Lewis Perin > writes:

> [...which tea has more caffeine...]
>
> I'm sorry I can't find a reference for this right now, but I'm sure
> I've read that tea buds - used in Silver Needles - actually are higher
> in caffeine than tea leaves, and that young leaves have more caffeine
> than mature ones. I seem to remember an evolutionary explanation for
> this related to protecting the most valuable parts of the plant from
> insect predation.

Well, I've found a reference for at least part of the above. In
Barundeb Banerjee, _Tea Production and Processing_ (1993, New Delhi
and Calcutta), it's stated that young shoots have more caffeine than
mature leaves on p. 285. Unfortunately, the book has nothing to say
about buds as opposed to the leaves in young shoots.

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