Tea is one of the drinks that has truly taken over peoples taste buds in a big way. Second only to coffee, more people around the world drink this flavorful beverage compared to any other drink in the world.
Tea is formed by taking an assortment of loose or bagged leaves of tea and then doing what is known as ‘steeping’ them in boiling water for a few minutes at a time.
Tea choices are selected essentially by the region in which the primary tea was grown, as well as in regards to the type of tea selected and the manner in which one alters the final beverage in order to suit her or his particular tastes. One popular tea type in particular is jasmine tea. In this article, jasmine tea is revealed for its origins, the manner by which the tea was first cultivated and produced, and the differing ways in which people enjoy this tasty treat.
The Roots of Jasmine Tea
Jasmine tea is a misnomer really, since it is not a tea in the technical sense. The only true types of tea, those which come from the camellia sinensis plant, are: green, white black/red and oolong tea. Nevertheless, jasmine tea is made in basically the same way as other teas in that it is made through the process of steeping leaves, either loose or bagged, in boiling water for a few minutes.
The jasmine tea leaves can be found in a variety of locations which have tropical or subtropical temperatures and climate, and additionally, the areas in which growers cultivate the leaves for jasmine tea must also have comparatively high altitude. In the first place the jasmine shrubs from which these leaves were plucked were found only in Europe, Asia and Africa, but today jasmine tea leaves can be found all over the world.
Cultivation and Serving
On the jasmine shrub there is a beautiful array of little, white flowers; they are aromatic in scent and are often seen spread around Asian-influenced décor. It is not this flower, however, that is used to make jasmine tea, but rather it is the dark green deciduous-type leaves from off of the plant that are used to brew this beverage.
Nevertheless, from time to time other corresponding kinds of plants are utilized to produce supposed jasmine tea and, per se, jasmine tea is actually then more of an all-encompassing designation for teas that might not even be produced from the actual jasmine bush itself.
There are other versions of jasmine tea that contain collections of the flowers of leaves from the jasmine bush along with various other kinds of teas.
For example, some individuals will do a combination of jasmine flowers with an oolong base with the objective of producing a strong flavored but sweetly aromatic type of tea, while other people prefer combining jasmine leaves with a green tea base for a lighter and nearly fruity batch of jasmine tea.
Filed under tea leaves by on Jan 29th, 2008. Comment. 
Similar to how black olives and green olives which are derived from a similar olive plant, also as black pepper and white pepper from a similar pepper plant as well, black tea and its corresponding white tea are derived from a similar tea plant too.
The name for the small plant is Camellia sinensis, which is commonly incorporated into the majority of hilly areas of plantation. In contrast to all the various kinds of teas, the most well-known is the black tea, which is followed by green tea, then white tea, etc..
White tea, although not so particularly famous, has been becoming more famous lately. All the teas, as we know, not only differ in colors but also in their chemical composition. Same goes to that of the white tea, which is different from the others and yet has similarities as well.
How is it Produced?
Compared to the other types of teas which are taken a few days after the tea leaves are ripe and so on, the white tea instead comes from the youngest and most tender tea leaves. The leaves, at this stage, are often covered in tiny white hairs, and the leaves are harvested when they are a light greenish-gray color and immediately after that they are dried briefly and heated quickly. Especially compared to that of all the others, all the processes are done very quickly so that the leaves do not oxidize.
After all these, then comes the nice smelling process of the delicate flavored white tea. This tea is handled very carefully and, according to tea experts, it should be steeped in water that is very hot, slightly below the boiling point.
What are the Benefits?
White tea is very good for your health, and in fact it has the highest percentage of healing power compared to all of the other teas due to its composition and the way it is made. As many of us are aware, green tea has in it what are known as antioxidants, which assist the human body and helping fight aging and to help prevent illnesses such as arthritis and cancer, and in terms of white tea, the amount of antioxidants is normally twice that of green tea.
In addition to that, the extract from white by its very nature has the capacity to kill viruses, bacteria, and fungi that are in the human body, and it also assists in lowering the level of LDL cholesterol, which Green tea does also but in a lesser capacity.
Additionally, compared to other kinds of teas, white tea contains the lowest amount of caffeine. Because of this it is a better choice for the majority of daily drinks. However one of the considerations that need to be taken into account is that it can be somewhat expensive depending on your budget.
Filed under tea facts, tea health, tea leaves by on Dec 3rd, 2007. Comment.