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Ryan
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Joined: 19 Jul 2005
Posts: 475
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 Posted: Oct 04, 2005 3:16 am Post subject: Caffeine content in Sencha |
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Hello...
I do wonder how much caffeine is in your typical sencha. I have heard that gyokuru is high in caffeine. And so is Matcha. So to assume that because the tea is green it is by default lower in caffeine is I think a mistake. What makes a tea high in caffeine seems to be complex and not as simple as its level of oxidation.
I think there is a lot of misinformation out there on the internet in regards to teas and caffeine. Most sites will say that white tea is the lowest in caffeine and black tea is the highest etc. However, I think there has been studies that demonstrate that this is not necessarily the case.
Does anyone know how much caffeine 5 grams of sencha has? Or, more specifically, how 5 grams of sencha would compare to a cup of coffee in terms of caffeine.
I do wonder about this. If anyone has information regarding this, please share. |
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Kevangogh
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| Posted: Oct 05, 2005 12:44 am Post subject: |
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| Typical cup of green tea has 30 mg of caffeine, black tea 50 mg, coffee 125 mg. |
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Idrom
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| Posted: Jun 01, 2006 5:59 am Post subject: |
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| admin wrote: | | Typical cup of green tea has 30 mg of caffeine, black tea 50 mg... |
Why is the caffeine content of a typical cup of black coffee higher? Is it because of a typically longer brewing time, because cups for black tea are typically larger, beceause the caffeine content increases during fermentation or because varieties/leaves used for green tea production contain less caffeine?
Sorry, typo. I meant the the difference in caffeine content between black and green tea.
Last edited by Idrom on Jun 01, 2006 6:35 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Kevangogh
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| Posted: Jun 01, 2006 9:54 am Post subject: |
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| I think it's just a matter of coffee beans containing more caffeine. |
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Ryan
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| Posted: Jun 01, 2006 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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I have read that the leaf of tea is actually higher in caffeine content than coffee beans. However, when coffee beans are brewed more caffeine is extracted than when tea leaf is brewed.
So, in the finished cup coffee will have higher caffeine content. |
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Idrom
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| Posted: Jun 01, 2006 6:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Sorry, typo. I meant tthe difference in caffeine content between black tea and green tea. |
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Chip
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Joined: 21 Apr 2006
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Location: Back in the TeaCave atop Mt. Fuji, purging looters
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| Posted: Jun 02, 2006 1:36 am Post subject: |
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| Ryan wrote: | I have read that the leaf of tea is actually higher in caffeine content than coffee beans. However, when coffee beans are brewed more caffeine is extracted than when tea leaf is brewed.
So, in the finished cup coffee will have higher caffeine content. |
I have heard simular reports, but there is so little true scientific info readily available.
I have also heard that tea leaves by weight have a significantly higher level of caffeine than coffee beans of the same weight. The difference in caffeine levels in cups of tea vs coffee is inversed because you use significantly less tea leaves by weight than coffee beans.
That makes sense to me. |
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Chip
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| Posted: Jun 02, 2006 1:55 am Post subject: |
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| Idrom wrote: | | Sorry, typo. I meant tthe difference in caffeine content between black tea and green tea. |
There is much debate over this, but again not enough readily available true scientific data.
But I have heard that the caffeine levels of green and black tea are actually very simular. If you use the same amount of tea leaves by weight to brew a cup of each, they should have the same amount of caffeine. I believe, and correct me if I am wrong, caffeine is an alkaloid (sorry if the spelling is wrong), and is produced by the plant, and not a result of the method of processing.
Now, I tend to use a higher weight of leaves for Japanese green tea, about 3.5 grams per 6 oz water, and shorter but multible infusions (as most of you do also) than my standard 2.3 grams per 6 oz. water and single infusion for typical blacks. As a result I can tell you that I get more of a caffeine buzz from Japanese green tea...without a doubt. If I do multible batches of Japanese green tea in succession, I can fly to Japan and back without a plane.
I think with Japanese green tea, the caffeine will leach out qicker than with say a Chinese whole leaf green or even a whole leaf black because the Japanese green tea usually consists of much finer particals, thus the caffeine logically would leach out faster. Caffeine is very water soluble and 80-90% of it will leach into hot water within the first 1-2 minutes. I would bet that it is even a higher percentage with Japanese green tea.
Now it is quite possible the different clonal varieties of tea may have differing caffeine levels...but we will likely never know that since we do not have chem labs in our basement and it is mainly just a subject of conjecture in forums such as this one.
And that is just my 2 cents worth...feel free to shoot my arguments full of holes...  |
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Chip
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| Posted: Jun 02, 2006 12:16 pm Post subject: |
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One other tid bit...there is more caffeine in the active growing tips...so a very tippy tea will have more caffeine than a tea that contains more than the top newly emerged 1-2 leave and bud.
Or so I have heard. |
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Ryan
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Joined: 19 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Jun 02, 2006 12:21 pm Post subject: |
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Chip, sit back while I take my six shooter out of my holster....
j/k, I actually agree with most of your asessment.... but please speak for yourself regarding basements.
I tend to agree with you.... There seems to be a lot of misinformation out there on the caffeine content of tea...... I don't know if I buy that black tea is by default higher in caffeine than green.... And in fact, I do believe reading that teas that are first flush tend to have higher caffeine levels. Whats more, I have read that shade grown tea i.e., matcha, gyokuru and kabusecha are higher in caffeine than sun grown tea i.e., sencha..... (though the Hatsumi seems loaded with caffeine)
I have always found white tea to give me a buzz - go figure. Supposively the least caffeinated of teas....
I was always under the impression that in the first infusion regardless of whether it is Chinese or Japanese tea, small bits or big bits that most of the caffeine will be out of the leaf in the first infusion.
So yes, I'm personally very perplexed with the caffeine level in tea.... Word on the street as we all know says that green tea is less in caffeine than black tea. But recently I read an article that said this isn't so and that the factors that contribute to the caffeine content of tea leaf is wide and not based on oxidation.....
Apprently the jury is still out on the issue of caffeine...
Alright, I'll put my six shooter back in my holster. I barely had to fire off a shot. |
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Kevangogh
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Location: Japan
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| Posted: Jun 02, 2006 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Everything I've read says green tea is 30mg per cup, and black tea is 50mg per cup. This is so close, does it really matter? Coffee is around 125mg, and that's for a small Starbucks. The bottom line on is, caffeine pretty much comes with the parcel. Unless you happen to be one of those rare people out there that just can't handle any caffeine, it's not that bad. Your only other option is to, god forbid, toss out that first infusion. At least there still an option, "decaf green tea" is not an option in my opinion. |
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Idrom
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| Posted: Jun 02, 2006 9:35 pm Post subject: |
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| admin wrote: | | Everything I've read says green tea is 30mg per cup, and black tea is 50mg per cup. This is so close, does it really matter? |
It doesn't really matter but it's strange. How can 2 extracts of the same plant differ in their coffeine content? |
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Chip
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Joined: 21 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Jun 02, 2006 11:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Idrom wrote: | | admin wrote: | | Everything I've read says green tea is 30mg per cup, and black tea is 50mg per cup. This is so close, does it really matter? |
It doesn't really matter but it's strange. How can 2 extracts of the same plant differ in their coffeine content? |
One possible explanation is, and I did observe this a few years ago in a study, perhaps with the green tea they based it on one teaspoon of tea leaves, because at the time, that seemed like the prescribed amount of green tea to use since after all we all know you use one teaspoon per cup of water for all teas...not.
Their logic was to base it on one serving of each tea...unfortunately, they did not talk to tea drinkers first. |
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adamscottprice
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| Posted: Jan 20, 2007 12:52 am Post subject: about discarding the first infusion |
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I thought that throwing out the first infusion was a good idea: it improves the taste (removes bitterness) and also removes the caffeine. When I say first infusion I mean a steeping the tea bag for about 30 seconds. I'm not a connoisseur -- I just drink Twinings green tea in teabag form -- but I do find the flavour to be better this way. Also, I'd read that all of the particularly healthy components of the tea take longer than 30 seconds to be absorbed by the water (like about 5 minutes) and so you only loose the caffeine in the first infusion.
Could anyone correct me where appropriate on this? |
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Chip
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| Posted: Jan 20, 2007 1:24 am Post subject: Re: about discarding the first infusion |
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| adamscottprice wrote: | I thought that throwing out the first infusion was a good idea: it improves the taste (removes bitterness) and also removes the caffeine. When I say first infusion I mean a steeping the tea bag for about 30 seconds. I'm not a connoisseur -- I just drink Twinings green tea in teabag form -- but I do find the flavour to be better this way. Also, I'd read that all of the particularly healthy components of the tea take longer than 30 seconds to be absorbed by the water (like about 5 minutes) and so you only loose the caffeine in the first infusion.
Could anyone correct me where appropriate on this? |
I am curious as to what temp you use. Green tea should not be overly bitter even from a bag. As far as bags go, twinings are better than average.
Perhaps you are using water that is too hot. You could try steeping at 180* or less if you have to, which is well off the boil...unless you are simply trying to get rid of caffeine. But even the 2nd steep will be better. If the water is too hot for green tea, it tend to literally cook the leaves which will mess up all the steeps.
Aside from that, try some good loose leaf green tea...it may change your life. |
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