An unoxidized and uncured form of tea is usually referred to as white tea. Just like black tea, oolong and green tea, white tea comes from Camellia sinensis plant. Before the tea leaves are cured, black and Oolong teas are oxidized.
The unique feature of white tea is that it contains young tea leaves and buds, which contain lower caffeine levels compared to the older leaves, which suggests that the proportion of caffeine in some white teas could be a bit lower when compared to green teas.
Often, white tea contains young tea leaves and buds, which contain lower caffeine levels than the older tea leaves. This suggests that the caffeine level in certain white teas is a bit lower while compared to the green teas. White tea is the chief specialty of Fujian province of China. The tea leaves come from several varieties of tea cultivars. Most popular amongst them are the Chaicha, Narcissus, Small White (Xiao Bai) and Large White (Da Bai).
Below mentioned are the types and description of Chinese white teas:-
- § Silver Needle or Bai Hao Yinzhen – The highest possible Bai Hao Yinzhen grade has to be bright colored, covered with tiny white hairs and fleshy. Their shape has to be extremely uniform without leaves or stems. The best forms of Yinzhen are picked between April 10 and March 15 when it hardly rains and, that too, with unopened and undamaged buds.
- § White Peony Bai Mu Dan – This is a grade down from the Bai Hao Yinzhen tea, which incorporates the two leaves and the buds to get covered with the silvery-white, fine down. Just like the Silver needle, this tea also traces its origin to China’s Fujian province.
- § Tribute Eyebrow or Gong Mei tea – This is the third grade of white tea and its production uses leaves from small white tea trees or Xiao Bai.
- § Long, Noble life Eyebrow – This is a furry and fruity variety of white tea which is a chaotic mix of upper leaf and tips. Similar to Oolong, they have stronger flavor than other form of white teas. A fourth grade white tea, it is picked much later than the Bai Mu Dan. Hence, this form of tea is darker in color. This tea has its origins from China’s Guangxi and Fujian province.
|
