my afternoon cup of white tea
There’s a big tea world out there, but I’ve been focusing in on white tea. If there was a “super tea” among teas, this would be it. More than any other tea, white tea is high in polyphenols, a powerful antioxidant that can fight off cancer-causing cells. It is antifungal and antibacterial. White tea can protect your heart and circulatory system and also fight free radicals which in turn can help keep your skin healthy (ladies, we love that don’t we?). =) In addition, white tea is lower in caffeine than black tea and green tea, so it’s a great choice for those who need to limit caffeine intake. It can reduce stress and increase bone density.
White, green, and black teas all come from the same plant, the camellia sinensis. White tea is the least processed of the three and comes from the young buds and leaves of the plant, unlike green and black tea which is made from the mature plant. Immediately after being picked, the white tea is steam-dried. Green tea is air-dried then steamed, and black tea is rolled up and left to ferment before it is dried. The fine white hair on the tea leaves is what gives it the name “white tea”.
There are 4 main varieties of white tea listed in order of quality and expense:
- Silver Needle (Baihao Yinzhen)
- White Peony (Bai Mudan)
- Long Life Eyebrow (Shou Mei)
- Tribute Eyebrow (Gong Mei)
You can find other varieties but these are the top four. There are many places to find tea on the Internet, so browse around and find what you like. There are also white teas mixed with fruit. I find that very enjoyable! Or you can brew your white tea with another loose leaf tea to add more flavor. White tea is naturally slightly sweet, so you may find that you need to add nothing at all. I personally drink the white peony loose leaf tea. I drink it plain and enjoy every last sip of it. On a hot day you can even pour it over ice and enjoy it as a cold beverage.
References:
http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chineseteaandliquor/a/whitetea.htm
http://ezinearticles.com/?Tea–How-Do-You-Drink-White-Tea?&id=551979
http://healthmad.com/nutrition/10-reasons-to-drink-white-tea/
http://www.whiteteaguide.com/whiteteavarieties.htm
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
The flouride in white tea isn’t the toxic kind like in toothpaste and water? I’d like to know more about this. Is it like how unrefined salt doesn’t raise blood pressure because it has magnesium to balance off the sodium? You’ve definitely got my interest piqued now.
Jason, I’m not quite sure. I’ve been doing more research since the post and I’m finding some interesting things. As for the salt, we use unrefined salt too, but I did not know that it didn’t raise blood pressure. I’ll have to read up on that too! I hope to write more about fluoride soon.
Nice going healthnutmama! This was a terrific, super well-written post about a wonderful, natural product – loved it! I’ll be a follower now… and can’t wait to try to make the salad dressing from your last post
I checked out your site and it’s lovely. Glad you liked the post and I hope the salad dressing turns out good!
i know this is a tea post, but i just wanted to let you know that the dressing was SO good. we made it the other day and loved it!
Sounds lovely! I get my tea from Special Teas, an online source. They’re really nice and have lots of wonderful teas–some expensive, of course.