What is White Tea

White Tea is, Delicacy Personified ...

What is White tea? Well, it is made from the same plant as green tea, but undergoes a very different process. It begins with the buds of the Camellia Sinensis plant.

White tea is made from immature tea leaves that are picked shortly before the buds have fully opened. The tea is named for the silver fuzz that covers the young buds, and which turns white when the tea is dried.

White tea undergoes less processing than green tea leaves. Instead of air-drying, the unwithered leaves are lightly steamed until the enzymes that cause oxidation are set, rather than rolled and then pan fried to cause oxidation.

The oxidation process, often called fermentation, is what produces the distinctive color and taste of other teas. Though the word is the same, fermentation in tea circles does not mean the same as when it is used in relation to wine. No sugars are altered to produce alcohol.

Instead of oxidation, the Camellia Sinensis buds are dried by steaming, then air dried. No rolling or crushing occurs. This leaves the enzymes in the white tea leaves intact, unexposed to air.

Water evaporates more slowly and up to 40% of the original weight is lost. Then the white tea leaves are slow-roasted to remove about 95% of their moisture content.

The result is a tea with very little caffeine and a very light color and delicate taste. The final product has a very fresh taste, somewhat like real leaves or grass, that is preferred by some tea aficionados.

White Tea Leaves gathered in the early spring provide a clean cup of tea with a fragrance that has a real hint of outdoors.

Aside from the Question, What is White Tea, many also ask what White Tea blends there are?

The proportion of buds to leaves varies depending on the variety of white tea.

• White Peony contains one bud for every two leaves
• There is a blend called Silver Needle that hails from the Fujian province in China. A really special treat and the crème de la crème of white teas. It is made entirely from downy buds picked within a two day period in early Spring
• The Darjeeling province in India makes a fine white tea.
• And there is a variety called Ceylon White that comes from Sri Lanka.

What is White Tea and is there more to white tea than just good taste.

Though still an area of active research, there are studies that suggest white tea is even healthier than the very healthy green tea.

Leaving the white tea leaves almost in their natural state means white tea contains more polyphenols, the powerful anti-oxidant that kills cancer-causing cells, than any other type of tea.

Green tea stimulates the immune system to fight infection and according to a recent study at the Pace University, that property may be even more pronounced in white tea.

White Tea seems to have an anti-viral and anti-bacterial effect.