Hi little italy cool screen name by the way, I wish I had named myself Switzerland (neutral) lol. Yes white tea is better for you by far although green tea is still great and better than black. Here is an article to get you going and Lipton sells a fantastic white tea at the grocery stores with raspberry. It's not diet and does not contain much sugar but tastes great and is addictive
(Oh, in a good way though).
White Tea is Healthier Than Green?
Studies have shown that green tea stimulates the immune system to fight disease, but white tea is even better for you? Apparently so.
A study presented last year at the American Society for Microbiology general meeting in New Orleans showed that White Tea Extract can actually destroy in vitro the organisms that cause disease. Some studies have also shown that white tea contains more active cancer-fighting antioxidants than green tea.
I gather this isn't new news. I searched a little further and found a study done Oregon State Univ back in May 2000 that showed that white tea has enhanced cancer-fighting potential, more beneficial to certain kinds of cancer, like prostrate cancer for instance, than green tea.
But I was kind of surprised. I've never heard of white tea. According to about.com:
"Just like those other teas, white tea come's from the Camellia sinensis plant. But the leaves are picked and harvested before the leaves open fully, when the buds are still covered by fine white hair. Hence the name."
White tea has undergone very little processing and no fermentation, compared to green, black and oolong teas. The OSU folks say that's the key.
"Many of the more potent tea polyphenols ('catechins') become oxidized or destroyed as green tea is further processed into oolong and black teas," says Roderick H. Dashwood, Ph.D., a biochemist in the university’s Linus Pauling Institute and principal investigator of the study. "Our theory is that white tea has higher levels of these polyphenols than green tea because of minimal processing, and thus is more beneficial."
White tea is also picked and not processed and crushed like black and green tea so it keeps it's cancer fighting properties intact.
Sounds great right? Also there is considerably less caffeine in white tea than the other varieties (15mg per serving, compared to 40mg for black tea, and 20mg for green, according to about.com). White tea is springing up everywhere and until just a few years ago was rare and kept a scret in China but no more, now we can benefit from it as well.