White tea is the simplest tea to make and one of the hardest to make well. The processing is almost nothing — the leaves are picked, left to wither in the open air, and dried. No pan-firing, no rolling, no shaping.
What remains is almost the leaf itself, lightly transformed. The best white teas — Silver Needle from Fujian, for instance — taste of almost nothing when you brew them the first time and of something quite specific when you brew them carefully. It is a category that rewards patience.