Decaffeinated teas are commercially available. However, the process involves chemicals which may leave traces after the processing.
How are coffee, tea and colas decaffeinated?
The process of decaffeinating tea using chemicals not only removes the caffeine content but also some of the health promoting nutrients and polyphenols found in the tea leaves.
There is an alternate way of making a decaffeinated tea right in your home. How about that? A caffeine free tea which you prepare yourself. The process uses no chemicals and can remove up to 80% of the caffeine from the tea leaves. How much caffeine will be left will depend on the source (black tea, oolong tea, green tea).
Caffeine is very water soluble compared to the antioxidants (polyphenols) in tea. It means that caffeine easily combines with water when it makes contact with it. The higher the water temperature, the faster the caffeine combines with it. Here's what you'll do to make your tea almost caffeine free, approximately 80% caffeine free.
- Boil some water
- Place your tea leaves in a separate container
- Pour some boiling water in the container where you placed your tea leaves.
- Allow to steep for 30-45 seconds.
- Discard that water which now contains a lot of caffeine from the tea leaves.
- Boil the water again then pour it in the container and allow to steep for 2-5 minutes
- You can now drink and enjoy your home made decaffeinated tea.
You can drink more cups in a day without worrying of the side effects that caffeine may bring to your health.
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7 comments:
It's really very interesting. How about the taste of decaffeinated tea?
tea benefits:
The taste of the home prepared decaffeinated tea as mentioned above does not differ greatly as it was before the process since no chemicals are involved. The difference in taste however, may be noticeable for frequent tea drinkers.
I "decaffeinate" by soaking the tea leaves in room temperature water, held down from floating by a tea-strainer in the cup(the same strainer I'll use later w/ the finished tea). I let it set for the length of time that it takes to bring 1.5 litres to just below boiling. I learned from tea "sophisticates" that tea should not boil nor should boiling water be used; "pre-boiling" water is hot enough to get the best taste; too hot &/or too long left to steep lets out the darker/bitter tastes. (as a teen I _liked_ that hard/dark/smokey flavor). Just a few minutes left to steep then into the thermos.. My blood pressure actually went down a little when home-decaffing green tea like this. Hot water for a short time does strip some flavor; room temperature for a bit longer seems to retain most of the taste & I don't get the caffeine effects. Also with teas flavored with fruit juices (black & persimmon or lychee- Roland Imports or even Earl Gray)this effect is even more pronounced in loss of taste.
Enjoy, and -to your health-
I "decaffeinate" by soaking the tea leaves in room temperature water, held down from floating by a tea-strainer in the cup(the same strainer I'll use later w/ the finished tea). I let it set for the length of time that it takes to bring 1.5 litres to just below boiling. I learned from tea "sophisticates" that tea should not boil nor should boiling water be used; "pre-boiling" water is hot enough to get the best taste; too hot &/or too long left to steep lets out the darker/bitter tastes. (as a teen I _liked_ that hard/dark/smokey flavor). Just a few minutes left to steep then into the thermos.. My blood pressure actually went down a little when home-decaffing green tea like this. Hot water for a short time does strip some flavor; room temperature for a bit longer seems to retain most of the taste & I don't get the caffeine effects. Also with teas flavored with fruit juices (black & persimmon or lychee- Roland Imports or even Earl Gray)this effect is even more pronounced in loss of taste.
Enjoy, and -to your health-
Thanks for sharing zelig_7. Think I'll try your way of decaffeinating tea.
I think the process of making decaf tea at home is flawed, since the leaves release most of their caffeine during the period of the 5 min soak. It is after this point when u steep the tea for the second time that the caffeine is reduced to about 23% of the total caffeine in the leaves as compared to five-minute steep which yields up to 70% of the caffeine.
source : wikipedia.
The main thing to consider about decaffeinated tea or coffee is that is can never be made safe for the user. I am a heart patient and the specialists said no caffeine what so ever. It is a dangerous drug, if you look at it like that then you might give it the respect it deserves. It is capable of altering the body's natural rhythm and altering the electrical signals your brain send to your heart. To anyone sensitive to it, it can cause horrible consequences such as irregular heart beats that can become so erratic that the heart goes into atrial fibrillation and if not treated quickly can lead to sudden death. Even the irregular heart beats can set up pooling of blood in the heart and create small clots that can go to the brain and cause strokes. Caffeine can ruin the brain's ability to control your metabolism and again cause physical symptoms that can be lethal and the part about all this that everyone ignores is that caffeine affects everyone negatively, it has no positive effects on the human body. Medical researchers around the world are doing studies linking increased levels of anger and rage to increased intakes of caffeine......water tests in major cities show caffeine levels have increased 2000% over the last 10 years due to the increased use of energy drinks and specialty coffees with higher caffeine levels. Caffeine is a drug,simple as that and its function is to cause the body to elevate the release of certain hormones to give the illusion of energy.....methamphetamine works pretty much the same way except at 10 times the level and damage. Caffeine can damage the stomach, your bowels, overload your kidneys and liver and on the top of the list, stop your heart dead........cases of young athletes falling dead on playing fields for no reason are being linked to the use of large quantities of energy drinks prior to the game.......hundreds of thousands of people going to their doctors and emergency wards at hospital with irregular hearts every year are told to simply leave the caffeine alone yet we continue to try and find ways to work around it. as for decaffeinated teas and coffees, they do not exist because it is in the make up of the plant as well as many other pants that are now being incorporated into our foods because they deliver caffeine to the product. If you want to avoid caffeine and get your body back on track then DO NOT DRINK COFFEE OR TEA !!.....even if it says decaffeinated, avoid it like the plague and get used to orange zingers and mint teas otherwise you hold a gun to your head and heart every time you take a drink of a caffeinated product.
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