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Green Tea Caffeine ContentThis is Part 2 of a 7 part series on green tea caffeine content. The caffeine content in your daily green tea depends on a wide variety of manufacturing practices, such as:
Here’s what you need to know-- When is the green tea leaf plucked during the harvest cycle?
The leaves of tea plants have higher green tea caffeine content during the first spring plucking. In addition, the first spring plucking of tea leaves will have higher polyphenols or antioxidants like EGCG, and more delicious flavor and scent from aromatic chemicals. Because of all the beneficial and flavorful chemicals concentrating in spring, these first tea leaf pluckings have been the most highly prized of all teas for thousands of years. Which leaf on the tea plant did you buy?
The bud and first leaf can have around 50% more caffeine than the second leaf and lower leaves. What is the tea plant variety?
Green Assam tea is now available and may have slightly more caffeine than Chinese green teas. What are the tea agricultural practices and soil variations at your tea garden or estate?
Shading the tea plants for a few weeks prior to harvest helps preserve the green tea caffeine content along with other desirable chemicals during green tea manufacture. Shading is used for Japanese Gyokuro and Matcha. Other parts of the world are starting to include this technique for some of their harvest. Soil variations will create minor differences in caffeine content of the tea leaf. There may be tea plant caffeine differences between organic tea agriculture and mainstream chemical agriculture. What are the annual weather variations on the tea garden or tea estate?
Which tea manufacturing and tea processing techniques did your tea company use?
In general, the most commonly used black teas test at twice the caffeine content of green tea. But a gourmet bud and first leaf tea like Dragon Well or a shaded tea like Gyokuro can test as high in caffeine as some black teas. A new processing technique using far infrared radiation is being tested for use instead of roasting. This radiation technique increased green tea caffeine content, but it also increased vitamin C, and almost doubles the valuable polyphenols and catechins like EGC and EGCG (Kim, 2006). What is the size of your finished tea leaf?
Whole leaf teas like the rare and gourmet Dragon Well, Pi Lo Chun, Lu’ An Melon Seed, Lu Shan Yun Wu, and Gyokuro can be infused two to three times per serving. Those tea leaves will release their chemicals slowly while giving you more cups of tea to enjoy. And there’s one more factor it’s important to remember--
The analytic equipment itself can vary in accuracy. For instance, chemically modified electrodes may be more accurate than glassy carbon electrodes. Currently the most reputable information comes from HPLC or high performance liquid chromatography (Manken, 2000). That’s the cute little box that costs U.S.$20,000, just like the ones they use in the TV show CSI. So unless you can afford to test every cup of tea that you drink, you'll have to count on your own knowledge (and this website to help you). Continue to Part 3 Return from Green Tea Caffeine Content to Green Tea Health News Home Related articles: How much caffeine in a cup of green tea? How to choose your green tea caffeine level 21 tips for choosing green tea caffeine levels What about decaffeinated green tea? Effects of caffeine: positive and negative
Dragon Well Tea | Mao Feng Tea | Matcha Tea | Gunpowder Green Tea | Pi Lo Chun Tea | Gyokuro Tea | Lu shan Yun Wu Tea | Japanese Sencha Tea | Lu An Melon Seed Tea | Jasmine Tea |Blooming Tea | Chun Mee Tea
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