Is White Tea The Least Processed Tea?

by Anonymous
(Fareham)

I read somewhere that white tea is the least processed type of tea, which makes it the most potent. Is that true?

Answer:

The answer is that it depends. There was a Chinese study that took the same leaves and processed them using

green tea
white tea
oolong tea
red tea
black tea and
yellow tea

techniques. Guess what they found?

Among them, green tea is found to have the most similar chemical composition to fresh tea leaves.

It is a fascinating study.

Which tea is less processed is really a matter of definition.

Length of time? Green tea is processed most quickly.

Amount of oxidation? Green tea is least oxidised.

Alteration of chemical composition? Green tea is least changed.

Amount of heat applied? White tea involves relatively little heating.

Amount of rolling? White tea isn't rolled at all.

You can define your own least processed tea :) But in my opinion, looking at the overall scheme of thing, green tea is probably the least processed.