can the degree of white to black parts make coarse ground pepper taste mild?
Yes, the white pepper is the whole black peppercorn with the skin removed (and possibly fermented via a water soak). A lot of the pepper flavor is in the pepper skin (the black part) which is removed in the process of making white pepper. The compound that gives pepper its flavor is piperine which isn't found in the pepper berry as much as it is in the skin.