Even though tea has been enjoyed for about 5000 years since its serendipitous discovery by Chinese Emperor and “Divine Healer” Shen-Nung in 2737 BC, White tea did not come to existence until at much later time. White tea has only about 200 years of history and is the youngest among major tea types such as Green, Oolong and Black tea.

According to a legend, White tea tree varietal was discovered by a girl named Lan Gu from Fuding county of Fujian Province in China where the beautiful Taimu Mountain is located. While taking refuge up in a cave in the mountain, Lan Gu found a special tea tree whose young buds are covered by silvery hair during spring. When wide spreading disease was troubling the villagers, Lan Gu used the leaves from this special tea tree to help cure them. For her kindness and courage, people honored her with the name of Mother Taimu and named the mountain Taimu Mountain.

This legend parallels the same divine healing spirit of tea discovery by Shen-Nung, only more than 2000 years later.

According to the history, White tea was first produced in Fuding in 1796 and later spread to two other counties (Zhenhe and Jianyang) in Fujian.

There are three different cultivars of White tea tree – Big White, Narcissus White and Vegetable White with the Big White as the finest and most popular. There are also three different types of White tea based on different ways of plucking – Silver Needle (only one bud is plucked), White Peony (one bud together with one leave down) and Longevity Eyebrow (one bud with two to three leaves down). Silver Needle is also known as its original Chinese name “Bai Hao Yin zhen” and is the most precious and exotic.

White tea is the least processed among all types of teas. The process only consists of two steps. The leaves are withered and then dried. During the process, there is light oxidation occurring. White tea brews to a pale yellow color and has a slightly sweet flavor. White tea is also called a lightly fermented tea positioning itself between the unfermented Green and semi-fermented Oolong tea. Due to the minimal processing, White tea preserves most natural compounds and potentially has the most health benefits.

In 2002, a research paper by Oregon State University scholar Roderick H. Dashwood published in Foods and Food Ingredients Journal of Japan “White Tea – A New Cancer Inhibitor” provides insight into the anticancer and anti-mutagenic properties of White Tea.

In 2004, at the 104th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, Researchers at Pace University presented their finding that White Tea Extract (WTE) may have prophylactic applications in retarding growth of bacteria that cause Staphylococcus infections, Streptococcus infections, pneumonia and dental caries. They also found that the anti-viral and anti-bacterial effect of white tea might be greater than that of green tea.

Recently, White tea has found itself used in anti-aging skin care and beauty products. In addition, several companies started marketing White tea flavored “Ready to Drink” (RTD) bottled beverages.

White tea is most exotic and rare due to the rare White tea tree varietals and short harvest time (high grade Silver Needle is only made from the youngest bugs plucked during only a couple of days of spring). If you find the price for White tea is generally higher than that of Green and Oolong teas, you now know why.

White tea could be the tea of the future with its legendary spirit, exotic nature and wide applications of health benefits.

Studies have concluded recently that including Green Tea and/or Green Tea Extract into your diet may be very wise regarding your heart health. Currently, heart disease is the number 1 killer of US citizens so understanding how green tea or green tea extract works in your system to defend against coronary illness may be extremely valuable information for many. Studies have shown that green tea can combat heart disease in few ways:

Green Tea Extract Can Reduce Cholesterol

Green tea’s powerful antioxidant properties can reduce plaque build up ( bad cholesterol or “Low density lipoproteins (LDL)” ) in the arteries which can directly cause heart attack and stroke. Of course, knowing that you should keep your arteries clear from bad cholesterol is nothing new, yet many people are unaware that drinking green tea can be a totally effective and safe way to accomplish this. Recent studies at the “Cedars-Sinai Medical Center” have supported this .

Another relatively recent ( 2003 )12 week study from the “Archives of Internal Medicine” showed that participants taking green tea extract had a drop in “bad” cholesterol of 15% and their “total” cholesterol fell by 10%.

Green Tea Can Reduce Cell Damage

Green Tea’s powerful antioxidant properties can reduce the level of cell death that occurs after heart attack and stroke. During a stroke or heart attack many cells are damaged due to lack of oxygen to the brain, and much of the cell damage is irreversible which is known as “cell death”. The powerful component in Green tea and green tea extract “EGCG” has the amazing ability to speed recovery of damaged cells.

EGCG is a powerful catechin, a biological compound produced in green tea that is responsible for the amazing inherent antioxidant properties which are so beneficial. A cup of green tea provides upwards of 40mg of polyphenols ( catechin group) and has antioxidant activity greater than a serving of broccoli, spinach, carrots or strawberries.

How much Green Tea is Effective?

While there is no RDA for Green tea or Green tea extract since it’s not considered an essential nutrient it has been reported that taking about 240-320mg daily is beneficial to overall heart health. This benefit can be derived from drinking about 4 cups of green tea daily or taking one 300mg green tea extract capsule daily. There is no difference in potency; the extract is recommended for those who may not like to drink tea but still want the powerful health benefits.

So, drinking just a few cups of green tea daily could become part of your heart disease prevention routine, along with a sane diet plan and exercise you should surely be much more healthy and of course, feel great. It’s very low cost, has virtually no side effects (there is 40mg of caffeine in 8 oz cup of tea, much less than coffee however) is totally natural and is delicious hot or cold!