Re: DIY Decaffeination

[Guest guest]

Okay, I've done a bit more research on the thirty-second

decaffeination method, and would like to share what I've

discovered.

First, the conclusion: Removal of 80% of the caffeine

requires up to ten minutes steeping, while a thirty-second

" decaffeination " steep -- as recommended many places online

-- removes approximately 9% of the caffeine.

The data come from a 1981 study of the rate of tea infusion

done in New Zealand:

Spiro M, et al. " Tea and the rate of its infusion " ,

Chemistry in New Zealand, 1981, 172-174.

and a 1996 study of caffeine concentration in tea prepared

in more traditional manners than Spiro et al.:

Hicks M, Hsieh P, Bell L, " Tea preparation and its influence

on methylxanthine concentration " , Food Research

International, 1996, 29:3-4, 325-330.[1]

Tea Reviews[2] has reprinted (with permission) a recent post

to rec.food.drink.tea by Nigel Melican of Teacraft[3]. Nigel

cites both Hicks et al. and Spiro et al., and presents an

easy-to-understand discussion of the issue.

TeaGeekWiki's page on " Caffeine in Tea " [4] cites Nigel's

explanation, as well as a synopsis of Hicks et al.[5] from

1996.

Hicks et al. is also cited by Amazing Green Tea in their

discussion of caffeine in green tea[6].

Note that tea drunk as it is in the far east (and how I make

my tea for kombucha) involves several steepings of the same

whole leaves, resulting in much less total caffeine

consumption, as new, high-caffeine leaves are not used for

every cup. Western tea bags, filled with fannings-grade tea,

can't be used that way and produce a brew that anyone would

want to drink for the second cup (and I would argue, for the

first cup either, but maybe I'm just being a tea-snob there

.. . . *grin*).

Hope this helps!

[1] http://tinyurl.com/23yqxb " Hicks, et al. "

[2] http://tinyurl.com/ypx2xf " Caffeine in Tea - Tea

Reviews "

[3] http://tinyurl.com/25ukc6 " Nigel (Teacraft) on

decaffeination "

[4] http://tinyurl.com/29h528 " Caffeine in Tea -

TeaGeekWiki "

[5] http://tinyurl.com/2alwqg " Caffeine vs. Steeping Time "

[6] http://tinyurl.com/25yeg5 " Green Tea Caffeine - Eight

Essential Pointers "