If it's the same vintage and grade of white Tea, generally speaking, the more resilient to infusion (longer-lasting flavor), the more internal substances the tea leaves contain, the fuller the taste, and naturally, the better the mouthfeel. Therefore, high resilience to infusion is a good thing. The degree of resilience to infusion is one aspect of testing the quality of White Tea, but not the only one.

Does being resilient to infusion make it a good tea, and vice versa? Is that how it works?

Tea enthusiasts often use resilience to infusion as a standard for buying tea, such as Green Tea not being resilient to infusion, while Pu'er and white tea are, thus concluding that green tea is inferior to Pu'er and white tea.

If we insist on comparing in this way, it makes sense, and it's kinder on the wallet. However, you're getting one dimension wrong: the assessment of resilience to infusion should be conducted within the same category of tea. For example, when comparing different Wuyi rock teas, we can evaluate their resilience to infusion, making the comparison more objective. Moreover, resilience to infusion isn't the sole criterion for evaluating tea, but good-quality tea will certainly be resilient to infusion among its peers. It should have a consistently rich flavor from start to finish.

Why is White Tea Resilient to Infusion?

1. The Content of Catechins in White Tea

The higher the content of catechins, the more resilient to infusion the tea is; in other words, the richer the internal substances, the more resilient to infusion the tea. In theory, the growth environment and age of the tea tree determine the content of catechins in white tea. Tea trees grown in gravel soil have well-developed root systems, so they have higher catechin content, while those grown in loamy soil, due to fewer soil minerals, produce relatively ordinary white tea.

2. The Age and Tenderness of the Tea Leaves

In general, the older and coarser the tea leaves, the slower their solubles are released in water, and they also contain more catechins, so teas with more leaves are much more resilient to infusion compared to those made entirely of buds.

3. The Tea-Making Process

The production process for white tea is the most natural. Freshly picked tea leaves are thinly spread out on bamboo mats and placed under weak sunlight or in a room with good air circulation and light, allowing them to naturally wither. Once they are about 70-80% dry, they are slowly dried over a low heat. Due to the simple processing method with the least number of steps, the integrity of the bud and leaf cells is maximally preserved, which makes the tea produced by this method very resilient to infusion.

4. The Proportion of Tea Stems

Tea stems contain a considerable amount of aroma compounds. The aroma decreases from the first to the third leaf, while the aroma of the stem is the highest. Maintaining a certain ratio of stems in white tea contributes to its resilience to infusion.

5. Proper Storage of White Tea

To ensure the proper storage of white tea, it must be kept at a low temperature and away from light, with strong airtightness. This prevents the volatilization of effective components in the tea, thereby enhancing the resilience to infusion of white tea.