White tea: Antioxidant activity

White tea is an unfermented tea derived from Camellia sinensis (fam. Theaceae) plant protected from sunlight to avoid polyphenol degradation. This tea is prepared from very young tea leaves or buds covered with tiny, silvery hairs, which are harvested only once a year in the early spring.

White tea is a type of tea with a fruity, delicate flavor and an exceptional aroma with low caffeine content while rich in antioxidants. The most important antioxidant in white tea is Epigallocatechingallate (EGCG). White tea is ascribed to have the highest content of phenolic compounds.

Tea polyphenols, especially catechin derivatives, are potent antioxidant agents, with positive effects on human health. Antioxidant components have aroused great interest because of their ability to scavenge free radicals, thereby inhibiting oxidative stress.

During the past years, oxidative damage induced by reactive species has been linked to the development of several human diseases such as diabetes mellitus and neurode-generative disorders.

Tea catechins effectively reduce cholesterol absorption from the intestine, lowering the solubility of cholesterol and enhancing the faecal excretion of cholesterol and total lipids.

White tea protects against certain type of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and stroke, the leading causes of death in the industrial world, as well as numerous other conditions. It prevents heart strokes mainly due to the elimination free radicals due to its antioxidant property.The symptoms of illness reduce and it promotes recovery.

Flavonoids, another group of antioxidants found in white tea, are known to block the formation of carcinogenic cells and as such it prevents the cancerous growth in prostate, colon, intestine and stomach.

White tea strengthens the circulatory, immune systems as well as bones and teeth, and builds healthy skin. It also lowers the symptoms of type II diabetes and is beneficial for other conditions including halitosis (bad breath) and skin rejuvenation.

White tea also reduces stress and increases energy.

There are four main varieties of white tea which includes Silver Needle, White Peony, Long Life Eyebrow, and Tribute Eyebrow.

White tea: Antioxidant activity

Types of White Tea

Advances in understanding the chemical compositions of different varieties of tea have given rise to prevailing belief that the less the processing or oxidation the tea undergoes the more polyphenol antioxidants it retains.

The minimal processing of white tea yields a higher concentration of polyphenol phytochemicals, including the catechins.

White tea is one of the lesser known varieties of tea and it is created by being fast-dried. Before the leaves have had a chance to open fully they are picked and harvested. At this stage the buds are covered in white hair and that is where the tea gets its name. There are four main varieties of white tea:
*Silver Needle
*White Peony
*Long Life Eyebrow
*Tribute Eyebrow

Silver Needle and White Peony teas are considered to be the two best White teas available.

Ivory colored when dried Silver Needle variety is made from exclusively from the buds coming from the Fujian province of China. Silver Needle represents the highest graded white tea and should consist of only the unopened bud of the Dai Bai cultivar.

White Peony is a popular tea that looks whitish to clear in the cup. The buds and the top leaves are picked before they open and are allowed to wither only slightly.
Types of White Tea

Fur tip tea

Mao Jian is produced among the misty mountains of Zhejiang, Anhui and Henan provinces and literally translates as ‘hairy tip’ or ‘fur tip’. It is regarded as the best variety in the white tea category.

It is usually grown at altitudes between 500 an 800 meters, benefitting from classic mountain mists. As it is situated relatively far north there is a distinctive seasonality and comparatively short growing season, with the best crop usually coming around the middle of April during the spring period.

This is from Zhejiang and has a bright fresh, clean and rounded character that is refreshing and suits any mood at any time of the day.

It is called Mao Jian or Fur Tip because it was picked while the leaves were still enclosed in their furry casings, before they unfurled and started manufacturing chlorophyll and caffeine.
Fur tip tea

White tea health benefits

Perhaps first produced during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), white tea was the preferred tea of the Chinese royal court.

White tea is so named because the silver fuzz that’s till covers the immature buds and leaves after they are picked turns white when they are dried. The leaves are steamed quickly after harvesting to prevent oxidation of polyphenols and then dried.

White tea contains high level of antioxidants because the leaves and buds are steamed and dried immediately after harvesting, locking in their antioxidant qualities. Because of this kind of processing, white tea contains far less caffeine than other types of tea.

The health benefits of white tea include:
*The polyphenols in white tea can help fight fatigue and wrinkles due to aging
*Because of its high antioxidant content, white tea can help prevent various cancers better than other types of tea by destroying free radicals
*Lower cholesterol and blood pressure. White tea contains more catechins than green tea it has better chance of lowering cholesterol
*Keep the heart and the whole of circulatory system healthy
*Stronger bones
*White tea can effectively bolster the body’s immune system
*Fluoride in white tea can help prevent tooth decay

The main reason why white tea is so much better for the body than any other type of tea is because it is the least processed type of tea.
White tea health benefits 

What is white tea?

The leaves for all three teas, black, green and white come from one plant, Camellia sinensis. Those leaves meant for black and green teas are rolled and fermented before drying, whole those destined for white teas, which actually brew up pale yellow red – are not. White teas is the least processed of all teas.

There is a suggestion that white tea to be defined as a tea made from either the first flush bud and one leaf, either air dried or directly warm fired.

White tea is thought to be healthiest of all three types of tea.

The tea is harvested while the leaves are immature. The white tea is processed immediately without fermentation.

Fresh tea leaves are rich in flavonoids called catechins. Catechins appear to protect human body from a variety of cancers. They also keep the blood vessels healthy.

Because white tea leaves are neither rolled nor fermented, fewer of their catechins marry into polyphenols. According to researchers the plain catechins content of white tea is three times higher that of green tea.

Therefore they are the best dietary source of this compound.

A new research showed that white tea prevented the breakdown of elastin and collagen, by stopping the offending enzymes from doing the damage.

Catechins have an antioxidative and antiaging effects. The catechins found in tea are twenty-five to one hundred times as potent as vitamins C and E.
What is white tea?