The famous writer CS Lewis once said, ‘One can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.’ When it comes to tea lovers, choice are a plenty and the recent fad seems to be of White tea. Although the largely craved hot beverage comes from the same plant (Camellia sinensis) as that of green tea but white tea is said to be healthier than green tea. Also white is the most expensive tea in the world.
First let us find out what is white tea?
Dietician and city consultant Dharini Krishnan has done a presentation on white tea. She explains that historically white tea is derived from the first flush buds which were grown only in the Fukien province of china but now it is being manufactured in India and Sri Lanka too. However white tea is not white in colour and it got its name from the silver coloured hair – like bud. The tea is actually pale yellow in colour.
Dharini further states that white tea is produced from the unopened buds of tea shoots. The buds gets dried and withered only under special conditions. And anything that becomes rare becomes expensive. The reason for white tea’s exorbitant prices is that it has to be plucked in a very short period of time. It gets produced in very meagre quantities and this is also a big reason for its high prices.
The Benefits:
The way Green tea is healthy for us so is White tea. Dharini suggests that one should have white tea between meals to yield its benefits. She further fortifies herself by saying that white tea helps a lot in weight management. Also white tea contains flavonoids that help in improving vascular health which in turn helps in preventing heart diseases. Japanese and Chinese consume white tea substituting in water since it also helps in hydrating the body.
Green tea or White tea:
A lot of people give their views in the comparison of both types of teas but Dharini says that both of them are good for our health and both have its own benefits. Dharini further says that both the tea contains catechins (antioxidants) as the flavonoids compounds.
Other teas have theaflavins, thearubigins along with catechins. A lot of claims has been made that white tea has more antioxidants as compared to green tea but data has proved this wrong. White tea is less bitter than green tea because the buds are picked up at a very early stage.
