According to the process of producing white tea, some historians believe that white tea appeared earlier than green tea (I agree with this view). White tea is a lightly oxidized tea, grown and harvested primarily in China, mostly in the Fujian province. The technique became matured around 1796 in the middle of Qing Dynasty.

White tea is made entirely from leaf buds that are covered with whitish hairs. Two processes when making: withering and drying slowly at low temperatures, which is very similar to making traditional herbal medicine which has a history of thousands years. Unlike other tea producing methods, the leaf buds are not rolled and only slightly oxidized.