The Buzz On Tea
Tired of the coffee jitters? Sick of sweet, syrupy sodas? No longer energized by energy drinks? Maybe it’s time to turn your attention to another form of liquid boost — tea.
Tea please
Tea is the second-most popular beverage in the world after water, but in North America, it has always been eclipsed by coffee. In 2003, coffee consumption in the United States outstripped tea drinking by nearly two and a half times. But according to Packaged Facts, the publishing division of MarketResearch.com, the U.S. market for tea measured $5.1 billion in 2003, and will nearly double to $10 billion by 2010.
What about caffeine in tea?
Well, tea’s got it, although in quantities that make for a mellower “kick” than coffee. But first, a word about exactly what tea is and isn’t.
Tea is a beverage brewed from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant and consumed hot or cold. The word tea is commonly — and incorrectly — used to refer to various other beverages that resemble it, such as tisanes (also known as herbal teas), yerba mate and rooibos.
Tea derived from Camellia sinensis comes in thousands of varieties, which can be broken down into four broad categories — black, green, oolong, and white. Tea in two other categories — yellow and pu-erh — are sufficiently rare that most casual tea drinkers will probably never encounter them.
Differences between teas are a result of how the leaves are processed after harvesting, particularly with regard to oxidization, the process that allows the leaves to take on oxygen.
Tea’s caffeine content varies considerably based on many factors, including the variety, brewing time and water temperature. Trying to quantify the amount of caffeine in tea is an inexact science, but the following breakdown gives a good general guideline.
Serious tea drinkers prefer loose-leaf varieties, which allow water to circulate freely among the leaves while steeping, providing a fuller flavor. Loose teas are typically superior to the fragments, known as fannings or dust, used to make tea bags.
Let’s talk about tea
There are numerous types of teas. The following are the most popular ones; find out what they taste like, how much caffeine they contain on average (per cup), and how to drink them.
Black tea
What it tastes like: Malty, robust
Caffeine content: 45 mg
How to drink it: With milk or cream, sugar or honey, and perhaps a twist of lemon.
Order a cup of tea in the average restaurant, at least in most Western countries, and you’ll probably get black tea brewed from a tea bag. Grown primarily in India, China and Sri Lanka, black teas are subject to the highest degree of oxidization, which is what accounts for their dark color. Compare black tea’s caffeine content to coffee (60-135 mg) and cola (35-45 mg).
Green tea
What it tastes like: Grassy
Caffeine content: 20 mg
How to drink it: Plain or lightly sweetened.
Green tea is a hot commodity these days because of the vast range of health benefits said to derive from drinking it. Green tea is subject to minimal processing. A notable exception to the lower caffeine content in green tea is matcha, a powdered green tea used in Japanese tea ceremonies; it contains more caffeine than coffee.
Oolong tea
What it tastes like: Complex, sometimes with vaguely fruity overtones
Caffeine content: 30 mg (but varies according to processing)
How to drink it: Plain or lightly sweetened.
A favorite of many tea connoisseurs, oolong covers a wide range of types and is grown mostly in China and Taiwan. Oolong teas range from the lightly processed and reminiscent of green tea to the more robust and similar to black.
White tea
What it tastes like: Lightly vegetal
Caffeine content: 15 mg
How to drink it: Plain.
With all the fuss over the alleged health benefits of green tea, shrewd marketers have now discovered white tea, said to be an even more potent elixir. Similar to green tea in that it’s subjected to minimal processing, white tea uses only the finest young leaves from the tea bush, making it relatively rare.
Flavored tea
What it tastes like: Varies according to type
Caffeine content: 15-60 mg (varies according to type)
How to drink it: Plain or with milk or cream, sugar or honey, and/or lemon.
Many substances are used to flavor teas; some of the most common are fruit essences. Other popular flavorings include jasmine and chrysanthemum flowers, which are used to make varieties commonly served in Asian restaurants.
Tisane
What it tastes like: Varies according to type
Caffeine content: 0 mg
How to drink it: Plain or with milk or cream, sugar or honey, and/or lemon.
Tisanes are more commonly known as herbal tea even though they typically don’t contain “real” tea. Tisanes can include virtually any type of plant infused in hot water in a manner similar to tea. Some of the best-known commercially available tisanes include chamomile, mint and fruit flavors.
Yerba mate
What it tastes like: Earthy
Caffeine content: Varies widely
How to drink it: Plain or with milk or cream, sugar or honey, and/or lemon.
Yerba mate is an herbal beverage that’s quite popular in several South American countries. It’s commonly thought not to contain caffeine, but it actually does. Caffeine content varies widely based on preparation methods. For yerba mate sold in tea bags, caffeine content is in the same range as green tea. Traditional yerba mate drinking is a communal experience in which the loose leaf is brewed in a gourd and shared, with participants drinking through a filtered metal straw (or bombilla).
Rooibos
What it tastes like: Not unlike a lighter black tea
Caffeine content: 0 mg
How to drink it: Plain or with milk or cream, sugar or honey, and/or lemon.
Rooibos is an herbal beverage derived from a plant only cultivated in one region of South Africa. Sometimes known as red bush, a reference to its deep red color, rooibos is said to have many health benefits.
Tea for everyone
Aspiring tea connoisseurs are advised that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to learning about the infinitely varied world of tea. As with wine, you could literally spend a lifetime learning and still have many lifetimes worth of information left to process and countless teas to taste. But there are certainly worse ways to spend your time.
(this article was taken from askmen.com)
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