When people first come to tea, they often arrive from the world of coffee.? Many are either trying to avoid caffeine altogether or seek an alternative source for there morning cup.? ? This leads to inevitable questions about tea and caffeine.? ? While I tend to drink tea for taste, the caffeine can be a benefit on early mornings!? As this is a topic of interest to? many, I always educate myself through reading (remember – Google does not equal research!), obtaining further education through Specialty Tea Institute webinars, the World Tea Expo, and consultations with herbalists and naturopaths.
There is a lot of information on the web, some of it better than others.? A couple of points to keep in mind as you search for answers about tea and caffeine.
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- All tea contains caffeine
- How the tea is brewed and the leaves you start with dramatically affect the caffeine in your cup
- Tea is one of the very few foods that contain L-theanine - an amino acid that can counteract some of the caffeine effects
- Caffeine in tea tends to be absorbed more slowly than caffeine in coffee
In general, Black Teas have the mosts caffeine in the cup followed by Oolong, Green, then white teas.? ? ? This assumes that the teas are brewed properly.? For example, leaving white tea leaves in boiling water for 10 minutes will not only make a bitter brew it will also extract a lot of caffeine from the leaves.
L-theanine kicks in 10-20 minutes after consumption.? The net results is a reduction in some of the less pelasnt physiolocial effects of caffeine without a loss of a popular benefit – mental alertness.? This is why tea is said to be stimulating yet calming.
So, whether you drink tea for taste, a boosts or both arm yourself with information so that you can make informed choices about tea and caffeine.
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day we will have all Green teas on Sales this week at 20% off.
Selected tea ware will also be on sale.
Monday starts the Chinese year 4646, the year of the Ox.? We’ll help celebrate by offerign specials on our Yixing pots and Chinese Teas.? Stop in and try some traditional chinese teas in handmade teaware.
Don’t forget our annual tea sale and massages are this Friday, November 28th.? ? The sale lasts all day but the massages are from 1pm-3pm.? Read more about it in World Tea News.
? All teas will be 20% off and slected teaware will be on sale as well.? It is always fun and a great time to stock up on tea.
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A newcomer called LEmon meringue is on the shelves…It is a blend of white and green teas with a creamy lemon finish
? Midsummer Nights Dream the 2007 Wolrd Tea Expo award winner will be out within a week!
As I predicted in our February Tea Newsletter, tea prices are on the rise.
“Anyone who has traveled outside of the US lately knows that the dollar is weaker against many major currencies.? Since almost all of the tea in the US is imported this can affect prices.? The only saving grace is that ea is currently priced in dollars world wide but this may change or growers will have to raise prices to stay in business…Interestingly, the rising standard of living in China? may put the biggest crimp on tea.? As incomes rise in China, the Chinese are drinking more of the higher quality teas. Compounding the problem is a boom in PuErh consumption both in China and abroad (even Posh Spice is in on it).? since Pu-Erh teas are traditionally made with tea from the Yunnan region, the increased Pu-Erh consumption is decreasing the Yunnan black tea supply.”
This two things are putting pressure on tea prices.? This will have two effects.? One, the better teas from China, such as Yunnan Royal Gold, will see large price changes due to demand.? The second result is that tea prices in general will rise due to the weak dollar.? We will be adjusting pricing in June to reflect.? However, we will not be raising prices for the 100 gram and 250 gram bags except in a very few cases.? This means we are absorbing the increases in all but the 50gram “trial size” of the teas.
We also will be changing our pot of tea pricing.? From June 1, all pots of tea will be $3.99, hot or iced, in store or take away.? We will also be introducing a new line of specialty blends and custom blends.? Those will be sold at $4.99 for a pot.
More good news from the health and tea front.? An Egyptian studay found that drinking green tea whiule taking antibiotics boosted the effect of the drugs.
? There is a summary of this study in US News and World Report.
We get a lot of questions like “what is the helathiest tea?”? We typically recommend people find the teas that they like and drink them regularly.? 4-6 cups per day? is recommended to get the maximum helath benefits.? ? The is a recent article on Canada.com whcih provides a nice summary of health benefits by “color” of tea.
? Some quotes from that article include:
? “Most people don’t drink enough to get the kinds of results seen in research studies”
“like its greener kin, black tea contains antioxidants”
“To get the most of tea’s benefits, drink it freshly brewed, rather than bottled. Let tea steep for a few minutes to release the catechins”
It is a nice read and supports the consensus that all teas are good for you in different ways.? It is great to have something that tastes good AND is good for you!
For those waiting, our Dragonwell Organic, Jasmine Downey Pearls, and Camomile are all back in stock.
? Both locations.
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Bret
Part of the Sterling awards was a profile video about Souvia.? You can see it now on Youtube? Souvia is about 2 minutes and 30 seconds in….?
