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Buy White Tea Online - White tea is the least processed tea.

High quality white tea is also considered the champagne of teas. It was once reserved only for the emperor and his servants. No other Chinese tea is made in such a natural way as white tea. In traditional Chinese medicine, white tea is considered to be one of the oldest remedies. With its "cooling" properties, it relieves stress, reduces cholesterol and high blood pressure, has an anti-inflammatory effect and is cancer preventive.

In terms of taste, the tea shows its gentle side: Mild in taste with a slightly pleasant sweetness and a hint of hops, almonds and artichokes. A good white tea is characterized by its round and harmonious taste and is never bitter.

White Tea

Online white tea. Best price in Ireland

White tea not only tastes great, but also has many health-promoting properties. First of all, it slows down the aging process, cleanses the body of toxins, lowers blood pressure, and strengthens bones and joints. What's more, this infusion relieves stress, improves concentration and refreshes. Depending on your preferences, you can choose either plain or flavored white tea.

How to prepare the infusion?

To prepare the infusion, put a little dried fruit in a cup or glass and pour water with a temperature of 75 to 95 degrees Celsius. We brew for about 2 to 5 minutes. Remember that the higher the water temperature, the shorter the brewing time should be.

White tea - a wide range

Our online store also offers white tea. We offer white tea without additives, flavored white tea, raspberry white tea, dragon's eye white tea - all of them are distinguished by their unique taste and excellent aroma.

The well-known varieties are Yin Zhen Bai Hao and Pai Mu Tan

White tea (Bai Cha 白茶 in Chinese) gets its name from the white, shimmering silver fluff that surrounds its buds. White tea is one of the six basic types of tea in Chinese tea culture. The two highest quality varieties are Bai Hao Yin Zhen (in Chinese 白毫 銀針, in English "Silver Needle", and Pai Mu Tan (in Chinese 白牡丹, in English "White Peony").

The origin of white tea is Fuding City in Fujian, China

Like all other Chinese teas, white tea is derived from the Camellia Sinensis plant family. Two varieties of the tea plant are considered to be decisive for the best and original white tea: Da Hao and Da Bai. The first named is the original plant, which, according to written records, was of great importance as early as the Song dynasty (960-1279 AD) and was produced exclusively for the emperor. The Da Bai variety, on the other hand, was first cultivated in the middle of the 19th century by tea farmers from Fuding in the Chinese province of Fujian. Wild tea plants from the Tai Mu Shan Mountains were used.

One kilo of Yin Zhen Silver Needles white tea requires 30,000 leaf buds

But what makes white tea so special? In addition to the special plant variety, the traditional manufacturing process plays a decisive role. The freshly sprouted leaf buds can only be harvested on a very few days in spring. For the Yin Zhen Silver Needles variety, only the top leaf buds are picked exclusively by hand. Depending on the variety, you need up to 30,000 individual leaf buds to make one kilo of tea. This already shows how complex the production is and why this world-famous tea variety accounts for less than 0.2% of tea production across China. After the picking, the leaf buds are sorted, partially peeled (if larger leaf parts that are unusable for Yin Zhen surround the bud) and then ventilated for 2-3 hours.

Elaborate traditional manufacturing process

Wilting and drying is traditionally carried out on large bamboo mats. The tea is spread out generously and dried and withered for 1-3 days in the sun and in the fresh air. When the weather is rather humid and wet, the tea master has to switch to heated and air-circulated interiors. The white tea dries much faster than traditional sun drying. As a result, the tea master receives a very lightly oxidized white tea (degree of oxidation approx. 2-3%) during sun drying, which gives the tea its characteristic, harmonious, fine aroma. The drying in the interior is much faster, which is why the tea does not have as much time to oxidize. This can be unfavorable in terms of taste. When the tea leaves have lost 80-90% of their moisture, the tea master can proceed to the final drying stage. The tea is heated to over 100 ° C for a few minutes, usually in two stages. The still warm tea leaves are then sorted again by hand (traditional manufacturing process) or by machine (modern manufacturing process) and then immediately packed airtight and light-tight. This ensures that the tea cannot oxidize further after it is packaged.

 

White tea as a traditional remedy - the effect on health

As one of the oldest remedies in traditional Chinese medicine, white tea has a strong cooling effect. To counteract the cooling effect (e.g. on cold days), it should be drunk hot. It has a detoxifying and anti-inflammatory effect. Since no enzymatic fermentation has taken place in white tea (in contrast to black tea and oolong tea) and the leaves are processed in an extremely gentle way, most of the original ingredients are retained. The polyphenols contained in white tea are comparable to high quality green tea and correspond to about 30% of the weight of the tea leaves. It has a high content of particularly valuable catechins, the anti-oxidative effect of which is highly valued by pharmacologists (e.g. for cancer prevention). The polyphenols can develop their anti-oxidative effect particularly well in combination with vitamin C. To use this effect, the white tea can be mixed with a small amount of lemon juice after cooling down at a lukewarm temperature.

High in caffeine

The high content of caffeine in white tea should be emphasized. In the case of high quality, this is 5-6% based on the dry matter. In comparison, coffee only contains 1-3% caffeine. Nevertheless, the caffeine in white tea is much milder, but longer lasting than in coffee. In tea leaves, the caffeine is bound to tannins, in coffee to chlorogenic acid. Coffee has a strong effect on the cardiovascular system, whereas tea primarily affects the central nervous system. The effect of white tea is therefore perceived as stimulating and gently increases the ability to concentrate.

Why white tea is so expensive

Fujian Province, the region of origin of white tea, is still the top address for white tea of the highest quality. However, prices from this region in particular more than doubled between 2010 and 2019. There are several reasons for this: The national and international demand has increased massively. At the same time, the areas for cultivation are limited and the harvest is limited to a few days a year. If the weather does not cooperate, high harvest losses can be expected. Another reason is the significant increase in labor costs on China's east coast. White tea is labor-intensive when harvested like no other. Even an experienced tea picker does not manage more than 500g of fresh leaf buds per day - that results in approx. 100g of tea after processing. The majority of the production costs are due to the high working hours.

Today's growing regions for white tea

Today, many of the world's tea growing regions also produce white tea. In China you can find quite good white teas e.g. in the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui, Hunan and Yunnan. The Yin Zhen Silver Needles from these provinces do not quite come close to the Bai Hao Yin Zhen from Fuding in terms of quality, but they offer alternatives to the Fujian cultivation region that are interesting in terms of price. The Silver Needles from the southern provinces are often slightly larger and the down is even more silvery or whiter than the original from Fuding. This can easily be misinterpreted by an inexperienced tea buyer. Because the Fuding Yin Zhen Bai Hao Silver Needles look a bit smaller and more inhomogeneous, but have a more flawless taste profile that develops over several Gongfu Cha infusions.

Other growing countries that nowadays produce some good white teas are Taiwan, Thailand, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Preparation: 70 ° C hot water for high quality

Particularly high-quality white tea is best prepared according to the traditional Chinese tea preparation "GongFu Cha". With the principle of short brewing times and multiple infusions, you can easily get the most out of the tea leaves. You can use a Yixing teapot or a gaiwan for this, for example. For high quality products, the infusion temperature should be 70 degrees Celsius. Less high-quality varieties can be infused hotter, e.g. at 80-90 ° Celsius.

White tea is also particularly suitable for a cold infusion. For this purpose, Yin Zhen Silver Needles are infused with cold water in an iced tea bottle and then placed in the refrigerator for about 12 hours. The cold infusion brings out the fine floral, vegetal and nutty aromas of the white tea particularly well and practically no bitter substances dissolve at the low temperatur.

Fuding - a legendary white tea place.

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