cold brewing/caffeine ??

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Jan 2nd, '10, 15:44
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cold brewing/caffeine ??

by Jasmin » Jan 2nd, '10, 15:44

I usually cold brew my iced teas. I use either tea bags or loose leaf, add it to luke warm filtered water, put it in the fridge and a few hours later have delicious iced tea. Never bitter.
But I wonder, how does it affect the caffeine? Will it be the same as when brewed with boiling water?
I thought about first letting the tea steep in boiling water for a few seconds and then adding it to the luke warm water. Extra work, but might that help with the caffeine?
I'm pregnant, so I have to watch my caffeine intake.
Any advice will be appreciated :D

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Jan 2nd, '10, 17:40
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Re: cold brewing/caffeine ??

by Chip » Jan 2nd, '10, 17:40

I have read that the rate of caffeine leaching into the liquor is greatly reduced when cold brewing.

I am always a bit skepical of the "studies" since they have been wrong so many times, makes me wonder how they can be wrong so often.

Remember the one study that said something like 90% of caffeine is leached out in the first minute? False, though could be closer to true when brewing tea dust in teabags.

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Jan 2nd, '10, 19:04
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Re: cold brewing/caffeine ??

by Jasmin » Jan 2nd, '10, 19:04

Thanks for your reply. I might try some of the decaf teas.

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Jan 3rd, '10, 12:00
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Re: cold brewing/caffeine ??

by cls46 » Jan 3rd, '10, 12:00

I am a Nutrition major and what I have learned is that having 3 caffeinated beverages or less shouldn't pose any threat to the health of your baby. Of course this comes from people mostly asking about coffee and even black tea has much less caffeine than a cup of coffee, so as long as you are only drinking caffeinated tea in moderation you should be fine (Not that going decaf is a bad idea). Also, watch out for Yerba Mate. It seems like most people on this site know a lot about tea but just in case, some people see Yerba Mate in with the herbal teas and assume its decaf but it contains quite a bit of caffeine.

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Re: cold brewing/caffeine ??

by Chip » Jan 3rd, '10, 14:00

cls46 wrote:I am a Nutrition major and what I have learned is that having 3 caffeinated beverages or less shouldn't pose any threat to the health of your baby. Of course this comes from people mostly asking about coffee and even black tea has much less caffeine than a cup of coffee, so as long as you are only drinking caffeinated tea in moderation you should be fine (Not that going decaf is a bad idea). Also, watch out for Yerba Mate. It seems like most people on this site know a lot about tea but just in case, some people see Yerba Mate in with the herbal teas and assume its decaf but it contains quite a bit of caffeine.
Thanks for replying.

One other issue is how the tea is decaffeinated ... if you go that route. There is CO2 decaf I think, but there are also chemically decaffeinated teas that I would never ever drink.

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Re: cold brewing/caffeine ??

by edkrueger » Jan 3rd, '10, 20:10

cls46 wrote:I am a Nutrition major and what I have learned is that having 3 caffeinated beverages or less shouldn't pose any threat to the health of your baby. Of course this comes from people mostly asking about coffee and even black tea has much less caffeine than a cup of coffee, so as long as you are only drinking caffeinated tea in moderation you should be fine (Not that going decaf is a bad idea). Also, watch out for Yerba Mate. It seems like most people on this site know a lot about tea but just in case, some people see Yerba Mate in with the herbal teas and assume its decaf but it contains quite a bit of caffeine.
Actually, Maté is pretty light on caffeine. The problem comes when you drink it the traditional way.

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Jan 4th, '10, 08:16
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Re: cold brewing/caffeine ??

by Jasmin » Jan 4th, '10, 08:16

Thanks cls4. I think pregnant women shouldn't get more than 300mg of caffeine. A regular cup coffe has about 100-150. Black tea is very low compared.Only 40 or so?
But on some days I drink more coffe and tea than on others. And then there's chocolate...
Maté I heard you shouldn't drink at all when pregnant :( And it wasn't because of the caffeine.
Also the problem with tea seems to be that antioxidants prevent folate absorption and tanins prevent iron absorption. Both are improtant in pregancy. But I don't have any numbers on that.

I just love to drink iced tea all year long and was hoping that cold brewed iced tea doesn't have any caffeine :wink:

Chip: How is the adagio decaf decaffinated? Do you know?

Oh, ps: Never mind. I just checked and they explain it on every tea :oops:
Last edited by Jasmin on Jan 4th, '10, 08:19, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: cold brewing/caffeine ??

by bsteele » Jan 4th, '10, 08:19

edkrueger wrote: Actually, Maté is pretty light on caffeine. The problem comes when you drink it the traditional way.
Or if snorting it through your nose. Yowza.

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Re: cold brewing/caffeine ??

by cls46 » Jan 4th, '10, 11:16

[/quote]
Actually, Maté is pretty light on caffeine. The problem comes when you drink it the traditional way.[/quote]

I guess that depends on the individual's definition of "light". Black tea has around 40mg of caffeine whereas according to Guayaki (there big on Mate), a 8 oz cup of their Yerba Mate has 85mg. Also I did some looking back at my last semesters book because I didn't remember anything about antioxidants messing up folate absorption and I still didn't find anything but I guess if that's what your doctor said than I would trust that. Also tannin works like an antioxidant, they can both bind to free radicals, which means they can both bind to iron.

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Re: cold brewing/caffeine ??

by shardy53 » Jan 4th, '10, 16:08

Decafinated tea is just awful. It is not worth drinking.

Jan 7th, '10, 03:35
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Re: cold brewing/caffeine ??

by edkrueger » Jan 7th, '10, 03:35

cls46 wrote: I guess that depends on the individual's definition of "light". Black tea has around 40mg of caffeine whereas according to Guayaki (there big on Mate), a 8 oz cup of their Yerba Mate has 85mg. Also I did some looking back at my last semesters book because I didn't remember anything about antioxidants messing up folate absorption and I still didn't find anything but I guess if that's what your doctor said than I would trust that. Also tannin works like an antioxidant, they can both bind to free radicals, which means they can both bind to iron.
I would seriously doubt those values. By leaf weight, I've heard that maté is %1 caffeine while black tea is over %2.5 caffeine. It really matters how much tea or maté you use. Guayaki may have more. The %1 was from traditional maté, which Guayaki is not.

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