What tea will you be drinking this month?
Still looking for the drink to help cleanse your body and curb those caffeine cravings? Then white tea may just be the answer.
Packed with antioxidants that boost the immune system, improve brain function, and can help prevent diseases like cancer and heart disease, and with very little caffeine, white tea is green tea’s healthier younger brother.
Both white and green teas come from the same tea plant, Camellia sinensis, but white tealeaves are harvested at a younger age than green tea leaves.
Because white and green teas are treated gently and not overly processed, they retain most of their beneficial antioxidants. White tea is the least processed of the two, as it isn’t fermented at all, but is simply steamed and dried. Since white tea is less processed, it retains a higher amount of antioxidants.
The antioxidants found in white tea have many health promoting properties from boosting cardiovascular health, helping to lower cholesterol, and, crucial for that post-Christmas diet, enhancing weight loss.
In fact, a 2009 study by Kingston University and Neal’s Yard Remedies, found that white tea not only boosts health but can also combat age-associated wrinkles and other signs of ageing.
While green tea contains around 20g of caffeine, white has around 15g, making it perfect for people trying to avoid the less pleasant side effects of too much caffeinated stimulation.
White tea is considered rare and is usually more expensive than green, as it can only be hand picked during a few days of early spring and has to be handled with such care. But Joe’s Tea Co’s is set be the first tea company to make the health benefits of white tea available to the average Joe. Health-conscious shoppers can get a box of ‘Whiter than White’ online or in Harvey Nichols’ stores across the UK for less than a fiver.
Joe Kinch, owner of Joe’s Tea Co, said: “I've been drinking white tea this January as I returned to work after a few days of over-indulgence – I hope people embrace it for its great flavour and super health benefits!”
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