White Tea
Tea is one of the top five beverages drunk around the world. It comes in four types, namely black tea, Oolong tea, green tea and white tea. Tea is supposed to have medicinal values and many people claim that it helps lose weight and clear up free radicals from our bodies. Several studies and research have supported these claims but the extent of the medicinal value is dependent on the consumption and quality of the tea.
What is White Tea?
White tea is probably one of the rarest kinds of tea available. It is so called because the tea leaves that are harvested are those that have not fully opened yet and are still covered with fine silvery, white hair. The silvery white hair turns white as the unopened leaves are dried. Not a lot of these leaves can be harvested from each plant thus making the tea very scarce and quite expensive.
It undergoes virtually little oxidation and practically no process of fermentation at all. Most white tea drinkers are inclined to describe its taste as sweet and very light, unlike the black tea which has a full bodied taste and the green tea that has a certain grassy taste. This kind of tea has also been found to contain less caffeine than the other teas. Current studies and research have also shown that white tea has more active antioxidants compared to green tea. Anti-oxidants help fight off and keep cancer away.
Varieties of White Tea
White tea also comes in several varieties which also have beautiful names like Long Life Eyebrow, White Peony, Tribute Eyebrow and Silver Needle. The Silver Needles are the best tasting and rarest of the white tea variety. This is because the tea itself is composed entirely of the white buds which are picked in a period of two days at the early start of spring.
The White Peony is a kind of white tea made up of the silvery, white buds and leaves of the tea plant. It has a darker color and stronger taste compared to the Silver Needle tea. The other white tea varieties are the Long Life Eyebrow and the Tribute Eyebrow white teas. The Long life Eyebrow is the result of left over leaves from the initial harvest for the Silver Needles and the White Peony teas while the Tribute Eyebrow is from different tea bush and has a different preparation compared to the other white tea varieties.
Written By The Tea Lady
The Tea Lady carefully tends to The Official Website for Tea and sends an occasional Tea Newsletter to ardent and casual tea lovers around the world.
