Dog Ma /10/04
reply w/o spam

[snipped passages from exchange between Lew and Dog Ma, sesquipedalian
surely but hardly nugatory]

>...most of the
> accessible theophylline and caffeine are probably out in a few seconds. I've
> fooled around with completely hydrating leaves in cold water before that
> first steep, and it seems to remove most of the caffeine (based on the
> observation that I don't get my usual tea jitters) with nil loss of flavor
> or color.

Happily read through the chemistry of this and especially your enlightening
previous post. (Two aspirin were sufficient to clear my head, -- I'm just a
poor country boy -- and so on we go.) Does my hoped for answer regarding
caffeine and theophilline -- that the second steep contains little or none
-- lie in the truth of your statements above? Is it really your considered
opinion that a few seconds of steep is sufficient to remove said elements?
Good news indeed.
>
>> Hmm, are you hoping for even more confusion as to the meaning of
>> "white tea" than there already is out there?!
>
> Absolutely. After all, as one of my profs used to say at every possible
> occasion, erudition is not incontrovertibly predicated on obfuscation by
> nugatory sesquipedalianism.
>
>> Gyokuro is shaded for at least part of its life; I don't suppose that
>> qualifies, does it?
>
> Might well. My impression is that shade treatment of gyokuro is as much
> about lightening the colour as anything. But I'm a philistine with limited
> taste discrimination, so wouldn't know. I've never had a completely
> etiolated tea, e.g. where branches were put in black plastic as soon as
> leaves emerged. Seen this done for visual effect on greenhouse plants, and
> it might make a very different taste. Who knows a plantation owner who'll
> give it a try?

I wonder if Ito En might point us in the right direction. They seem to have
a handle on these things. I think. Or maybe Nigel?

Michael