When people talk about tea drinking the main types of tea that come to mind, are usually Green Tea or Black Tea. Green tea is either steamed or pan fried to stop the enzymatic action needed for oxidation. Black tea on the other hand is only withered then fully oxidized to create the smooth, dark liquor. A less well known category of tea is White Tea which is simply the least processed of all the varieties of tea.

White Tea

White tea comes from the plant Camellia sinensis, as does green, oolong, black and pu-her. Traditionally white tea has been simply the buds of the tea plant. The purest form is the tender, unopened budsets which are plucked by hand in early spring before the leaves develop. The Fujian province of China has produced some of the finest and rarest White Teas. The buds have a soft white downy appearance and many times are used in the presentation teas or blooming teas.  The time of day, environment and moisture content of the plants are all taken into consideration when plucking buds for white tea.  It takes approximately 10,000 buds to equal 2.2 pounds of Bai Hao Yin Zhen tea from the Fujian province (M.L. Hess, R. J. Hess, 2007).

Categories of White Tea

The traditional budset (and what many claim to be one the finest white teas), come from the China bush tea in Anhui Province sometimes referred to as Imperial Silver Needle. This is a sub-variety of the bush tea found in the Fujian Province. The “New Style” white tea is a leaf tea made from the first leaf set of the tea plant. It is considered a sub-category of white tea and produces a more concentrated flavor than the traditional bud set tea. The plucking of New Style white tea is very specific. It may include the bud and first leaf together, the first leaf alone just below the budset, budset and first leaf when imperfect and finally the budset and the first leaf with the second true leaf creating a branch (the branch is discarding in one stage of the processing). Many of the white teas on the market today are a combination of buds and leaf which make for a wonderful flavor at an affordable price.

Processing of White Tea

The simplicity of the processing consists of withering the buds or leaves in a shaded areas to avoid “Greening”, which is the production of chlorophyll from exposure to the sun. The area must have good air circulation to induce thorough drying and to avoid spoiling. A slight oxidation will occur during this process. The tea is then bake-dried to stop further oxidation verses fired as found with some other categories of tea. This limited processing produces  liquor which is light in color, slightly sweet with no grassy undertones.

Health Benefits

The health benefits on White Tea are not as conclusive as what has been found on Green or Black tea. This may due to the scarcity of white tea and the popularity of Green Tea and Black Tea. One study completed in  2007 by scientists at the University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University, suggested that white tea extract topically protects elements of the skin’s immune system due to the antioxidants found in white tea. The study reviewed the outer most layer of the skin (epidermis) where the Langerhans cells are located. The Langerhans cells help detect germs and mutated proteins produced by cancerous cells and they are very sensitive to damage caused by sunlight. In the study a white tea extract was placed on an area of unexposed skin and a second area was left unprotected. After exposure to sunlight the scientists found the white tea extract protected  the Langerhans cells against the sun damage. The  sun-exposed skin not treated with the extract did show damage to the Langerhans cells (Science Daily, January 27, 2003). The idea that white tea’s anti-oxidant properties can improve the skins immune response may also lead to claim of anti-aging benefits. The jury is still out and more conclusive studies are needed.

We do know that White tea in its beautiful simplicity still contains the same health promoting ingredients to induce relaxation and boost the immune system with a lower caffeine content than most other true tea.  If you do not favor the grassier green teas and want to avoid the caffeine of black teas, take some time to try the category of white tea today. Who knows, you may become one of the many who have learned the simple pleasure of tea.  

Next month we will take a look at some of the many varieties of green tea and why all there is so much news about this amazing, health filled brew.

Reference material: (The Story of Tea by M. L. Heiss and R. J. Heiss; 2007)