Every year from mid-March, on sunny days with no clouds in the sky, tea farmers in Fuding White Tea Garden are busy in picking tea leaves and producing tea. But in fact, making tea in this weather is a great test of the experience and skills of tea makers. Sunlight withering is an excellent and top-notch way to make white tea, especially Baihao Yinzhen. However, sunlight withering is not as simple as just putting the tea leaves in the sun to dry.

"Sunlight" is the first of the necessary conditions.

With sunlight, white tea leaves undergo small-scale photosynthesis in the sunlight to produce proteins and organic matter, which is the significance of sunlight withering of white tea. If there is no direct sunlight acting on the tea leaves, organic matter cannot be produced in such large quantities.

It is not good without sunlight, also not good if it is too strong. Too strong sunlight can easily turn the tea leaves red. These red spots will turn into coffee color, dark brown after the white tea is produced, which is similar with the color of false old white tea. When the sunlight is too strong, the tea leaves can no longer be left outdoors for withering. They must be brought into the room, and placed on the shelf (this process is also withering). When the sunlight is not so strong around two or three o’clock in the afternoon, take it out to continue sunlight withering.

The second important condition for sunlight withering is wind.

A breeze is also one of the important conditions for sunlight withering. The role of the breeze is to help the water in the leaves evaporate, leave the leaves, go into the air, become a wisp of gas, and finally become invisible. Tea farmers often say that when there is wind, the tea will be more comfortable. This is a simple saying, but it also reflects the importance of wind when the tea leaves are withering.

However, the wind, like sunlight, is out of the control of tea growers. It comes when it wants, goes when it wants, and can be loud or soft as it wants. Therefore, learning to coexist with the wind and choosing the day with the suitable wind to make tea is what experienced tea growers do.

Of course, the use of wind is also very skillful. That is, 70cm from the ground. There are three benefits of 70cm from the ground.

First, it keeps the fresh tea leaves away from the ground, isolating the dust and debris on the surface from invading;

Second, it makes the fresh tea leaves not close to the ground. If the sun is too strong and the ground is too hot, it will not transfer too much heat to the fresh tea leaves, scalding the fresh tea leaves, and thus damaging the nutrients in the fresh tea leaves.

Third, the fresh tea leaves lying on the water sieve, with both sides of the leaves exposed to the air at the same time. When the wind blows from the top and bottom of the tea leaves, both sides of the tea leaves are evenly blown by the wind, the withering is happened, which is conducive to the smooth departure of water and other excess substances, so that a large amount of nutrients can be retained. 

The advantage of being off the ground is that the wind is evenly received and the water is evenly drained. The finished white tea produced in this way is naturally of extremely excellent quality.

The third important condition for sunlight withering is low air humidity.

It is last, but not least. After all, without sunlight, we may not be able to producr sun-withered white tea, but if the humidity in the air is too high, it will be a “life-threatening” situation to white tea. If the skill of tea-maker is unqualified, the whole batch of tea leaves may be suffocated to red. It will become the same as "false old white tea".

Because the humidity and moisture in the air will block the evaporation of water in the fresh leaves, causing moisture and other substances to be retained in the fresh leaves for a long time. Therefore, when the humidity in the air is high, tea is generally not made.

Sunlight withering, four words, only needs three or four seconds to read out. But it is really not easy to achieve perfect sunlight withering. Good tea is not easy, drink and cherish it.

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