Tea Caffeine

This article appears in theJanuary 2009 Edition of

Fresh Cup magazine

Read More Tea Articlesby Bruce Richardson

Too Easy to be TrueDe-bunking the At-Home Decaffeination MythStory by Bruce RichardsonPhotos by Ben Richardson

It was too simple to be true.For years, many of us in the teaindustry have been guilty oftouting an at-home decaffeinationprocedure that gave wide-eyedhope to tea lovers who wantedgreat taste and less caffeine. Themodus operandi went somethinglike this: Caffeine is water-soluble.Thus, it is one of the firstingredients released into the waterduring the steeping process. Beassured that 80% of the caffeine ineither a teabag or loose tea leavesis released after a 30-secondinfusion. Simply pour off the initialwash and then re-infuse the tealeaves with hot water and brew asusual. You have saved yourselffrom 25mg of caffeine and yourcardiologist will be happy.

If it was that easy, there would be little use forall the effort and money expended tocommercially decaffeinate tea.

I first became aware of this "home wash" methodin 1994 at a tea conference in New England. Allof us in attendance made it a part of our teachingrepertoire. I couldn't wait to spread thecaffeine-lite scheme. I remember customers inmy tearoom looking at me as if I were a geniuswhen I told them that I could magically"de-caffeinate" any tea on my menu in theprivacy of my kitchen. I don't know how manycustomers' sleepless nights I was responsible forduring my 14 years of retail business.

All of us on the tea speaking circuit were guiltyof spreading the myth. But, who can blame us?When the current tea renaissance began, therewas little documented research and few reputabletea books to turn to for answers. We simplyrepeated much of tea's oral tradition that hadaccumulated for centuries. We were all blissfullyignorant until science began to catch up with thegrowth in the specialty tea market.

After a few years, I became a doubter of thehome decaffeination myth. A couple of scientificpapers were rumored to have challenged thepopular method. At the 2005 World Tea Expo, Iasked the author of a best-selling caffeine bookif the caffeine quick wash was reliable. Withouthesitating, he told me "yes." But, where was theproof?

Alas, science at the college level has proven thatauthor, and the rest of us "tea experts" wrong.

A college chemistry professor brews up atest.

In early 2008, Dr. Bruce Branan, Professor ofChemistry at Asbury College (Wilmore, KY)contacted me about the possibility of doingchemical analysis tests on tea using their newlyacquired lab equipment. He had a few tea loversin his family and he knew I lived nearby. He hadbeen reading about the health benefits of teapolyphenols and he asked for suggestions onpotential studies using tea.

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Results of the Asbury College Study on Tea CaffeineEach infusion time was 3 minutes.

Leaves were re-infused with fresh hot water for subsequent steepings.Cup = 7 oz.

China White(Bai Mudan)

Infusion 1 Infusion 2 Infusion 3

Avg mg caffeine / cup 75.18mg 30.32mg 11.98mg

% caffeine removed 59.67% 84.06%

% caffeine retained 40.33% 15.94%

Darjeeling White Infusion 1 Infusion 2 Infusion 3Avg mg caffeine / cup 56.28mg 32.32mg 13.43mg



India Green Infusion 1 Infusion 2 Infusion 3Avg mg caffeine / cup 58.93mg 21.84mg 8.40mg



Kenyan Green Infusion 1 Infusion 2 Infusion 3Avg mg caffeine / cup 57.87mg 20.92mg 7.79mg



China (Ti Kwan Yin)Oolong





Sri Lanka (OP) Black Infusion 1 Infusion 2 Infusion 3Avg mg caffeine / cup 57.71mg 20.82mg 7.75mg



Assam (FTGFOP) Black Infusion 1 Infusion 2 Infusion 3Avg mg caffeine / cup 86.30mg 25.75mg 8.50mg



Darjeeling Autumnal(SFTGFOP1)Black





What do I do?I can't tolerate any caffeine. What should I drink?

Dr. Branan and I talked about severalpossibilities before I told him of my doubtsconcerning caffeine removal using the simple hotwater wash. I told him the tea world would begrateful if he could conduct a study on caffeinecontent in several common loose leaf teas. Hesaid it would be easy to analyze and that he hada student, Micah Buckel, who would make it hissummer project. I supplied the teas and Micahran the study.

Using standardized testing procedures, eight teaswere brewed for three minutes in seven ouncesof water. The infusions were then filtered and theliquid was analyzed using High PerformanceLiquid Chromatography with UV detection. Thetea leaves were infused a second time, steepedthree minutes, and analyzed. A similar thirdsteeping and analysis followed.

Micah's findings took the steam out of the simplecaffeine wash assumption.

He found that a three-minute infusion removes46-70% of the caffeine from a cup of tea. This isa far cry from our 30-second/80% removalclaim. In fact, it would take a six-minute infusionto remove 80% of the caffeine!

Does green tea have less caffeine thanblack tea?

A by-product of the Asbury study deflatedanother popular tea caffeine misconception. Teainternet sites are filled with contradictoryassumptions about caffeine content found in thefour major tea families. Many claim that greenteas have less caffeine than oolong or black tea,and white tea has the least of all. The theoryassumes that oxidation is the key to caffeineintensification.

Again, modern laboratory equipment is able todisprove this assumption.

White tea does not have less caffeine than green,oolong, or black teas. Most of the tea studied inthe Asbury lab (white, green or black) containedaround 57-58 mg of caffeine per 7-ounce cup.The Chinese white tea and the Assam black teaboth contained the highest caffeine content. Mosttea drinkers would suspect those results from anAssam tea, but few would think a China white teawould have such high levels of caffeine. By theway, Camellia assamica plants, found in Assam,have higher caffeine content than Chinesevarietals.

Before beginning the study, I turned to one ofthe tea industry's most knowledgeableconsultants, Nigel Melican, founder andmanaging director of Teacraft, Ltd. He has spentmuch of his life helping establish tea gardensand advising manufacturers in the art ofproducing teas for various markets around theworld.

Nigel knows how to manipulate the caffeinecontent of tea bushes-both in the field and in thefactory. He claims that several factors helpdetermine caffeine content in tea. It begins withthe propagation of the bush. Plants grown from

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I want to lower my intake of caffeine. What should I drink?Our Serene Green is half tea and half herbs. This blend will cut your caffeine intake by50%.

Do white or green teas have less caffeine than black?No. White tea can have as much or more caffeine than black tea because the tea budyields the highest percentage of caffeine when infused. There are many variables thatdetermine caffeine content: varietal, clonal or seed propagation, temperature, leafposition on the stem, and withering time.

Does decaffeinated mean the same as caffeine-free?No. Decaffeinated means the caffeine has been removed from the tea leaves through acommercial decaffeination process. Caffeine-free refers to herbs or fruit infusions thatnever contained caffeine. (For example: rooibos and peppermint are caffeine-free.)

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seeds can produce twice as much tea caffeine asclonals. The addition of nitrogen fertilizer canadd another 10% to the normal caffeine level.Caffeine also varies by the picking season. Teasplucked in cooler weather might produce lesscaffeine than those harvested in the fast growinghot months. Even the location of the leaf on thestem can be an indicator of caffeine potential.

"Caffeine varies in the fresh green leaf dependingon fineness of pluck," Nigel says. "For any tea,be it black, green or white, the caffeine ishighest in the bud. Silver needle (white tea) is100% bud and has the highest caffeine content."

Nigel Melican's caffeine percentage findingsare:Bud-6.3%First leaf-4.6%Second leaf- 3.6%Third leaf-3.1%Fourth leaf-2.7%Leaf stalk-2.0%Two leaves and a bud-4.2%

"If your white tea is 100% bud then it's going tobe one-third higher in caffeine content thangreen tea made from two leaves and a bud,"Nigel added.

He went on to point out that the caffeine levelcontinues to change after the tea arrives in thefactory due to the temperature and witheringtime.

What should tea consumers do?Over 85% of Americans use significant amountsof caffeine on a daily basis. Most tea drinkers,assuming they are not prone to heart palpitationsor other medical problems diagnosed by theirphysician, can easily handle 200mg of caffeine intheir diet per day. If you are trying to cut downon caffeine, you should look at using the sametea leaves for multiple infusions because thecaffeine content will be lower with each cup.High quality oolongs and green teas are perfectfor this scenario.

If your doctor is asking you to cut caffeinecompletely out of your diet, you should switch toa commercially decaffeinated tea or acaffeine-free herbal. (Remember, caffeine is notpresent in herbals unless they are blended withtea leaves.) One should always consult with adoctor if you have any questions about caffeine'seffect upon your health. After all, until the FDAsays we can label tea for its health benefits, teawill be considered a healthy beverage and not amedicine.

This article appears in the January 2009edition of Fresh Cup magazine. Copyrightedmaterial.

For further reading: 'Tea preparation and itsinfluence on methylxanthine concentration,'appeared in Food Research International Vol 29,Nos 3-4, pp. 325-330. (FRI is copyright of theCanadian Institute of Food Science andTechnology)

"Tea and the rate of its infusion" by ProfessorMichael Spiro. Published in Chemistry in NewZealand, 1981, pp172-174.

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