In the world of the aromatic beverage tea, the white tea is a fairly young variety. It is plucked even before the maturation of buds, right when the buds have soft white hair covering them.
Usually, these buds and the new young unfurled leaves of the tea plants are hand-plucked and then the process to make one of the delicate and freshest teas ever experienced by the drinker starts.
Since the process of drying and grounding (not exactly) is done at a fast pace and no time for oxidation is given thus this tea has high antioxidant value along with its unique and befitting taste.
As this tea needs the right time to be plucked and then also needs to be lightly grounded in time thus, it is very expensive in comparison to its other counterparts. This tea is usually picked from a plant called the Camellia Sinensis.
Some properties of the white tea are:
- Its fruity and floral aroma.
- Its light and mellow flavor.
- Its delicate and fresh taste.
- Tea leaves are just withered and rolled lightly.
Types of White Tea
Furthermore, the White tea has various types, these are:
• Silver Needle White Tea
One of the most expensive tea varieties available around the globe is the silver needle white tea. It is crafted purely from the tea buds with silver hair. It is a beautiful drink to look at and extremely delightful to drink. It has a wonderful light yellow color to it which is accompanied by a soothing aroma.
The Da Bai Cultivars once only cultivated this tea but now it is often cultivated on mostly all high-altitude tea cultivation sites around the world.
• White Peony
This type of white tea is made from the first leaves and the two subsequent ones of the tea plant. They are usually very supple and soft. It is widely produced around the globe along with the silver needle white tea.
In comparison to the silver needle white tea, this one is stronger in its flavor and darker in color as in comparison to the buds, leaves do get partially oxidized in the process of receiving this tea.
It is believed that the best variety of peony has both the buds and the leaves for the best taste and a befitting aroma that it has.
• Eyebrow White Tea
This type of white tea is usually produced much later in the harvesting season. It is made by plucking the first leaves of the tea plants. It resembles the Oolong tea in its flavors, that is it has a strong and fruity flavor to it which much stronger than the above two varieties of white tea.
Eyebrow White tea is further available in two categories:-
- Tribute Eyebrow: The Tribute eyebrow white tea is plucked from a different bush of the tea plant and is usually also processed differently in comparison to all the other types of white tea.
- Long Life Eyebrow: The long life eyebrow is considered to be a low ranking white tea and is processed from the leaves which are left after the silver white tea and the White peony have already been processed from the tea plant.
• Fujian New Craft White Tea
The Fujian white tea is fairly the youngest and newest member of the white tea family. It is often also called a deceptive white tea as its leaves are withered slightly rolled and dried thus, giving it the appearance of that of a black tea.
This tea has the boldest and robust flavor to it and is often also known as a cross between the rich green tea and the cultured white tea. Its aroma is much milder than its flavor.
• White Puerh Tea
The white Puerh tea is generally plucked in the springtime from the mountains in the Yunnan province of China. It is famous for its aroma and the fruits taste. The whole processing of this type of white tea is done by hands only.
All these varieties of white tea are a native of Yunnan, a part of China but now various other places like Fuji, Darjeeling and Sri Lanka are producing the similar kinds of white tea with equal quality assurances and giving a tough competition to the primitive ones.
Also, these white teas can also be differentiated on the basis of the area they grow in, Namely:
• Assam White Tea
One of the rare types of white tea with extremely light leaves and a naturally sweet and malty taste.
• Darjeeling White Tea
This type of white tea has a delicate flavor and aroma with a beautiful pale golden color and is very rich in taste.
• African White
It grows in Kenya and Malawi regions of Africa and has a rich and distinct flavor to it.
• Ceylon White
This variety of white tea grows in Sri Lanka and is one of the best types of white tea, these leaves are sundried and rolled with hands. It has faint coppery hue to it.
Health Benefits
Not only does the supremely famous white tea taste so amazing and smells so delicious but has many benefits for our body.
Some of the health benefits of white tea have been listed below:
• The first and the foremost benefit of consuming white tea is that it is a blast of the healthiest antioxidants available to us. These help in the maintenance of heart health, lowering the blood pressure in our body and also prevent us from some forms of cancer.
• White tea contains substances like fluorides, catechins, and tannins which protect our teeth from the plaque-causing bacteria.
• There is a rare condition called insulin resistance which is lowered by the consumption of white tea as it has polyphenols.
• Many compounds present in white tea help in the maintenance of healthy skin and delay the aging of our skin significantly.
Conclusion
After knowing so much about white tea, it’s high time you all should pick one for yourself and also help your family chose a healthier drinking option by providing them the choice of this blast of health in a variety of mild and aromatic flavors. Enjoy the goodness of health in every sip of this ecstatic and elegant white tea.