It’s not as dusty as fannings up tea and so it takes longer to feel the energy boost “CTC” tea where black tea is “crush-tear-curl”-ed.This is what most teabags are made from such as the classic Yellow Label Lipton tea bags

“Fannings” or “dust” tea where black tea is ground into a fine dust (unsurprisingly!).Ground coffee, tiny particles of coffee beans (even though coffee naturally has less caffeine that tea - coffee has around 1.1-2.2% and tea leaves are 3.5% caffeine) (Wartenberg, 2019).So white tea might have more caffeine per gram of tea leaf, these are some teas where in an infusion they will give you a more caffeinated cup, in order of caffeine going from high to low: So in reality, the caffeine molecules in whole tea leaves are harder for water to extract compared to broken tea leaves. Like any infusion of one substance into another, the more surface area of the two touch, and so the more easily one dissolves into the other (or parts are extracted). But traditionally it does not give the drinker as much of a caffeine hit as other teas in reality, and that is due to how it is drunk. White tea has the most caffeine of true teas. So why the confusion? ….BUT WAIT!!!! What matters more than what technically has more caffeine in the leaf, is what gives you more caffeine in the cup….Ĭaffeine in the Cup, How Brewing Affects Caffeine So we solved it right? White tea leaves have the most caffeine of the traditional Camellia sinensis teas (black, oolong, green, white, pu-erh). If anything it’s a focus tea like green tea for the same antioxidant reason/combination. Hence, white tea’s deserved reputation for being a calming tea – just definitely not a sleep tea. The caffeine alertness without the peak and trough of energy. L-theanine (not to be confused with theine!) is another type of antioxidant also produced by the tea plant and is also concentrated in the tea shoots and buds, and when you combine caffeine and L-theanine you get caffeine’s alertness and L-theanine’s calm relaxation. It then makes sense that the teas with the highest caffeine levels are those made from the bud and first two leaves of the tea bush, especially when harvested during the spring flush (Takeda, 1994). This means, leaves and buds so they don’t get eaten (Ye NaiXing, 2010).Ĭaffeine is the world’s most widely consumed legal psychoactive drug (New Scientist)Īs the tea leaves grow and mature, their caffeine levels drop (as they don’t need the same level of protection any more). That bitterness is pretty essential as in plants, caffeine is an antioxidant produced to fend off pests, as they don’t like eating bitter leaves.ĭuring the spring growing season (or flush), the tea plant produces caffeine and sends it to its tender young shoots in particular because these are the most vulnerable and most important. Other “alkaloids” include nicotine and morphine, so this is definitely a drug! (Britannica, 2020).Ĭaffeine in its pure form is a bitter white powder, It has a half-life of between 1.5 and 9.5 hours, where the body metabolises it and it loses its potency (IMCMNR, 2001). Caffeine occurs in tea, coffee, guarana, maté, kola nuts, and cacao - Britannica, 2021 So what are we talking about here? Why is caffeine even a thing?Ĭaffeine, nitrogenous organic compound of the alkaloid group, substances that have marked physiological effects. What is Caffeine? Why do tea plants have caffeine?

And it is easy to understand why: when you look at a nice cup of white tea, or take a sip, it is lighter and less tannic than, say, a black tea, and feels calming (Mcbane, 2021).Ĭalming, though, is not the same as naturally decaf! At the end of this article we’ll look at why this thinking still continues. It’s been a pervasive myth in the tea world for decades that white tea has lower caffeine than black or green tea, with even large tea companies claiming white tea was/is practically decaf (Rate Tea, 2018). Why does the white tea caffeine myth continue?.Caffeine in different types of white teas.Caffeine comparison: levels of different teas and popular drinks.

How brewing determines your “ caffeine in the cup” & why white tea’s caffeine content isn’t so simple.

What “caffeine” actually is & how it makes tea good for calm focus.

There is a huge mix up regarding the caffeine contents of white tea compared to other teas like black and green, with a shocking number of tea ‘experts’ claiming white tea is basically caffeine free.

Theine free tea meaning