Artisanal Ceylon White Tea (Silver Tips) processing: clonal selection and sun dehydration?

Manufacturing authentic Ceylon Silver Tips (white tea) is an artisanal non-fermented process. Green leaf must be hand-plucked strictly as solitary, unopened terminal buds from specialized cultivars—primarily TRI 2043—which produce large, succulent buds coated in dense silvery pubescence (plant trichomes). Harvesting occurs between 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM on sunny mornings after dew evaporates. The buds undergo zero mechanical bruising, rolling, or high-heat firing; they are laid in single layers across cloth-lined bamboo trays and dried slowly under filtered glass solar tables over 48 hours. This preserves delicate floral polyphenols and prevents chlorophyll oxidation.