TeaChat

Do you have access to decaffeinated gunpowder tea or know anyone that might carry it??

Thanks for the post.

Unfortunately, getting good quality decaffeinated specialty green teas is almost impossible, due to the fact that in Asia (where we get almost all of our teas) they don't have much decaffeinated tea.

However, there is an easy way to "make your own" decaf tea at home. Just brew a cup as normal, leaving the leaves in the hot water for about 30 seconds instead of 3 minutes. Then drain the tea leaves and rebrew.... The caffeine content is almost completely lost with the first brewing (in fact, just as much caffeine is equal to any commercial decaf!).

Hope this helps,

Chris
Adagio Maestro

chris wrote:Thanks for the post.

Unfortunately, getting good quality decaffeinated specialty green teas is almost impossible, due to the fact that in Asia (where we get almost all of our teas) they don't have much decaffeinated tea.

However, there is an easy way to "make your own" decaf tea at home. Just brew a cup as normal, leaving the leaves in the hot water for about 30 seconds instead of 3 minutes. Then drain the tea leaves and rebrew.... The caffeine content is almost completely lost with the first brewing (in fact, just as much caffeine is equal to any commercial decaf!).

Hope this helps,

Chris
Adagio Maestro

Does that effect the flavor much or any at all, and does that work with black teas, Oolong teas, ect...?

Ooh, ooh! I can answer that one!

Re-steeping won't affect the flavor in any negative way, at least not on a second or sometimes even a third steeping. Some people even say that the second steeping is better than the first, but I think that depends on the tea. Some oolongs say they have to be "washed" first, basically to rinse away the dust and such on the leaves.

What will be affected, however, is the health benefits. The stuff that fights cancer and all that seems to steep out with the caffeine. So if you're drinking it for that reason, you might want to rethink decaffing. If you drink it for the taste, fear not, your tea will still be wonderful!!!

~teaspoon

teaspoon wrote:Ooh, ooh! I can answer that one!

Re-steeping won't affect the flavor in any negative way, at least not on a second or sometimes even a third steeping. Some people even say that the second steeping is better than the first, but I think that depends on the tea. Some oolongs say they have to be "washed" first, basically to rinse away the dust and such on the leaves.

What will be affected, however, is the health benefits. The stuff that fights cancer and all that seems to steep out with the caffeine. So if you're drinking it for that reason, you might want to rethink decaffing. If you drink it for the taste, fear not, your tea will still be wonderful!!!

~teaspoon

Great, thanks for the 411!

I usually steep my tea only once anyway, one - I NEED the caffeine, two - I want the health benefits.

What a great hint! Thanks loads.... Does that 30 second steeping also wash away the health benifits of the green tea ?

Lastly, an additional two part question.....

When one speaks of using loose tea for steeping a second time, does it mean the second steeping must be done within minutes or and hour, or does it mean the second steeping could be done by the next day or longer?.....If the next day, how does one preserve the tea leaves?

Anonymous wrote:What a great hint! Thanks loads.... Does that 30 second steeping also wash away the health benifits of the green tea ?

Lastly, an additional two part question.....

When one speaks of using loose tea for steeping a second time, does it mean the second steeping must be done within minutes or and hour, or does it mean the second steeping could be done by the next day or longer?.....If the next day, how does one preserve the tea leaves?

Sad to say teaspoon sait it would wash away the health benifits.

As for part two of your question, sorry - I don't know. I aways throw out my tea after the first steeping.

Thanks for the post.

This really depends on the tea. Some teas, like whites, greens and oolongs, will maintain a high level of quality when re-steeped. However, blacks and flavored teas usually are only good once.

Please keep in mind as well-- bacteria love used tea leaves, so don't wait much longer than a couple hours if you're going to rebrew!

Many thanks,

Chris
Adagio Maestro

chris wrote:Thanks for the post.

This really depends on the tea. Some teas, like whites, greens and oolongs, will maintain a high level of quality when re-steeped. However, blacks and flavored teas usually are only good once.

Please keep in mind as well-- bacteria love used tea leaves, so don't wait much longer than a couple hours if you're going to rebrew!

Many thanks,

Chris
Adagio Maestro

Awesome! That's great to know.

I have a lot of green, oolong teas plus one white tea. I'll try to resteep and see how it is to my taste.

Can you resteep pu erh teas?

And yes, I've seen what happens to steepes tea leaves after a few hours. YUCK!

Please keep in mind as well-- bacteria love used tea leaves, so don't wait much longer than a couple hours if you're going to rebrew!

Chris

Please tell me if putting drained steeped tea leaves in the refrigeratior will keep them fresh? If so, how long? I would like to do this since the second and third steeping is sometimes better than the first. Sometimes I can't do the subsequent infusions immediately.

So, I'm excited to find this post and tip! I became caffeine sensitive a while back. It's such a bummer and I miss tea so much. I'm definitely going to try this DIY decaf method, carefully, as the caffeine makes me feel really ill.

Thanks! How exciting for me

this is false information. it seems that it takes several minutes to remove extract even 50% of the caffeine.
i don't think 30 seconds will do much of anything.
i remember more a more extensive writeup somewhere else with HPLC data, here is another experiment:
http://www.divinitea.com/organic-tea-bl ... d-steeping

but hey, try it. maybe all you need is a little reduction in caffeine to not be over-stimulated!
maybe every little bit helps.

also

chris wrote: Please keep in mind as well-- bacteria love used tea leaves, so don't wait much longer than a couple hours if you're going to rebrew!

lol, yeah right. you've just cooked the leaves in boiling water, so the initial bacterial population is quite low.
i regularly finish up sessions the following day or even days later (depending on the kind of tea... some teas taste gross if you leave them, but not really from bacterial action).

I'm skeptical of that study. When one or two studies contradict years of prior experience and research, I question it.

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some more info
http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caff ... ality.html

Thanks, pedant!

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