What has made White tea so special?

While you will hear of the black tea and green tea, but what is the white tea?

Black tea has been fully fermented during processing, and green tea has not been fermented at all. Oolong teas are somewhere in the middle. So what is “white tea”?

Well, just like those other teas, white tea come from the Camellia sinensis plants. But the leaves are picked and harvested before the leaves open fully, when the buds are still covered by fine white fuzzy. Hence the name comes. White tea is more precious than the other traditional teas, which is quite a bit more expensive, too.

White tea is similar to green tea, in that it has undergone very little processing and semi-fermentation. But there is a noticeable difference when you taste. Most green teas have a distinctive “grassy” taste to them, but white tea does not. The flavor is described as light, and sweet. You should steep white tea in water that is below the boiling point. The UtiliTEA Variable Temperature Tea Kettle is perfect for use with white tea. Although black, green and white tea all derives from the same plant, they all undergo different processing. The more processing the tea goes through, the darker the tea becomes. Both green and white teas are among the least processed, being steamed as opposed to being air-dried. This process keeps the leaves closer to their natural state and increases the tea's anti-oxidant properties.

If you are drinking tea to benefit for your health, you may want to consider white teas. There is also considerably less caffeine in white tea than the other varieties.15mg per serving, compared to 40mg for black tea, and 20mg for green. Some studies have also shown that white tea contains more active cancer-fighting antioxidants than green tea.

From all teas, there are many varieties of white tea, with poetic names such as: white peony, golden moon, silver needle and white cloud. White teas are produced mostly in China and Japan, but the Darjeeling region of India also produces some fine white teas.