I don't believe that any serious white tea producer can ever be
anything but a niche player - to remove white tea from its niche
status will destroy it. Millions of kilograms of "white tea" being
sold inexpensively in tea bags and in mango flavored RTD says to me
that they are using a different white tea to the sort I recognise as
fitting the description.
My Malawi whites are hand made and could not be sold at tea bag
price. We are making them on one estate - Satemwa - the oldest estate
in Malawi and in the same family ownership for three generations. It
is ethically run and FairTrade. It was first planted up in 1923 and
is located in the Shire Highlands near Mt Thyolo and produces mainly
black teas - the leaf is grown on the estate at around 3,000 feet in
good clean air and extra leaf is bought in from small farmers. White
teas and soon some Oolongs are a new venture - see
http://www.satemwa.com/articles/White_Teas~3

Nigel at Teacraft


On Apr 12, 1:52 pm, "pgwk" > wrote:

>
> How many estates are producing these whites and at what elevations and
> in what quantities? Is there enough momentum and scale for them to
> become a serious player in the great teas market or are they just
> small niche producers?
>
>
>