Délicat White Tea

I've been under the weather this last week.  Girl troubles, mostly, but a touch of the flu came and went that made it hard to even think about blogging.  Fortunately it didn't keep me from my coffee or tea.  Or chocolate.  But that goes without saying. 

Trying to be true to my promise for this month, I've tried several new teas.  Today I'm sipping a white tea from Portsmouth Teas: Délicat 2nd Flush White Tea.  I've never tried white tea before and I'm liking this tea very much.  It's got a very subtle flavor, light and delicate (heh, so it's aptly name, I guess, eh?), with a very slightly sweet aftertaste which is really nice. 

If you like your tea strongly flavored you probably won't like this one, but I think it would go very well with a lightly buttered scone or shortbread cookie. 

White teas are a bit different from the green and black teas most people are familiar with.  They come from the same plant, but white teas are made from the new growth buds and leaves and are less processed than the black teas.  The less mature leaves are covered with fine silver hairs that give them a white appearance, hence the name "white tea".  I don't know if you can see the white hairs very well in the thumbnail here, but you should hopefully be able to if you click on it to see the larger version.  I could see them really well using my little old-lady magnifying glass.  But my camera didn't want to get in that close.

White tea also has higher concentrations of catechins (that's the good stuff in tea: polyphenolic antioxidant plant metabolites, specifically flavonoids).  Now, I don't drink tea because of it's healthful properties.  I long ago gave up worrying about my health.  I consume what tastes good, and what pleases me.  But I'm kind of tickled that I'm enjoying something so much that is also so healthy. 

Portsmouth offers 3 kinds of white tea, and I may just have to try them all.  The Délicat comes from the Fujian province in China, and they claim it comes from the bud and first two leaves that are handpicked from the new shoot of the plant.  That sounds pretty high-falutin, but the bottom line for me is it tastes good!

Comments

[Kieran]

My mother brought me over a box of it last week. What a treat!

[Foodie Pam]

White tea is my current personal flavor. I love the natural light sweetness. I'm currently drinking Pai-Mu-Tan and Assam Satrupa (yup its a white assam tea with interesting flavor).