White Tea wannabes

Some years ago, I had the good fortune to try white tea at a tea house, and to brew it using the special 'gongfu pao' technique. The taste of the white tea was memorable - subtle, fragrant and leaves a sweet taste in the mouth. Or to put it more specifically, " delicate lingering fragrance and a fresh mellow sweet taste devoid of astringency or grassy flavor. " Now, thanks to a kind and generous friend (with equally kind and generous relatives), we are both enjoying the great subtle taste of white tea. I hope she likes it as much as I do..

Nevertheless, there are many types of white tea, and the one I am referring to, is the highest grade - Yin Zhen Bai Hao (silver needle white tea).. so named becos of its sharp needle-like leaves. To quote from wikipedia "This is the most expensive variety and the most prized as only top buds are used to produce the tea..... The very best Yinzhen are picked between March 15 and April 10 when it is not raining and only using undamaged and unopened buds..."

This is what its supposed to look like.

fleshy, bright colored and covered with tiny white hairs

For those of you who have tried the canned white tea from Heaven & Earth or white tea bags from Lipton, but not tried the actual white tea, I would say, nothing beats the real thing. The silver needle white tea is an expensive tea, easily costing USD16 for 100g ($25sgd for 100g). Its prob not the most expensive in the market, but still, its a rare tea and not cheap. Therefore, drinking a canned version or cheap tea bag version, is the same as drinking the canned bird's nest drink - not much of the real thing inside, but full of flavouring to make it seem like the real thing.

If u read the ingredient list on ur can of white tea / tea bag, u would see that jasmine green tea, apricot / peach are used to emulate the fragrance of white tea. And in the canned version, sugar is added to give u the sweetness. The tea bag version tastes bitter becos of lack of sugar n fm the strong green tea leaves used. The ingredient listing also puts white tea near the end, meaning, white tea leaves form only a small portion of the tea bag / tea drink.

So my advice is, spend abit more $, drink the real thing, and enjoy the benefits -
In addition to its anticancer properties, tea has a calming and detoxifying effect on the skin. White tea is especially potent in that it is has three times as many antioxidant polyphenols as green or black tea and has been shown to be 100% more effective in mopping up free radicals that cause skin to sag. (http://www.culinaryteas.com/Store/Peony_White_Needle.html)