The History Of White Tea
Legend has it that it was the Chinese emperor Shen Nung (pictured at left) who discovered the use of tea leaves 5000 years ago.An enlightened ruler, Shen Nung was an advocate of hygiene, and had decreed that water meant for drinking had to be boiled. When a leaf from an unassuming bush fell into his cup of boiled water, he found the resulting brew to be both refreshing and tasty.
The brew was revered for its strong medicinal effects. During the next few millennia, the use of tea became widespread in China. Tea was used as a cure for a large number of ailments.
Tea culture
Lao Tzu (600-517 BC), the founder of Taoism, described tea as "the froth of the liquid jade" and considered it an indispensable ingredient to the elixir of life.
Around 800 AD, Lu Yu wrote the Cha Ching, or "The Sacred Book of Tea". It concerns many aspects of tea, from the growing of plants to the philosophical implications. It became a very influential text, and Lu Yu himself became a celebrity and a friend of the emperor.
During the next 400 years, all aspects of tea became more refined, and several varieties were developed. The harvest was treated with the utmost of reverence, and music was played while the young girls picked the leaves with their long nails, making sure the skin on their fingers never touched the leaf.
By now, tea was an important part of the Chinese culture.
White tea is discovered
It was about this time it was discovered that the youngest buds of the tea leaves would produce a superbly mild, silky and fresh tea - what we now know as white tea. For some time, only the emperor and his courtiers could enjoy this most exclusive of teas. It was rare and very expensive.
White tea remained rare and unchanged until the nineteenth century, when specific types of tea bushes were cultivated to grow different varieties of white tea.
In the late nineteenth century, the first white tea was exported from China, first to neighboring Asian countries where the tea tradition was very strong.
The export of white tea to Western customers is a recent development in the history of white tea, and the exclusive and delicate product has only been bought by westerners in any volume for less than a decade. Demand is rising because of the health benefits of the antioxidants in the white tea, considered much higher than in ordinary black tea and even green tea.
Although more and more health-conscious people are starting to write their own chapter in the history of white tea, due to of the strict rules of when and how white tea is to be harvested and treated, white tea remains rare and exclusive. That, of course, is only appropriate for a brew made for emperors.
Stumble It!
Summary: The history of white tea goes back to China between 800 and 1200 AD. White tea was for a long time only supplied to the emperor and his court. Export of white tea started in the nineteenth century. Only recently has the sale of white tea, rich in antioxidants, picked up in the West. Western users are mainly health conscious individuals who want to be a part of the history of white tea.