Green tea and caffeine
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Tea leaves from Japanese Yabukita tea plant. By たね
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Green tea is healthy, delicious and full of antioxidants…but, it does have some caffeine. So how do we get around that? If you are sensitive to any amount of caffeine……….
…the younger the tea leaves are, the greater is their caffeine content. Find out what part of the plant the tea is made from. If it is called ”tea flush”, it comes from the terminal buds. High grade green tea is normally made from these as they contain theanine which makes the tea sweeter. They also contain the catechins, which contain the most antioxidants.
…drink green tea hot. Brewing it will make the caffeine less effective. Don’t let it cool off too much before drinking.
…avoid green teabags (drink your green tea at home instead of at a restaurant!). Teabags contain a lot more caffeine and are poorer in quality. Buy loose tea leaves.
…color is no indicator of caffeine content. Some expensive Japanese green teas contain more caffeine than the black tea Lapsang Souchong. One cup of green tea contains 15 to 75 mg. When you brew your own green tea leaves try drinking it at half strength first. Start with a little, check how you feel and increase your tolerance level little by little. Begin with half a cup a day. Research shows that two cups a day release the cancer-preventing benefits.
…throw away the first infusion as it soaks up 70 per cent of the caffeine within the first five minutes.
…be careful with decaffeinated green tea. Although it reduces the content to less than 5 mg per cup, the so called ”naturally decaffeinated” teas also take out the nutrients. Find one that uses the carbon dioxide method.
…and remember, anything in excess is not healthy. Drinking too much green tea (more than ten cups a day), or green tea supplements can cause liver and kidney damage.