when to use char, varchar or text

I'm making a table to hold a queue of incoming and outgoing email
messages. I'm confused about using char, varchar or text fields - I
imagine they are searchable (without and index) with decreasing speed
from char to text. Is that right?

The (very simplified) column setup I have includes:
to varchar(200)
from varchar(200)
cc varchar(200)
subject text
body text

Should I make the columns all of type text so that large numbers of 'to'
recipients can be supported?

Some general advice greatly appreciated.

p.s. I expect the number of rows in this table to be less than 5000.

--
Rory Campbell-Lange
<rory(at)campbell-lange(dot)net>
<www.campbell-lange.net>