White tea
by James K. Sayre
Most of us have heard of black tea and many of us have heard of green tea, but until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of "white tea." I was reading an old copy of the News-Press from Fort Myers and Lee County in southwestern Florida from last August and I skimmed over the column by Martha Stewart. She was writing about the various virtues of black tea and green tea and then she mentioned "white tea." She said that it was the most expensive and rarest of teas, formerly begin reserved for the rulers in China.
My interest was piqued, so I searched the Internet and found some information about the "white tea." It is the earliest pickings off the tea plants: juvenile leaves and small buds, some of which have small whitish hairs, which are asserted to be the source of the name, white tea. Different types of white teas are produced in China, Japan and India.
The Trader Joe's Grocery store chain in the U. S. sells white tea in at least some of its northern California branches. It costs about one-third more than organic green tea, so it is a little more expensive. White tea is reputed to have less caffeine than green tea, which in turn has less caffeine than black teas. Having tried white tea several times, I noticed nothing special about it. Perhaps it was mild enough for eighty-year-old Chinese emperors to drink in the evening and then not keep their royal brain wake at night. Maybe white tea is thus for tea drinkers who want to drink tea, without suffering receiving any consequent caffeine stimulation.
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Web page last updated on 12 February 2007.