Hi all,
I would like to know if is true that white tea has more antioxidants on average than green tea. Which white teas would you recommend as the healthiest? Thanks
Bruno
Hi all,
I would like to know if is true that white tea has more antioxidants on average than green tea. Which white teas would you recommend as the healthiest? Thanks
Bruno
The assumption the less processing of tea the more nutrients is retained. I don't see anything in oxidation that chemically would alter the antioxidants. It could be a fully oxidized black tea might produce a 'sap' that is left behind in processing but I see no evidence of that. I think the amount of antioxidents is determined by environmental conditions and not processing. So a tea from India might be different in antioxidants than somewhere else. White tea is simply dried fast. When mentioned as such it is a style from China. Recently other tea producing areas are producing their versions such as Darjeeling. If you want more antioxidants drink more tea. A strong cup of breakfast tea will eliminate any free radicals. Buy yourself a box of cheap ShouMei(SowMee) leaf from Chinatown and don't be afraid of clogging your teapot. You'll need that much for any taste. The Yinzhen bud is more expensive with stronger taste and is too sexy for pots that aren't glass. BaiMudan is both bud and leaf and all things being equal save your money and stay with the leaf or bud. You might think of Yinzhen as first flush, BaiMudan second flush, and SowMee the left overs.
Jim
Bruno Panetta wrote:
I don't know, but can't you titrate it with a reducing indicator and see? Nothing like measuring it for yourself under your own conditions.
I don't really like white teas.
--scott
I share that feeling Scott. I must say I've had anything from a Pai Mu Dan to Silver Needles, and wouldn't rate any of those amongst my 5 top favourites. True, a good silver needle can be highly rewarding, but IMO a good Oolong for the same price is better value. White tea is too often too mild to offer as an exciting experience as, say, an Oolong or a Pu Erh.
I've been thinking lately that White teas are way overrated in the West. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe they make such a fuss of them in China. Certainly not of Pai Mu Dan, which is way overpriced in the West, whereas in China it is considered no more than medium grade tea.
Aloninna Tel Aviv, Israel
Uh, make that "slowly". Were you thinking of green tea?
/Lew
I ordered a White Darjeeling that I really enjoyed, never liked the Chinese whites as much.
But, I've read some places that white teas are the "least processed" but other that they are semi-fermented like oolongs. Does anyone know? Are they more like greens or more like oolongs?
Thanks L
Is the color green more like blue or yellow?
White teas are dried slowly, often sun-dried, rather than being subjected to high heat like greens, so some enzymatic oxidation occurs. But, unlike oolongs, they aren't kneaded or bruised before the enzymes get denatured by heating. I would guess that white teas as a class are less oxidized than anything being sold as an oolong, but I don't have numbers to back this up.
/Lew
Scientific data is still in the process of being compiled. A variety of green, black, and white is probably the healthiest. Avoid sugar. Toci
Heh. I would do that, but the last thing I tried to titrate took out the shed in the back yard, as well as my chromatograph.
To everyone, their own.
It's a combination of various factors, Jim.
Environmental conditions and varietal contribute to the 'inherited' antioxidants in the tea, while processing changes that content - by increasing certain chemicals and decreasing certain chemicals.
Scientists have concluded that the most effective antioxidant found in tea is the epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) a catechin found in polyphenols. Following is the list of varietals I have extracted for your comparison, note that they are based on unprocessed fresh leaves.
White Tea varietal: Fuyun no. 7 : L-EGCg (mg/g) : 135.05
Oolong varietal: Daye Wulong : L-EGCg (mg/g) : 97.67
Red (Black) tea varietal: Yunnan Daye varietal: L-EGCg (mg/g) : 112.16 Red (Black) tea varietal: Kenya varietal: L-EGCg (mg/g) : 100.63
I believe that tea generally is a healthy drink, so if you are drinking tea for health reasons, drink a wide variety of teas, as each tea besides the wonderful cariety in flavours, also have different properties that will contribute to the well being on a whole.
If you are seriously going only for the 'healthiest' tea, then I would recommend rooibos, which we are told, has the highest level of antioxidant, and virtually no caffeine.
Danny
I don't see oxidation chemically changing very much in tea except the taste via 'easier' leaching. I suspect the nature of the processing leaves some desired residue on the factory floor through cutting,serating,rolling. My local tea shoppe owner says the most desired tea by workers collects on the ventilation filters(fines de la creme but he used another term which I forgot). If you follow the logic the tannic taste is more prominent in black teas than green so more polyphenols more catechin. The other claim you see for white tea besides high antioxidents is low caffeine(theine). So all the evidence points more to environment/varietal than oxidation. White tea from China is a specific varietal from Fujian besides type of processing. I drink tea for the taste and if it keeps me alive another day for another cup it didn't cost me anything. I think the tea industry should promote the seemingly infinite variety in tea taste rather than a health drink.
Jim
samarkand wrote:
Yinzhen White tea bud is picked early in morning wet with dew. It is intially dried in the morning with much manual tossing then rolled by hand when pliable and finally dried in the afternoon sun. This is known as fast drying. Yellow tea is the same process but dried in the afternoon shade and overnight with less tossing and more bruising. This is known as slow drying. An industrial mechanical drying process using 40c known as baking is also used. Green tea is allowed to wither a full 24 hours before processing.
A little article on Ceylon White tea:
Notice the type of jar which is becoming typical at least for Chinese commerical teas along with the nitrogen packs.
Jim
Lewis Per>
Yin Zhen White Tea (bai hao yin zhen) is mainly harvested from the fujian province (there are white tea trees planting in Guangxi and Guizhou as well, but the tea taste is not the same as the original one from fujian). The white tea from the fujian province is considered to be the best.
The processing of the Bai Hao Yin Zhen is classified into: picking - withering - baking - cleaning - re baking. The processing change according to the producing area.
Fuding county: place the freshing tea in thin layer and get dried under the sun. Dried in the sun for one day till the tea is around 80 ~90% dried. Turn to the baking step with using temperature at 30 ~40 degree C.
Zheng He county: for the withering step, there are 2 differents way but the baking step is similar as the one from Fuding county.
- way 1: place the fresh tea in thin layer and withering in a fresh, shaded with weak sunlight place. When the tea is 70 ~ 80% dried, swith the tea under the strong sun and sundry the leaves totally. This step takes 2 ~ 3 days.
- way 2: place the fresh leaves in thin layer and get dried under the sun (2 ~ 3 hours before noon). Move the tea in a fresh and shaded place and get dried with the wind.
The quality of the Bai Hao Yin Zhen is mainly set in the picking day. When the picking day is sunny and blowing north wind, the finishing tea holds white bud and green branch, good quality. When the picking day is humid ot raining and blowing south wind, the finishing tea holds darker color and the branch is quite brown/dark, lower quality.
Fuding white tea holds a very good looking appearance, and has more hairs on the buds. However, the tea taste is rather weak and holds a green touch. This one is the the most popular white tea that is selling in the west and also asia. The price of the fuding white tea is also cheaper. Zheng He white tea doesn't have an appearance as lovely as the fuding white tea. But, the tea taste is much more complex and tasty. It is pure and rich, and it can be brewed for at least 5 times, which is much more than the fuding white tea as well. Because the production of the Zheng He white tea is quite limited, it is harder to find cmopare to the Fuding white tea. Therefore, the price of the Zheng he white tea is higher. If you haven't experienced a complex and rich white tea, maybe should go and look for a Zheng He white tea. Just the liquor shows the difference!
BTW, the processing of the yellow tea is more similar to the green tea than the white tea, which the processing doesn't include the withering step. The processing of the yellow tea is classified into: Sha Qing - Men Huang (this is the unique step of the yellow tea to allow to get the yellow leaves and yellow liquor) - Drying (baking or firing).
Jing
I have some very lovely looking white tea I got from a friend. I suspect, from your description, it's Fuding. It' is a beautiful leaf, lots of little hairs, 2 buds, all in a perfect shape. It was so lovely, I expected much more from the flavor. It was weak, and green. And from what my friend tells me, it was very inexpensive. I may keep it on hand just for display, it's so pretty, and the flavor so dissapointing.
Also SEb, may I quote this post in my blog?
Hi Jim,
Wrong info you have got there...
Danny
Hi Jim,
I don't understand your statement.
Oxidation when it is applied to tea processing is divided into 2 stages in Chinese terms, as Withering and Fermentation - though we now know the last should be known as Oxidation; however, it is not correct to think that Oxidation only begins in that stage, where the leaves are thrown about to cause some bruising which further breaks down the interal chemical structure of the tea and provide the flavour which we know as oolong.
Withering actually kicks off the oxidation stage, though mild. It is activated by the enzyme present in the leaf as it loses water while withering and shrinks, causing slight friction among the shrinking cells and the bounded chemicals. This is known as auto-oxidation, and is present in the making of white and oolong teas.
That is not wholly correct. The prominent tannic taste in black teas come from more factors other than polyphenols and catechins (if that is the case, than An Ji Bai Cha should taste completely bitter, as it has the highest in polyphenol count). Other than the varital stock chosen for black tea (when the polyphenol and caffeine counts are in high counts), it is also the processing that brings out the tannic taste, caffeine has to bind with theaflavin, the increase in theophylline, and asparagine etc, during the fermentation period. So if you take green tea and process it as black tea, you'll probably end with a cup of tea that's full of bite, though not as much as one that's made from a good black tea varital.
Danny
Hallo??? Don't oxidants and antioxidants cancel one another out?? that's what they should teach you in 5th grade chemistry.
Bruno
Heh! They teach that in 5th grade chemistry?! Knew I should have listen in class...
Danny
Actually the outline was essentially correct compared to the information provided by Jing. He says the 40c baking process is normal but I understand it to be different than the manual Orthodox method. I also understand the morning dew to be more desirable than adding steaming later on. This is a necessary requirement for the rolling of the buds.
Jim
samarkand wrote:
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