Ancient people realized white tea benefits quite few centuries ago. Western medicine has now acknowledges white tea benefits through formal studies.
Photo courtesy of yuichi.sakuraba
Let’s talk a bit about white tea,
* It comes from Camellia Sinensis – The Chinese tea plant
* This is a rare tea
* This tea tastes mellow and savory
* Its taste and fragrance is weaker than other teas
* Popular types are White Peony, Silver needle, and Snow buds
* This tea has as many health benefits as green tea such as anti-fungal effects, slowing the spread of breast cancer.
White tea is processed differently from other teas. White tea leaves are slightly oxidized. The dried products have opaque white color. The leaves can take shape of round balls, needle-like, or finely chopped powder. The fragrance of this tea is not very distinguished. If there are lots of other fragrances around, you wouldn’t smell anything from your cup of tea.
White tea has a kind of orange-yellowish color after brewed. This wonderful drink tastes sweet and a bit mellow. But if you taste this tea for the first time, it seems as if you have just drunk fruity water. It takes a while for your palate to adjust to the taste of this tea. Gradually you will sense the sweetness and may be a touch of bitterness.
Once the tea goes into the body, it gives you a sense of relaxation and refreshing. If you are all alone with your book, this is quite an experience. For a moment, you feel like all of stress evaporates away. You should try it sometimes…
There are not many varieties of white tea. 3 of most popular kinds of white tea are White Peony, Silver Needle, and Snow Buds. Silver Needle is the most expensive of the 3. While Snow Buds is the least known tea.
Each of the above white tea kind has a different and distinctive taste.
For a beginner, White peony is a good choice. It’s not so expensive but still has many distinguished traits of this rare tea. There are many white tea benefits to help strengthening your immune system. Drinking tea is like exercise. It takes time but will yield great result. All good things require time, don’t they?
Here are some well-known white tea benefits…
White tea benefits…
The first white tea benefits due to the high level of polyphenols – a type of antioxidants for their defenses against damages, diseases, and injuries.
White tea is the one of least processed tea, so most of the natural defense polyphenol are still retained in your cup of tea. Once consumed into our body, these polyphenols help strengthening our immune system. Polyphenols have similar effects as vitamins or minerals in our body.
The second white tea benefits is resulted from catechin.. Catechin is a specific kind polyphenol that exists in high amount in white tea.
It helps regulate chemicals in the cells to decrease the risk of developing breast cancer. Catechin also inactivates the effects of tumor promoters. Thus, this slows the spreading of cancer. High-consumption of animal’s fats and excess amount of alcohol can significantly increase the level of cholesterol in the bloodstream. Arteriosclerosis and heart attack are commonly caused by high cholesterol and severe damage to the arteries.
The third white tea benefit is that it can help to keep the cholesterol level in check. Antioxidant polyphenol such as flavonoids and EGCG can greatly reduce the level of LDL – bad cholesterol in the blood. They have the ability to change the shape of LDL- make them less harmful to the arteries.
The fourth white tea benefits is that it can help increasing the amount of HDL – good cholesterol, thus lowering the risk of suffering heart attack and stroke.
One thing to remember is that tea doesn’t replace a healthy diet and regular exercise. If you can combine these 3 healthy activities together, you will have the health to enjoy life better.
The fifth white tea benefit is that it also contains fluoride. It’s an important mineral for health and strength of your teeth, gums, and bones.
Specifically, fluoride helps prevent dental cavities. This component of white tea is often added into tooth pastes to provide better dental protection and reducing the risk of plaque formation.
The last but not least white tea benefits are its effects against fungi. Recent studies have shown that this tea has strong anti-fungal effects, even stronger than green tea. It contains natural chemicals that have the ability to hinder the spreading of fungi.