White tea is the most wholesome of all the teas. It’s leaves are plucked in their infancy, before they are fully opened. These leaves are still covered with fine silvery white hairs. The tea derives its name from these white hairs and achieves it amazing health benefits from its infant leaves. The young leaves contain higher concentrations of polyphenols and anti oxidants than Green or Black tea. White tea also contains only 1/3 the caffeine of Black tea because caffeine builds up in tea leaves as they mature.
White tea leaves are processed immediately, often right in the fields. They are steamed and dried. This simple process prevents oxidation from occurring and locks in the high levels of anti oxidants and polyphenols. There has been a lot of research and information communicated over the last several years about Green tea’s health benefits but recent recesearch is revealing that White tea outperforms Green tea 2:1. I will go deeper into this in an article titled White Tea’s Health Benefits.
There are 3 classifications of White Tea. The rarest and most highly cherished is Bai Hao Yin Zhen or Silver Needle. When the bud of a leaf first appears and hasn’t begun to unfurl, it is then plucked for Silver Needle. The second class is White Pony. White Pony contains 1 young unfurled leaf and the unopened bud. The third form of White Tea is Longevity Eyebrow. It includes two infant leaves along with the unopened bud. Because White Tea is comprised of such young leaves, it has a very sweet, mild flavor with a slight smoky note. It is exceedingly refreshing. Even though, White tea is not as robust as Black it does offer a complex flavor that is interesting and satisfing and it does not have the grassy taste of Green tea.
Since it is mild White tea is ideal for including a secondary flavor to. This is achieved by mixing in an herb or flower with the tea leaves. Flavored or “flowered” White Teas avail to us many exquisite and exotic tea taste. White tea is to be enjoyed hot or iced. White Iced Tea is absolutely the most invigorating, thirst quenching beverage I have ever had. My favorite on a hot summer day is Iced Licorice White Tea.
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