white tea

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Image:Bai Hao Yinzhen or Silver needle White Tea.JPG]]

White tea may refer to one of several styles of tea which generally feature young or minimally processed leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant.{{cite web |url=https://diptea.com/tea/tea-processing/white-tea |title=White Tea - A Comprehensive Guide|publisher=Open Publishing |date=2012-04-30 |website=Dip Tea}}

Currently there is no generally accepted definition of white tea and very little international agreement on how it can be defined. Some sources use the term to refer tea that is merely dried with no additional processing.{{cite web|url=https://www.tu-braunschweig.de/Medien-DB/ilc/w_t.pdf|title=Characterisation of white tea – Comparison to green and black tea|author=Y. Hilal and U. Engelhardt|date=2007|website=www.tu-braunschweig.de|access-date=14 April 2019|archive-date=12 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180812152716/https://www.tu-braunschweig.de/Medien-DB/ilc/w_t.pdf|url-status=dead}} Therefore, white tea is very close to the natural state of the tea plant. Other sources use the term to refer to tea made from the buds and immature tea leaves picked shortly before the buds have fully opened and traditionally allowed to wither and dry under the sun,{{Cite book |title=The Tale of Tea |last=George |first=van Driem |publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV |year=2019 |isbn=978-9-0043-8625-9 |location=Leiden, The Netherlands. |pages=125}} while others include tea buds and very young leaves which have been steamed or fired before drying.{{cite web|url=http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/food-beverages/tea|title=Tea|date=28 April 2014|website=oregonstate.edu|access-date=23 March 2018}} Most definitions agree, however, that white tea is not rolled or oxidized,{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} resulting in a flavor characterized as "lighter" than most green or traditional black teas.

In spite of its name, brewed white tea is pale yellow. Its name derives from the fine silvery-white hairs on the unopened buds of the tea plant, which give the plant a whitish appearance. The unopened buds are used for some types of white tea.

It is harvested primarily in China, mostly in the Fujian province,{{cite book |last1=Chow |first1=Kit Boey |last2=Kramer |first2=Ione |title=All the Tea in China |date=1990 |publisher=China Books |location=San Francisco |isbn=978-0-8351-2194-1 | url=http://www.chinabooks.com/shop/china-books/all-the-tea-in-china/ |page=142}} but more recently produced in Taiwan, Eastern Nepal, Thailand, Galle (Southern Sri Lanka) and northeast India.

History

What is today known as white tea may have come into creation in the last two centuries; scholars and tea merchants generally disagree as to when the first production of white tea (as it is understood in China today) began. White tea may have first appeared in English publication in 1876, where it was categorized as a black tea, because the leaves are not steamed first as in the making of green tea in order to denature intrinsic oxidative enzymes.{{cite book | last= Hanson | first= Reginald | title= A Short Account of Tea and the Tea Trade | publisher=Adamant Media Corporation | year= 2005 | isbn= 1-4021-5748-7 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=KnbkZTazs3sC |page=46 |edition=Reprint. Original: Whitehead, Morris and Lowe 1878}}

White tea is often sold as Silvery Tip Pekoe in the style of the tea leaf grading system, as well as under the simple designations China White and Fujian White.

Some tea from the related wild Camellia taliensis in Yunnan is made using white tea processing techniques.

Composition

White tea, like black and green tea, is made from the Camellia sinensis plant and contains polyphenols, a set of phytonutrients that are thought to be responsible for the health effects of tea.{{cite journal|last1=Dulloo|first1=AG|last2=Seydoux|first2=J|last3=Girardier|first3=L|last4=Chantre|first4=P|last5=Vandermander|first5= J|title=Green tea and thermogenesis: Interactions between catechin-polyphenols, caffeine and sympathetic activity|journal=International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders|volume=24|issue=2|pages=252–258|date=February 2000|pmid=10702779|doi=10.1038/sj.ijo.0801101|doi-access=|s2cid=6895328 }}{{cite journal|last1=Hursel|first1=R|last2=Westerterp-Plantenga|first2=MS|title=Catechin- and caffeine-rich teas for control of body weight in humans|journal=American Journal of Clinical Nutrition|volume=98|issue=6 Suppl 1|pages=1682S–1693S|date=December 2013|pmid=24172301|doi=10.3945/ajcn.113.058396|doi-access=free}} Different white teas have different amounts of catechins, a category of polyphenols, and the overall range of concentrations overlaps with that of green tea, meaning that some white teas have the same concentration of polyphenols as some green teas. This may be due to the variety of the tea plant from which the tea was picked, the cultivation technique, and the way in which the tea was processed.{{cite journal|last1=Unachukwu|first1=UJ|last2=Ahmed|first2=S|last3=Kavalier|first3=A|last4=Lyles|first4=JT|title = White and green teas (Camellia sinensis var. sinensis): variation in phenolic, methylxanthine, and antioxidant profiles|journal=Journal of Food Science|volume=75|issue=6|pages=C541–C548|date=August 2010|pmid=20722909|doi=10.1111/j.1750-3841.2010.01705.x|url=https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/bitstream/1/15184/1/Ahmed_JFS_2010_final.pdf}}

= Caffeine content =

White tea generally contains less caffeine than green or black tea. However, the exact amount can vary depending on several factors such as the type of tea, how it's brewed, and the brand. Here's a general comparison:

White Tea: The caffeine content in white tea can range from 6 to 55 mg per cup (250 mL){{Cite web |title=White Tea Caffeine Content is Higher Than You Think |url=https://mansatea.com/blogs/learn/white-tea-caffeine |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=Mansa Tea |language=en}}

Green Tea: The caffeine content in green tea is around 30 mg per cup (250 mL){{Cite web |title=FoodData Central |url=https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/171917/nutrients |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=fdc.nal.usda.gov |archive-date=23 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230523232832/https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/171917/nutrients |url-status=dead }}

Black Tea: The caffeine content in black tea is around 50 mg per cup (250 mL){{Cite web |title=FoodData Central |url=https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/173227/nutrients |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=fdc.nal.usda.gov |archive-date=23 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230523232832/https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/173227/nutrients |url-status=dead }}

Manufacturing

The base process for manufacturing white tea is as follows:

:Fresh tea leaf → withering → drying (air drying, solar drying or mechanical drying) → white tea{{cite book

| last1= Hui

| first1 = Y. H.

| last2 = Meunier-Goddik

| first2 = Lisbeth

| last3 = Hansen

| first3 = Åse Solvejg

| title = Handbook of Food and Beverage Fermentation Technology

| publisher = CRC Press

| year = 2004

| isbn = 0-203-91355-8

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=PC_O7u1NPZEC

| page=961}}

White tea belongs to the group of tea that does not require panning, rolling or shaking. However, the selection of raw material in white tea manufacture is extremely stringent; only the plucking of young tea leaves with much fine hair can produce good-quality white tea of a high pekoe (grading) value.

= Plucking style =

Four primary plucking styles exist for Chinese white teas. The first, and highest quality, Baihao Yinzhen, is just the bud of the tea plant. Bai Mudan white tea is typically composed of one bud and two leaves. Gongmei white tea is similar to Bai Mudan, but includes three to four leaves. The lowest grade of white tea, Shoumei, has many leaves and few buds.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAYRZeDJ4Pc |title=Discover the 6 Tea Types and a WORLD of Awesome Tea Sub-Types {{!}} Masterclass on Tea Ch. 1 of 8 |date=2022-08-07 |last=Wu Mountain Tea |access-date=2024-08-18 |via=YouTube}}

white tea

History

Composition

= Caffeine content =

Manufacturing

= Plucking style =

Popular types of white tea

References

Further reading