Posted on: 05 January, 2018
Author: Karina Garcia
Tea is known to have varying quantities of caffeine, which may or may not be appealing to tea consumers, for a variety of reasons. As a member of the xanthine family, caffeine is odorless and colorless but does have a somewhat bitter taste when submerged in hot water. Caffeine occurs naturally in teas like organic black tea, green tea and other tea blends. The amount of caffeine in tea varies, so it's important for drinkers to know how much caffeine is in their favorite teas. Caffeine is known to be a mood enhancer, improving alertness and stimulating metabolism, but not everyone can or wants to consume it. Because it’s a mood enhancer, regular tea drinkers may build up a tolerance to caffeine, meaning that they have to drink more of it to get the same effect. Additionally, basic effects of caffeine may be unpleasant for some tea drinkers, and can include restlessness, insomnia and anxiety. For anyone who may be prone to these effects, it’s best to know how much caffeine is in the drinks they choose. Black, green, white, yellow, puerh and oolong teas are all from the same plant: Camellia Sinensis. The difference in the taste and tea type comes down to a process called ‘oxidation’ – in other words, the extent to which the enzymes in the leaves react to the oxygen in the air, controlled by processes such as steaming, firing or rolling the tea leaves. However, oxidation doesn’t affect the amount of caffeine. Do black, green, or white teas contain more or less caffeine? You cannot generalize about caffeine content by tea type. Many tea companies, and even some reputable entities such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, have made misleading generalizations about the caffeine content of broad classes of tea. It is a widespread myth that black tea contains more caffeine than green tea, and another myth that white tea contains the least caffeine of all teas. Studies that have actually measured the caffeine content of a large number of different teas have consistently found that caffeine levels vary more among individual teas than across broad categories of tea such as black, white, green, oolong, or pu-erh. A study published in 2005 in the Journal of Food Science listed, among other things, the caffeine content of 77 different teas, and found a broad range of caffeine content among both green and black teas. Surprisingly, the tea in this study that was found to contain the most caffeine was a white tea, solidly dispelling the myth about white tea's caffeine content. A more recent study in the 2008 Journal of Analytical Toxicology examined the caffeine contents of a number of teas, and found that they ranged from 14 to 61 mg per 6 or 8 oz serving, with "no observable trend in caffeine concentration due to the variety of tea". Few tea companies have examined the caffeine content of a large number of samples of their teas; one that has, Camellia Sinensis Tea House, found similar results, that the caffeine level varies widely from one tea to the next, and does not show clear trends of caffeine levels across different varieties of teas. One possible exception to this observation is that matcha is known to contain high levels of caffeine, consistently much higher than other teas. This is due in part to higher caffeine levels in the leaf used to produced matcha, but it is also due to the fact that, because matcha is a powdered tea, the entire tea leaf is consumed when brewing, so a cup of prepared matcha contains 100% of the caffeine in the leaf. How Brewing Affects Caffeine Everyone has a favorite way to brew their teas, whether it is for iced tea or a soothing cup before bed. When you brew tea and caffeine needs to be lower than normal, you will need to steep it for less time. This means you do not want to let your tea bags, or leaves soak in the hot water for an extended period of time. However if you want a tea caffeine content that is high, then you will want to leave it in the water steeping for longer than the recommended time. Not only is tea delicious but it is good for you, and can improve your health. It doesn’t matter which one you prefer drinking, all are tasty. Above all else, you want to make sure you have excellent quality tea. Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com Karina Garcia is sales manager of JK Tea Shop, authentic Chinese Loose Leaf tea supplier, for more information, please visit our website at: jkteashop.com