The tea plant Camellia sinensis is a true gift from Nature. White tea is produced with the absolute focus on the preservation of the natural state of the leaves, which is especially important when buds and their adjacent freshly unfolded young leaves are plucked.
In the production of white tea, the tea leaves undergo almost no intervention and manipulation other than careful and controlled drying. In this way the natural ingredients of the tea are preserved in their original form, i.e. the large content of antioxidants. This is what sets this tea apart from the others and what makes it very special.
It is very important that the leaves are not injured during plucking (best done by hand) in order to avoid any oxidation of the constituents (primarily driven by the antioxidant content) in the leaves upon contact with oxygen from the air.
The white tea owes its name to the delicate white hairs spread all over the newly sprouted tea buds. However, the infusion is pale yellow to a distinctly saturated yellow with a tender, natural vanilla flavour.
Regardless of their tenderly handled nature, white tea from the Camellia sinensis plant may contain high levels of caffeine and be also considered "strong". Although popular belief is that black teas are stronger, caffeine is produced by the Camellia sinensis plant to protect the leaves from pests. The freshly growing tips are especially tasty to the insects and hense some white teas can contain even more caffeine than black teas.
