The Truth About How Much Caffeine is in Tea

Caffeine was never a huge concern when I started getting into tea a few years ago. I knew the tea I was drinking had some caffeine, but at the time, I was more excited about discovering the flavours and new tastes of teas and exploring the places and cultures they came from. However, it was inevitable after a time that I wanted to know more about the science behind the leaves – why do specific origins or cultivars produce particular tastes? Eventually, the question of caffeine began to fill my mind: was it having any impact on what I was tasting, on me, and how much was I really consuming? 
  • 02/10/2024
  • 7 minutes
  • blubolt team
The Truth About How Much Caffeine is in Tea

Caffeine was never a huge concern when I started getting into tea a few years ago. I knew the tea I was drinking had some caffeine, but at the time, I was more excited about discovering the flavours and new tastes of teas and exploring the places and cultures they came from. However, it was inevitable after a time that I wanted to know more about the science behind the leaves – why do specific origins or cultivars produce particular tastes? Eventually, the question of caffeine began to fill my mind: was it having any impact on what I was tasting, on me, and how much was I really consuming? 

A quick internet search for the phrase 'How much caffeine is in tea?' brought up a lot of contradictory information. Some said green tea had more caffeine; others said black tea had the most, while others even said white tea had no caffeine. How could this be? Confused by it all, I've been diving into the research JING and Oxford Brookes University did a few years ago to get some answers. 

Here's what I found and my guide to demystifying what's going on with the caffeine in our tea leaves.

All tea contains caffeine as its naturally present in Camellia sinensis – the tea plant

Herbal 'teas' like this Peppermint do not contain caffeine as they aren't made for the tea plant

What Do We Already Know? 

Let's start by looking at the basic facts and what we already know for sure: 

  • All tea contains caffeine. If it's called 'tea,' it must be made using the buds and leaves of the Camellia Sinensis plant, which contains naturally occurring caffeine and many other plant compounds. 
  • Caffeine acts as a natural pesticide. By producing caffeine, the tender leaves and juicy buds taste bitter, deterring potential insect or bird attackers from eating them. 

What is Caffeine?

Caffeine is a natural stimulant found in certain plant foods, including tea, coffee, cola nuts, cacao, and guarana.

Caffeine acts as a psychoactive receptor antagonist in our central nervous system. That's a fancy way of saying it interrupts and replaces other signals flowing through the body. The main one it interrupts is an adenosine neurotransmitter, which acts like a brake, naturally slowing us down and promoting sleep. As the caffeine molecules block the adenosine from getting to its receptors, they boost brain activity, speeding us up while causing a release of adrenaline and ultimately making us feel more alert. 

Caffeine doesn't stop the production of adenosine, so once the caffeine has worn off, the receptors are free again; a backlog of adenosine floods them, which can cause a sudden crash of sleepiness—what you might have experienced as a coffee comes down!

How Does Caffeine in Tea Affect you?

Caffeine in tea offers a unique and more balanced energy boost compared to coffee, largely due to the presence of L-theanine, an amino acid found in tea leaves. This combination of caffeine and L-theanine promotes alertness while simultaneously providing a calming effect, resulting in improved concentration and focus without the jittery side effects often associated with coffee. Additionally, the caffeine in tea is absorbed more slowly by the body, leading to a more sustained release of energy. This makes tea an excellent choice for those looking to enhance their productivity and mental clarity throughout the day.

Recommended Caffeine Intake Per Day 

It’s important to understand how much caffeine one should have per day. For healthy adults, the recommended caffeine intake per day is around 400mg, which is equivalent to four cups of coffee. According to the NHS, the recommended maximum daily caffeine intake is 200mg for pregnant women.

Is Caffeine A Diuretic?

While research into all the effects of caffeine consumption on health is ongoing, when consumed within the recommended daily intake, tea has been found to be hydrating; at this level of consumption, there is not enough caffeine in tea to cause a diuretic effect.

Caffeine In Different Types Of Tea

Now that we know what caffeine does and where it comes from, let's look at some of the data revealed in our research. We had lots of teas of various tea types analysed for their caffeine content in milligrams per 150ml infusion, and here is what we found:

As you can see, there is a consistent range of between 25 and 46mg, with even small variations within the tea types. However, if we look at the Silver Needle and White Peony white teas, they have almost as much caffeine as our Yunnan Gold, which is a black tea. All this is to say that tea type does not dictate caffeine content, and relatively speaking, most teas will fall within this range. 

In investigating the different ranges of tea, we also understood that these levels can vary quite dramatically from season to season and crop to crop, even within the same tea. So it's important to know that these levels of caffeine are indicative, but not absolute, serving as a guide and comparison in your beverages. To put it all in context, here is a general comparison of the caffeine content found in other drinks:

Is There Caffeine In Matcha?

Matcha is a stone-ground green tea. Once it is ground, the powder is whisked and suspended in water. This means the tea leaves are ingested – unlike in a regular infusion – so matcha teas contain significantly higher concentrations of caffeine and antioxidants.

Can I control how much caffeine I get in my cup? 

Caffeine is extracted from tea with heat and time. Although, as we've seen above, there is slight variation in the amount of caffeine contained in different types of tea, they can deliver varying amounts of caffeine to the drinker. For example, a tea infused with 100˚C water for three minutes (the recommended way to prepare black tea) will deliver more caffeine than the same tea infused for the same amount of time with 80˚C water (the recommended way to prepare green tea).

Hopefully, the moderate level of caffeine present in tea shouldn't be too large a concern. However, if you want to cut your consumption, the main ways are to use a little less leaf and a lower temperature: 

  • Fewer leaves will result in less caffeine while using cooler temperatures like 80˚C 
  • It's also worth noting that most of the caffeine will likely be extracted in the first infusion, so you could infuse your leaves for a minute, discard the liquid, and re-infuse them for the full three minutes for a lower-caffeine cup of tea. 

These ways of making will affect the taste of your tea

If you love full-flavoured, robust black tea or want to add milk to your breakfast tea, we'd never recommend using 80-degree water, as it'll taste weak and insipid. 

If this sounds like you, we'd recommend trying our decaffeinated Ceylon black tea, which contains only minimal caffeine, or herbal infusions, which are completely caffeine-free and still full of flavour.

As with anything regarding health, if you're unsure and still concerned, we suggest you discuss any matters related to your diet, tea, and caffeine consumption with your doctor.

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