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(bruce) writes:

> > Sorry, I'm confused now. There's no way there is *how much* caffeine
> > in a teaspoon of leaf?
>
> Most of what I have read says there is roughly 35 mg caffeine in a
> "cup" of green tea. So I am wondering if this number applies to a
> serving of the leaf or is it applied to one of the 5 or so "cups" you
> can get from a serving of that leaf?

In most of what I've read, it isn't clear what they did to extract the
caffeine.

> I can't believe there is 35 mg of caffiene multiplied by 5 cups in
> one teaspoon of leaf.

Agreed.

> We all know that most of the caffiene comes out early in the
> steeping, and the rest of the stuff (amino acids, polyphenols etc..)
> comes out in later steeps, but I am wondering about the total
> amounts. When I drink green I get many steeps, usually at least 5,
> while black tea gives me two steeps at best.
>
> > What I've seen of that literature suffers from a lack of clarity and
> > uniformity as to exactly what was done to yield the liquor they
> > measured. But I wouldn't exclude the possibility that 5 minutes of
> > boiling leaves (typical for black) might yield more caffeine than 3
> > short, relatively cool steeps (of green.)
>
> Ah-ha. So you think mabey they are steeping green tea for 5 min. in
> boiling water in the lab?

Probably some of them are doing that.

> That could be, that way they are treating all teas the same way (I
> still can't imagine a japanese scientist for example pouring boiling
> water on some sencha and letting it sit there for five min. seems a
> little funny even in the lab)

There are probably some young Japanese scientists by now who grew up
on Coca-Cola and coffee.

> I don't think I have read anything that talked about the difference
> in steeping temperature with regard to caffiene. What have you
> heard about this?

I think you can find something about this from past threads in this
group by checking Google Groups. The way I remember it, it comes down
to the fact that caffeine, like many - nearly all? - substances, is
more soluble in water as temperature rises. I'm sure Dog Ma will slap
me down if I'm wrong here!

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html