On 21 Aug 2005 09:37:36 -0700, "Space Cowboy" >
wrote:

>I think caffeine is directly proportional to taste. It is just another
>component that makes up tea taste.

True, caffeine does affect taste, it is bitter.

>A weak tasting second cup means
>much less caffeine than the first.

>If multilple infusions hold up in
>taste then more caffeine in each cup.

Neither of these statements make much scientific sense unless it is
just coincidence based on your method of brewing. To draw these
conclusions you must assume that caffeine will be extracted at the
same rate as the other flavor components, it has been scientifically
proven that these components dissolve at very different rates and that
caffeine is one of the fastest dissolving components by a long shot.

>Most of the elements that make
>up tea taste are determined by leaching rates and not solubility.

What is the difference? Are they not flip sides of the same coin with
regards to extraction?

>The
>CO2 processing for reducing caffeine and not affecting taste is a
>different principle than adding water to leaves and pouring off the
>first infusion and declaring the caffeine arbitrarily reduced by a
>percentage.

Nothing arbitrary as the caffeine is significantly reduced, it is
quite proven, now the exact percentage extracted depends on several
variables mostly involving leaf permeability and the process of
extraction being used, time, temp, method, etc.

In addition to the CO2 process there is also a "Swiss Water" process
that uses only water to decaffeinate the beans, unfortunately in the
case of coffee it also removes flavor components as well.
http://www.swisswater.com/decaf


Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net
"In this work, when it shall be found that much is omitted, let it not be forgotten that much likewise is performed."
Samuel Johnson, 1775, upon finishing his dictionary.