White Tea: Processing, Composition and Health Benefits

Tea is a beverage which produced from young shoots and leaves of the tea plant Camellia sinensis L. (O) Kuntze. Although it is usually known as black and green tea, in fact there are different kinds of teas such as yellow, oolong, pu-erh and white tea especially in Southeast Asia. White and pu-erh tea have started to get attention for their original taste and flavor. Recently, white tea has found in Western World and Turkey’s agenda as well. However, as a tea producing country, Turkey approaches white tea both in terms of production and consumption. White tea is produced from them same tea plant like black and green tea, but only buds and young leaves, which are not fully opened, are preferred in its production. In this study, the history, production, varieties, composition and health benefits of white tea are reviewed