"Without oxidation, tea would taste unbearably bitter."
Perhaps white tea has not reached an adult phase with the associated bitterness.
Contast to:
"White tea may refer to... minimally processed leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant."
Since you pick the leaves before they are grown, you're pruning the tree and potentially reducing your crop. Which is why it was a drink of the nobility. Basically you're so rich you can afford to reduce your crop by (conjecture) 10% for a taste sensation, or pay someone else for the privilege.
I suspect we have so much of it now because 1) Republic of Tea basically went through every tea fad in the history of tea in a 15 year period, presumably to keep sales numbers up with novelty, and 2) it's likely that there is oversupply in the tea market, so white tea gives you another shot at a sale.
Unlike coffee, which gets one harvest per year (although some people are trying to bring coffee leaf tea into the group consciousness), it's typical to get at least 2 harvests of tea per year, 3 or more in a great year. Which I discovered when I noticed my dealer putting numbers and/or seasons on her tea. If they are regrowing that fast then white tea might not be that big of a burden.
He was also adamant about storing it in well sealed containers out of direct sunlight. I ended up throwing away a couple of containers because of this (although I've kept a couple that are just too beautiful to part with - I store my daily drinker in there since it doesn't need to keep as long). Also explains why my dealer uses mylar vacuum packs for anything over an ounce. No oxygen, no light.
"Total catechin content (TCC) for white teas ranged widely from 14.40 to 369.60 mg/g of dry plant material for water extracts and 47.16 to 163.94 mg/g for methanol extracts. TCC for green teas also ranged more than 10-fold, from 21.38 to 228.20 mg/g of dry plant material for water extracts and 32.23 to 141.24 mg/g for methanol extracts."