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White tea Wikipedia

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White tea is tea made from new growth buds and young leaves which have been steamed or fired to inactivate polyphenol redox|oxidation, and then dried. The buds may be shielded from sun|sunlight to prevent formation of chlorophyll. White tea therefore retains the high concentrations of catechins which are present in fresh tea leaves.

Green tea is made from more mature tea leaves than white tea, and may be withered prior to steaming or firing. Although green tea is also rich in catechins, it may have different catechin profiles than white tea. For white tea the little buds that form on the plant are covered with silver hairs that give the young leaves a white appearance. The leaves come from a number of varieties of tea cultivars, the most popular are Da Bai (Large White), Xiao Bai (Small White), Narcissus and Chaicha bushes. According to the different standards of picking and selecting, White teas can be classified into a number of grades, further described in the White_tea#Chinese_White_Teas|varieties section.

Produced almost entirely in China and being a speciality of the province Fujian, white tea is steamed and dried almost immediately after harvesting (in some situations in the fields themselves). It is possible that this method of minimal processing accounts for this tea's added benefits. Roderick H. Dashwood, an Oregon State University biochemist, has theorized that the polyphenol|polyphenols, called catechin|catechins, are destroyed through the processing used with other teas.

Kit Chow notes in All The Tea In China that in hard times, very poor Chinese homes would serve guests boiled water when they could not afford tea. Host and guest would call the water "white tea" and act as if the tradition of serving guests tea had been carried out as usual. (This particular usage is related to the fact that plain boiled water is called "white boiled water" in Chinese).

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Last Modified:   2005-11-07