in a day yield 3.6 kg to 6 kg of dried tea, making it a relatively efficient harvest. Retail prices range from NT$2,000 to NT$4,000 per 600 g.
Shoumei: Practically non-existent on the market because over-matured leaves yield poor quality tea; farmers are much better off leaving the tea trees to grow.
Other Ways to Classify Types of Taiwan White Tea
Aside from Silver Needle, White Peony, Gongmei, and Shoumei, Taiwan white teas can also be classified by their vintage and tea tree cultivar. The older the vintage, the higher its perceived value generally is. Cultivars include Qingxin Oolong, JinXuan, Sijichun, TTES No. 8, TTES No. 18 Ruby, TTES No. 21 (Hongyun), TTES No. 25 (Ziyun), Taiwan Wild Tea, Qingxin Ganzai, White Monkey, and Manzhong, among others.