White Tea

The Benefits of white tea

It is a general notion that tea is consumed by people from Asian countries, more popularly in China and India. But now people from all over the world have started consuming tea for the simple reason that it has many health benefits. Even though preparing coffee is much easier procedure when compared to tea, people from the west are becoming serious tea drinkers because of their health benefit factors. Researchers have found out that tea has the properties that boost immune system, provides breast cancer and esophageal cancer protection and protects the skin. There are different varieties of tea available like black, green, oolong and white tea. Of all these teas, white tea is considered to be the rarest and is also expensive.

Although tea has been consumed by people ages ago, nearly 5000 years ago, white-tea came into existence at a much later time. The tea has been in use only about 200 years ago and it is the youngest of all the tea varieties available.

White-tea is made from the younger and tender leaves of Cameillia sinensis. High quality leaves is selected in the beginning of spring, when there is no rain or frost on the ground. The condition for picking will be perfect if there is plenty of morning dew. The bud should not have purple color. Usually the buds which have begun to open, hollow or too long are rejected and are not considered for premium tea.

White tea originated in the Fujian province of China. The fresh leaf of the tea is made to undergo a long process to convert it into white "tea". It is a process which includes steaming or frying of the fresh leaves and later is subjected to inactivate fermentation and finally drying.  Because this tea is subjected to inactive oxidation after picking and frying it, it retains high concentration of catechins that are present in fresh tea leaves. Sometimes, the buds are shielded from sunlight in order to reduce the formation of chlorophyll and to retain its white colour. . Due to the minimal processing done on white tea, it preserves most natural compounds and hence has the most health benefits among the different varieties of tea.

For making this tea, the young leaves are harvested when the buds still covered by white hair, hence the name white tea. It contains largest amount of antioxidants which retards ageing and prevents cancer. It contains the least amount of caffeine compared to other types of tea. White-tea gives the most delicate and sweat taste among tea varieties.

The variety of the white-tea depends on the ratio of leaves to buds that are used in each mixture. One type called White Peony has one bud for every two leaves in its mixture, while another type called Whilst Silver needles is made only from down buds picked every second day during early spring. Some other varieties are White Persian melon, White ginger, golden moon and white cloud. China and Japan are the largest producers of this tea. Darjeeling in India and Sri Lanka also produces fine white teas.

White green tea differ in their tastes and both of them are in high demand for their health benefits. The best way to prepare white tea is to use a high quality container or infuser into which purified water and white tea is added and allowed to soak below boiling point. Using purified, oxygenated water will enhance the flavor of the tea.

A major benefit seen with the use of white, tea extracts is that it is anti bacterial and anti viral in nature. Studies have indicated that this tea extract is used as preventive medicine which can help to retard the growth of many varieties of bacteria which can cause different infections. It is found that the fluoride rich white tea helps in preventing the growth of dental plaque and tooth caries.

White-tea is also found to have anti- fungal properties. Some variety of molds and yeasts were totally inactivated in the presence of this tea. This has great value in food preservation industry. Another important benefit of white tea is its antioxidant property. It protects us from skin cancer and cell damage caused by exposure to sunlight. A person’s immune system gets restored by using white tea. The DNA damage which occurs after exposure to sunlight is found to be significantly limited by the use of white - tea. Sagging of the skin can be considerably reduced by using white tea regularly. Because of this reason, white tea is in great demand as it is used by cosmetic manufacturers. It is better not to consume white-tea if you are suffering from stomach ailments.

White tea is the most exotic and rarest one among varieties of tea, because of its rare variety and limited harvest time. Hence, this tea is also costlier among all the type of varieties of tea available. Nowadays, people have specific choices for the this tea they drink. White tea is considered to be the next big thing as far as tea is concerned, with more and more people  taking a liking for white tea, for its pleasant aroma , sweet taste and wide applications of health benefits.