Tea Article: Discussing caffeine levels in tea

A common claim is that black tea caffeine content is much higher than that of green or white tea. Many people will always make a choice to drink green tea believing that the caffeine content is much lower. There are also people who say that green tea has zero caffeine…

In the following article we clarify these false claims and discuss what actually affects the caffeine content in different types of tea. Feel free to check it out!

https://pathofcha.com/blogs/all-about-tea/the-truth-behind-black-tea-caffeine-content-is-it-actually-high

20 Replies
Izzy said

That’s a good article, very interesting. I was aware that the buds of the tea naturally contain more caffeine than the leaves, but nitrogen effecting caffeine levels is new info for me.

Also, I read somewhere that decaffeinated teas do contain caffeine even after the decaffeinating process… it’s just a very very small amount. You might want to check that :)

Thank you!
And yes, you’re right. They do contain a very small amount of caffeine, that it’s probably not even worth mentioning it. I’ll consider editing that part :)

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LuckyMe said

People also mistakenly believe white tea has little to no caffeine. If its picked from the buds and first leaves, it will definitely have a good dose of caffeine. Also spring picked tea has less caffeine than summer picked tea.

Mei Leaf did a really informative video about caffeine in tea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7jQ1uFoJXY

Thank you for sharing! I’ll check it out.
And yes, you’re right about that!

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ZahidKK said

Thanks for such a nice article. I love having green tea as well.

Regards.

Glad it was helpful!

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Ubacat said

I always go by how much tea I can drink in a day and I can drink more green teas than I can any other tea without feeling a caffeine rush.

I agree that there are also some variables based on the person themself. Green tea usually doesn’t affect me at all, neither do Chinese black teas. Indian black teas however have as big an effect on me as coffee.
Always best to make your own judgement on how you feel at the end of the day! :)

Ubacat said

I’ve always wondered if it had to do with the L-theanine but it appears black has more than green. It might have to do with brew times and how much tea leaf is used. I find most people brew their Pu-erh way too strong for me. I go half the leaf amount.

Matcha is one green I can’t even drink at all because it’s too high in caffeine. The caffeine level has to be close to or more than coffee. Most times I am drinking Chinese greens or light oolongs with the occasional sencha (which I count as two teas because it does have a bit more caffeine punch).

Brew times and tea leaf ratio defiantly play a significant role.

Usually a serving (cup) of matcha contains half the caffeine content of a cup of coffee at most.

If the caffeine content seems like too much, try decreasing the leaf ratio and using lower temperatures, it may help!

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i almost love tea and always everyday drinking tea, this article give me some education more and more about tea..anyway nice article good job

regards
tattoo bali

Thank you for the feedback! Glad we can help.

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I do not fully agree with the article.
Here is a study of the American Chemical Society that shows black teas contain more caffeine.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf021066b

We also have a similar article about caffeine in the blog:
https://tea-side.com/blog/caffeine-in-tea/

Thanks for your comment and for the article.

Yes, it’s true that black tea often contains higher amounts of caffeine compared to other tea types. We are saying that it’s not true 100% of the time, and offering people to look at other facts, other than purely banning black tea because of the believed high caffeine content.

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SooTea said

I understand that even decaffeinated teas still contains some caffeine. See last paragraph of this article https://www.teasenz.com/chinese-tea/tea-caffeine.html

Yes, it’s true. However it’s usually a very minimal percentage.

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Lumpkin said

Thank you for sharing such a good article.

Thank you for your comment!

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Lumpkin said

For those people who wish to avoid the intake of caffeine, decaffeinated teas are an option. It is only since the 1980s that improvements in production technology have resulted in this product being widely available.

Three methods of decaffeination are used around the world and there is still some debate among scientists and decaffeinated tea manufacturers as to which is best from both health and economic viewpoints. Research is ongoing and continual advances are resulting in better quality products.

Carbon dioxide
An organic solvent, it is cheap, easy to remove from the product after decaffeination, and is physiologically harmless in small quantities.

Methylene chloride
This is the most popular solvent for decaffeinating both tea and coffee, is reasonably priced, and is easily removed from the product after decaffeination. A legal limit of five parts per million is placed on residual traces in the tea and the U.S. bans all imports using methylene chloride.

Ethyl acetate
This is reasonably priced but is difficult to remove from the product after decaffeination. Small traces of ethyl acetate occur naturally in tea and, some say, this makes it the best solvent.

Very interesting! Thank you for sharing.

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