By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 8/7/2011
Nepal's Himalayan tea growers turn a new leaf
After decades spent in the shadow of their neighbours across the border in Darjeeling, Nepalese tea growers are finally laying out their own stalls in the lucrative global market for premium leaves.
Grown at high altitude in lush, emerald gardens among the foothills of the Himalayas, "orthodox" Nepalese teas are now finding their way onto the books of speciality buyers from Europe and the United States.
The orthodox method of production oxidises and prepares teas with a focus on the top-quality, whole leaves and buds that produce a nuanced and slightly fruity flavour and can be used for multiple infusions.
It is a niche but profitable market, supplying high-end tea shops and retailers around the world who cater to an affluent, health-conscious clientele.
"Nepalese tea is increasingly visible in the western world where the demand for high-quality tea has grown in recent years," said Dilli Baskota, manager of Kanchanjangha Tea, a garden based in the hills of eastern Nepal.
Germany and United States are the primary markets, but Baskota said that buyers from France, Britain, Russia and Canada, as well as consumer giants China and Japan, had recently placed sizeable orders.
Premium Nepalese teas can fetch prices as high as $85 per kilo on the international market, and according to the National Tea Board production has almost doubled in the past five years to 2.6 million kilos, of which 90 percent is exported.
The global market for orthodox teas is currently estimated by the US Tea Association at around 45 million kilos.
The hill gardens of eastern Nepal are at an equivalent altitude -- and share a similar climate -- to those just across the Indian border in Darjeeling, which produce some of the world's most sought-after and highest-priced premium black tea.
The Darjeeling brand enjoys international renown, but experts say complacency, price-gouging and a low-level but persistent separatist insurgency in the Indian region have given the Nepalese teas a foothold in the market.
"Around five years ago, some European buyers became frustrated with the Darjeeling growers, feeling they were using their monopoly on the brand to push prices far too high," said Vikram Mittal, a New Delhi-based trader in speciality teas.
"So they started looking more closely at similar-tasting but cheaper Nepali teas as a sourcing option," Mittal said.
Nepal growers cannot compete with the top-grade Darjeeling premium teas -- such as the "Silver Tip" leaves which are traditionally hand-picked under a full moon and retail at up to $500 a kilo.
But their medium-grade orthodox teas are competitive and quality is improving as owners lure Darjeeling planters to manage their gardens.
"Quite a few have moved to Nepal, where they are given more responsibility and better salaries," said P.K. Ganguly, a retired Darjeeling grower.
"They take with them decades of accumulated expertise in growing and processing and that makes a huge difference quality-wise," he said.
Nonetheless, as an impoverished, landlocked country, Nepal poses particular challenges to tea growers who have to struggle with a woeful transport infrastructure, power and labour shortages and a lack of government support.
"The government hasn't provided any real incentives," said garden owner Bachan Gyawali.
"Labour shortages and regular strikes enforced by one group or another have, at times, crippled the business," Gyawali said.
Around 8,000 small farmers are involved in orthodox tea cultivation and employ some 27,000 people -- the vast majority of them women.
In an effort to promote their brands, Nepal's private tea producers launched the Himalayan Tea Producers Cooperative (HIMCOOP) in 2003, and have started to take part in global trade fairs, such as the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas.
HIMCOOP has hired a Darjeeling native, John Taylor, to oversee its marketing side, and has created a "Nepal Tea" brand endorsed by the legendary Italian mountaineer, Reinhold Messner.
While branding is crucial, Taylor said a long-term effort was also needed to woo major overseas buyers.
"Tea is a very personal business. You have to build up a personal relationship with the buyers who often visit the gardens themselves," he said.
HIMCOOP president Sushil Rijal acknowledged: "There is huge potential for orthodox tea in European countries and North America but, up till now, we haven't been able to market our products that well.
"Honestly, we are very new in this trade," he admitted.
Showing posts with label black tea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label black tea. Show all posts
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Interesting 2011 Teas, Limited Supply
We at QTrade Teas and Herbs are very well known for the large volumes of tea and herbs we supply, as well custom formulation of your signature blends and suppling those blends. But now is time to talk about those in limited supply..so here is what is coming in all very limited quantity, first come first served, and will sell out quickly:
http://www.qtradeteas.com/ (conventional) in this week
2nd flush (WTE previous lot award winner with this before)
1st flush
Guranse (manufactured last week) in at end of July ~ $30 /lb
Seasonal Ceylon Supreme Pekoe $8 /lb (in now)
New Vithanakande (you liked this - will send you samples again)
What about our organic award winning black and green iced teas, ask about these 2010 Expo Award winners.
Booking now for Cardamom and Organic cardamom purchasing!
First come, first served so reply via email today to desiree@qtradeteas.com for pricing and information. Check out our new website
http://www.qtradeteas.com/ .
Monday, May 23, 2011
Sri Lankan Tea Video
Good Find, Josh!
The Perfect Brew from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.
The Sri Lankan tea industry is undergoing a renaissance. Once upon a time nearly 60% of all revenue exports were from tea. With the end of decades of civil war and an improving economy the tea industry is set to boom again. Eco tourism and organic blends are being used to try and help sell Sri Lankan tea to the world.
Aljazeera's Steve Chao reports from the Western Highlands of Sri Lanka.
Shot and edited by Matthew Allard.
Shot on a Canon 5D Mark II
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Indian Tea Prices to go up...
Article from Financial Express
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/tea-prices-to-go-up-says-mcleod-russel/627588/2
World's largest tea producer McLeod Russel India Ltd sees average price realisation per kg to rise at least by Rs 12-15 in 2010-11. The average tea price was around Rs 137 per kg in 2009-10.
Mcleod Russel managing director Aditya Khaitan said contrary to expectations that average tea prices would drop during the year, prices are actually expected to go upwards. ''There are apprehensions in some quarters that average tea prices would drop in 2010-11 from last year's level but my reading is that we would see a higher price as crop shortage is only going to go up," he said.
According to him, industry is likely to face a shortage of 80 million kg during the year. Last year the shortage was around 60 mkgs. The company has suffered a net loss of Rs 120 crore during the quarter to March 31, 2010, against a loss of Rs 88.61...World's largest tea producer McLeod Russel India Ltd sees average price realisation per kg to rise at least by Rs 12-15 in 2010-11. The average tea price was around Rs 137 per kg in 2009-10.
Article continued....http://www.financialexpress.com/news/tea-prices-to-go-up-says-mcleod-russel/627588/2
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/tea-prices-to-go-up-says-mcleod-russel/627588/2
World's largest tea producer McLeod Russel India Ltd sees average price realisation per kg to rise at least by Rs 12-15 in 2010-11. The average tea price was around Rs 137 per kg in 2009-10.
Mcleod Russel managing director Aditya Khaitan said contrary to expectations that average tea prices would drop during the year, prices are actually expected to go upwards. ''There are apprehensions in some quarters that average tea prices would drop in 2010-11 from last year's level but my reading is that we would see a higher price as crop shortage is only going to go up," he said.
According to him, industry is likely to face a shortage of 80 million kg during the year. Last year the shortage was around 60 mkgs. The company has suffered a net loss of Rs 120 crore during the quarter to March 31, 2010, against a loss of Rs 88.61...World's largest tea producer McLeod Russel India Ltd sees average price realisation per kg to rise at least by Rs 12-15 in 2010-11. The average tea price was around Rs 137 per kg in 2009-10.
Article continued....http://www.financialexpress.com/news/tea-prices-to-go-up-says-mcleod-russel/627588/2
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
natural flavors and essential oils in tea
11.08.10
natural flavors and essential oils in tea
Posted in T Ching - blog
by Zhena Muzyka
At Zhena’s Gypsy Tea, we get an enormous number of calls from tea drinkers asking what “natural” as in “natural flavors” means. Tea drinkers are increasingly aware that “natural” is a loose term that can mean almost anything - and they are right.
The FDA loopholes on flavorings are vast, rendering the term “natural” meaningless if there is no organic certification attached that ensures auditing of ingredients and labeling laws. Organic certification ensures auditing, a level of checks and balances that would not otherwise be implemented regarding tea production.
Standards committees at retailers have created lists of chemicals that are not allowed in the products they sell, but there is not a standards committee verifying that manufacturers’ ingredients are free of these chemicals. The only way to ensure you are not ingesting chemicals when sipping flavored teas is to buy flavored teas that are certified organic.
The history of flavored teas began in China with the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-906), during which teas were flavored with plum juice, cloves, ginger, peppermint, onions, and salts.
The Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279) began the use of essential oils in tea - lightly blending their leaves with essences of lotus, jasmine petals, and chrysanthemum. According to The Book of Tea, the higher classes preferred scented and flavored teas, showing themselves to be more adventurous in taking tea.
According to The Sage Report’s US Tea is Hot Report:
“For every ten pounds sold of the higher end specialty teas - those selling over thirty dollars per pound - one hundred pounds of specialty flavored tea reaches US consumers’ cups. The middle tea market…flavored, delicious, aromatic and nicely packaged, will outpace the growing but supply-restricted (annual output for the next 5-10 years) stocks of unflavored, long leaf, orthodox teas. Purists may cringe, but the mega-marketers are gearing up for a specialty tea future that is flavored, flowered and spiced.”
Flavor Terminology
To clarify flavor terminology for our tea drinkers, I use the following descriptions:
Artificial Flavor: A flavor derived from 100% synthetic materials (not found in nature), such as Ethyl Vanillin, which is listed on the ingredients statement of some milk chocolate bars.
Nature-Identical Flavor: A term used mostly in Europe. All ingredients are man-made, but are also found naturally occurring in nature. An example is vanillin, which occurs naturally as white crystals on a vanilla bean after curing. Vanillin also has a nature-identical version (artificial) derived through the processing of lignin, which is a by-product of paper manufacturing and is an economical source of man-made vanillin. Man-made vanillin has the same chemical structure as natural vanilla. However, due to the fact it does not come from a natural source, it is termed NATURE-IDENTICAL. Both categories - ARTIFICIAL and NATURE-IDENTICAL - are coded in the United States as ARTIFICIAL.
Natural & Artificial Flavor: A flavor derived from natural and artificial ingredients.
Natural Flavor: A flavor derived 100% from the title material. An example would be a Natural Cherry Flavor, which is derived entirely from cherries. (Many companies use this term for any and all types of flavors.)
Natural WONF Flavor: This flavor must contain at least one ingredient from the title source, such as cherry. All other ingredients must come from other natural sources.
Natural Flavor Blend Flavor: All ingredients in this flavor must be natural, but none are derived from the title material. A Cherry Type Flavor, NFB is derived from 100% natural chemicals, essential oils, oleoresins, floral absolutes, solid extracts, fluid extracts, distillates, juices, and essences, but none of these ingredients are derived from cherries.
How Flavors are Created
Natural flavors are usually distilled, while artificial flavors are a blend of chemical compounds, even plastics! An example of an artificial flavor carrying agent is Propylene Glycol, which is a colorless, viscous, hygroscopic liquid. It serves as a humectant - a substance that retains moisture content. It makes the skin feel moist and soft and keeps products from drying out.
Propylene Glycol is used in anti-freeze, brake and hydraulic fluid, de-icers, paints and coatings, floor wax, laundry detergents, and tobacco, as well as in cosmetics, toothpastes, shampoos, deodorants, lotions, processed food, dog food, and many more personal care products.
The Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for Propylene Glycol states:
“Implicated in contact dermatitis, kidney damage and liver abnormalities; can inhibit skin cell growth in human tests and can damage cell membranes causing rashes, dry skin and surface damage.
Acute Effects: May be harmful by inhalation, ingestion or skin absorption. May cause eye irritation, skin irritation, gastro-intestinal disturbances, nausea, headache and vomiting, and central nervous system depression.”
Natural Carrying Agent - Alcohol
Alcohol has been made for thousands of years - it’s a compound of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, produced when glucose is fermented by yeast. During the making of alcoholic drinks, the alcohol content is controlled by the amount of yeast and the duration of fermentation.
Fruits are used to make wines and ciders, and cereals, such as barley and rye, form the basis of beers and spirits. These substances provide the flavor associated with each individual drink. Alcohol bases evaporate during the blending process, leaving the flavor behind to work its magic on our taste buds.
Shelf Life: Natural flavors last up to one year under favorable storage methods, while artificial flavors last two solid years. Essential oils like Earl Grey’s oil of Bergamot will only last 4-8 months, while natural raspberry is reported to last only 2 weeks.
Volatility: Natural flavors tend to be more volatile than artificial. This means that they evaporate more quickly and are changeable and inconsistent - in one word, fickle.
Scent Effects
Natural scents and flavors can enhance and change moods, like clinical aromatherapy, while artificial flavors do not have the same olfactory effects. Basically, natural flavors contain the sunshine, while artificial flavors made in a lab lack it. I call my blends, “Sunshine in a cup,” due to their pure flavors. Here are some great aromatherapy benefits when using real essential oils. You can view my aromatherapy chart for tea blending at gypsytea.com.
1. Bergamot oil reduces appetite.
2. Jasmine, Cardamom, Cinnamon, and Orange Blossom are all aphrodisiacs.
3. Bergamot, Lemon, and Rose are antiviral.
4. Bergamot, Grapefruit, Jasmine, Lavender, Orange, and Lemon Verbena are antidepressants.
5. Cardamom, Juniper, Lemongrass, and Rosemary alleviate boredom and stimulate mental clarity and attentiveness.
6. Fennel, Lime, and Lemon are great detoxifiers.
7. Anise, Bergamot, Cardamom, Fennel, and Rosemary aid digestion.
8. Rose, Jasmine, and Grapefruit induce euphoric emotions.
9. Emotional coldness can be warmed by using Black Pepper, Ginger, and Grapefruit.
10. Jasmine, Lavender, and Lemon relieve headaches.
11. Chamomile and Lavender are for sleep.
12. Menopausal hot flashes can be lessened with Fennel and Roman Chamomile.
13. Poor memory is helped with Cardamom, Peppermint, and Lemongrass.
14. Bad breath is lessened with Bergamot, Cardamom, and Peppermint.
15. Bergamot, Chamomile, Grapefruit, Jasmine, Lavender, Lemon and Lemongrass, Orange Rose, Pine, and Tangerine are all used to east tension and stress.
16. PMS is helped by Bergamot, Rose, and Tangerine!
Here’s to your health, dear tea drinker! I hope this helped you gain the knowledge to be empowered to make the best choices for you and your health when it comes to flavored and scented tea options.
Original Article and more from T Ching found here: http://www.tching.com/2010/11/natural-flavors-and-essential-oils-in-tea/
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Caffeine and Tea Myth - Chado Article
This is a must read blog in Cha Dao - a Journal of Tea and Culture
Article by Nigel Melican http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and-reality.html
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2008
CAFFEINE AND TEA: Myth and Reality
by NIGEL MELICAN
EDITOR'S NOTE: When it comes to the topic of caffeine in tea, there is no end to the generating of myth and indeed of science fiction. Perhaps the most persistent canard is the one that alleges that tea can be 'mostly' decaffeinated (80% is, I think, the number most often quoted) by a quick preliminary infusion in hot water (30 seconds is the duration typically recommended). While one cannot hope to dispel so-called 'common wisdom' overnight, even by the demonstration of clear scientific fact, it is surely a step in the right direction to put the data into public circulation. That is why I have asked Nigel Melican, founder and Managing Director of Teacraft Ltd, to offer us a post on this and other aspects of caffeine in tea. Nigel is, quite simply, one of the world's leading authorities on tea; readers of CHA DAO will recall with pleasure the massive work of bibliography that he contributed to this blog in an earlier post; today's entry is, I think, destined to become a standard compendium of information on the topic.
I. DECAFFEINATING TEA
Tea contains two physiologically active compounds: caffeine and theanine. Moderate caffeine consumption is perceived by some in western countries to border on the dangerous, and many consumers, rather than abstaining entirely from drinking tea, maté, or coffee, demand a decaffeinated version. In the case of tea, this is provided commercially by a process that uses organic solvents to remove most of the offending caffeine (along with other compounds); the result, unfortunately, is at best an indifferent product. (Ironically, the very caffeine so removed is a valuable by-product eagerly sought by soft-drink manufacturers to enhance their sugary beverages.)
As well as reducing product quality, commercial decaffeination is an expensive process that takes hours of production time and doubles the raw material price of a pound of tea. How likely is it therefore that the accountants at Lipton and similar packers would have overlooked a simple and inexpensive process that removes 80% of caffeine in 30 seconds? Yet this myth exists and is propagated daily by retailers and tea gurus without any other basis than that they wish it were true, therefore it must be. So: what, then, are the facts?
In 1996, Monique Hicks, Peggy Hsieh and Leonard Bell published a peer-reviewed scientific paper recording precise time related extraction of caffeine from tea using a modern detection technique (HPLC). This paper, 'Tea preparation and its influence on methylxanthine concentration,' appeared in Food Research International Vol 29, Nos 3-4, pp. 325-330. (FRI is copyright of the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology). Methylxanthines caffeine, theobromine and theophyllin all occur in tea and have similar physiological action, but in tea caffeine is the prominent methylxanthine.
In summary: Hicks et al measured the caffeine (plus theobromine) content of six different teas (three bagged and three loose-leaf, including black, oolong and green types). They measured caffeine-extraction in boiling water when steeped for 5 minutes, 10 minutes and 15 minutes. They replicated all their extractions three times to eliminate experimental error. Extrapolation of their data gives the following caffeine-extraction percentages below 5 minutes (averaged over all tea types and formats); note that while loose tea extracted marginally more slowly than tea-bag tea, it made only a couple of percentage-points' difference:
30 seconds: 9% caffeine removal
1 minute: 18% caffeine removal
2 minutes: 34% caffeine removal
3 minutes: 48% caffeine removal
4 minutes: 60% caffeine removal
5 minutes: 69% caffeine removal
10 minutes: 92% caffeine removal
15 minutes: 100% caffeine removal
Clearly to achieve the 80% target we must wash our tea for more than five minutes! This is very much at odds with the mythical '30- or 45-second hot wash to remove 80% of the caffeine' advice, as a 30-second initial wash of the tea will actually leave in place 91% of the original caffeine!
Before the publication of this work by Hicks et al, Professor Michael Spiro and his group had already done some ground-breaking physical chemistry on tea. In their paper, 'Tea and the Rate of Its Infusion' (published in Chemistry in New Zealand 1981, pp 172-174), they disclosed caffeine concentration diffusing into water (4g loose leaf -- it will have been a CTC small fannings type -- in 200 ml water held at a constant 80 degrees C, and stirred with a magnetic stirrer). Their first data point is at 90 seconds, and shows 49% caffeine removed from leaf (i.e. into the wash water). Extrapolating from Spiro's plot gives:
30 seconds: 20% caffeine removal
1 minute: 33% caffeine removal
2 minutes: 64% caffeine removal
3 minutes: 76% caffeine removal
4 minutes: 85% caffeine removal
5 minutes: 88% caffeine removal
10 minutes: 99% caffeine removal
15 minutes: 100% caffeine removal
Again we would have to be washing our tea for a long period – three to four minutes to achieve 80% decaffeination. While a 30-second 'wash' under Spiro's rather extreme laboratory conditions (small leaf CTC tea, loose in the 'pot' rather than in a teabag, at constant temperature and stirred vigorously) leached 20% of caffeine rather than the 9% yielded by Hicks's more normal steeping, neither of these scientifically conducted findings comes anywhere near the 30-second/ 80%-decaffeination claims perpetuated as an Internet Myth.
II. CAFFEINE LEVELS IN VARIOUS TEAS
Another much-repeated claim is that black tea is high in caffeine, green tea is lower, and white tea (through the naturalness of its manufacture it is implied) has next to none. While suiting the sales pitch of some tea vendors this information is so wrong as to verge on the fraudulent.
Three scientifically verifiable facts are:
1. Caffeine level varies naturally in types of tea and levels in one type may overlap with another type
2. Black and green tea manufactured from leaf from the same bushes on the same day will have virtually the same caffeine levels (within +/- 0.3%)
3. For a given bush, the finer the plucking standard, the higher the caffeine level
Actual caffeine level in tea is highest:
• when the tea is derived from buds and young first leaf tips (thus white tea has a high caffeine level)
• when the bush is assamica type rather than sinensis (can be 33% higher caffeine, thus African black tea tends to be higher than China black tea)
• when the bush is clonal VP rather than seedling (can be 100% higher caffeine, thus new plantings in Africa are higher than old seedling plantings in Asia),
• when the plant is given a lot of nitrogen fertilizer (as in Japan), and
• during fast growing seasons.
Thus tea derived from older leaf, China type seedling bush, under-fertilized husbandry and in autumn season will naturally be lowest in caffeine. Georgian and Turkish tea falls into this category: expect only 1 to 1.5% caffeine in them, compared with the usual 3% in retail teas. Tea from well-fertilized fast-growing young tips of African clonal tea can often have 5-6% caffeine.
The above summary disregards the changes in caffeine level (albeit smaller than genetic, edaphic and climatic mediated changes) produced during tea processing. Those interested in the topic of caffeine levels in various types of tea may be interested in some experimental process-runs undertaken in the Teacraft ECM System for precision miniature tea manufacture -- 'the tea factory in a box.' This system allows any environmental variable to be controlled to a set value while the other variables are held rock-solid -- and gained the American Society of Agricultural Engineers' AE50 Award for 'outstanding technological innovation.' (Too expensive for home use, I fear.)
EXPERIMENT 1: Effect of wither conditions on caffeine level. The same leaf was put into all experimental conditions; all leaf was fine 'two leaves and a bud' standard; and was a named VP clone.
Fast wither (8 hours to 70% moisture content):
Wither at 15 degrees C: caffeine 3.20%
Wither at 25 degrees C: caffeine 3.45%
Wither at 35 degrees C: caffeine 3.30 %
Slow wither (18 hours to 70% moisture content):
Wither at 15 degrees C: caffeine 3.10%
Wither at 25 degrees C: caffeine 3.65%
Wither at 35 degrees C: caffeine 3.43 %
A quadratic response in each set, with the highest caffeine produced by slow wither at moderate temperature (also, by gut feel, the tea maker’s favorite conditions) and demonstrating that the field is not the only determinant of caffeine level in the cup.
EXPERIMENT 2: Effect of length of wither on caffeine level (hours to 70% moisture content). 2L&B hybrid seedling leaf was used; each run was replicated and the means are also shown.
10 hours: 3.20, 3.23% = 3.22%
14 hours: 3.38, 3.41% = 3.40%
18 hours: 3.38, 3.47% = 3.43%
22 hours: 3.50, 3.52% = 3.51%
30 hours: 3.53, 3.58% = 3.56%
Straight-line response, with long withering producing the highest caffeine by 0.34% over slow wither.
EXPERIMENT 3: Effect of fermentation (oxidation) duration (minutes) on caffeine level (average of four clones).
0 minutes: 3.20%
30 minutes: 3.02%
45 minutes: 2.98%
60 minutes: 2.88%
75 minutes: 2.80%
90 minutes: 2.72%
Again, a straight-line response with oxidation, unlike caffeine boosting withering, slightly reducing caffeine level in black tea. Note i) that green tea is neither withered nor oxidized, and ii) white tea is not oxidized but has a very long wither
FIELD DATA: Some hard data from published sources
Seasonal variation in the natural caffeine level of Kenya Tea clones averaged for the four quarters:
Here caffeine level is lowest in all the clones during the slow growth period of July. (Note Clone 4 variation of more than 100% from slow growth season to fast growth in December quarter.)
Again from Kenya, consider the absolute minimum/maximum caffeine measurements through the year:
Clone 1: 1.2 & 3.2%
Clone 2: 1.3 & 3.4%
Clone 3: 1.7 & 3.9%
Clone 4: 1.9 & 5.0%
These natural variations across time make it difficult the assess whether a particular tea or tea-type is a high-caffeine or low-caffeine type, particularly with a single 'snapshot' analysis, as is often listed even by enlightened vendors on the Internet. For example, should we consider Clone 4 a high- or low-caffeine type?
I have shown here a few of the factors (natural and man-made) that can change and determine caffeine level in a made tea. Other important factors that influence the level are the level of nutrition (which goes up with nitrogen in the soil) and the degree of leaf shading which increases caffeine (though it is applied, in Japan, to increase theanine).
All of this goes to show that quoting any particular caffeine percentage for a given tea type, as many people do, should be fringed with caveats, and the exact data provided as to how it was processed and when it was grown. At best (using HPLC analysis), a precise and accurate caffeine-content measure is but a snapshot in time. And in the main, none of this information is available to the tea producer, let alone to the seller.
III. SOLVENTS AND DECAFFEINATION
Any solvent used to remove caffeine will also remove other chemical compounds from tea. The completely-targeted solvent does not exist, though some are better than others. Antioxidant polyphenols (flavanols) -- present as catechins in green tea, and in black tea either as oxidised catechins (= theaflavins) or as condensed polymerised oxidised catechins (= thearubigins) -- are partially soluble in the decaffeinating solvents, though as you would expect these are chosen to maximize caffeine solubilty and minimize polyphenol solubility. Typical data is 82% removal of polyphenols by (less expensive) ethyl acetate decaffeination, and only 8% by (more expensive) supercritical CO2 decaffeination.
The methylene chloride solvent route is not allowed by the FDA for tea decaffeination (though bizarrely it is for coffee!). It is however permitted and used in Europe, and the polyphenol retention is midway between that of ethyl acetate and of supercritical CO2. Probably the best decaffeinated tea is made by applying the extraction process during tea manufacture, rather than after it. This is done in a few factories in Malawi and Zimbabwe, and produces a decaffeinated cup that is virtually indistinguishable from normal tea from the factory. Such decaffeinated tea does not appear in the USA for several reasons: it is a CTC process; the robust colour and taste demand milk; and it utilizes methylene chloride solvent.
Consumers demanding decaffeination for the sake of their health or their sleep have I suspect been subjected more to caffeine excess from coffee than from tea. Coffee-, maté- and cola-derived caffeine can deliver a jolt that tea, be it ever so strong, does not deliver, though when extracted the caffeine from all these sources is chemically the same. The natural complexing of caffeine in tea (it binds with tea polyphenols during steeping) gives a slower and more gentle uptake in the stomach and hence to the brain; and I suspect that the relaxing effect of tea's own mind-calming amino acid (theanine) also contributes to the body's reacting more gently to tea caffeine than to coffee caffeine.
IV. OTHER INFORMATION ON THE WEB
http://nobleharbor.com/tea/caffiene.html [sic]
This page supports the information given above – summarizes the Hicks et al paper, and in places borrows some of my own data, with a few (unimportant) errors. It debunks some of the popular caffeine myths and concludes 'all teas have roughly similar caffeine contents, and one cannot rely on the belief that green tea has less caffeine, as asserted by many popular claims.'
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/phytochemicals/tea/
The Linus Pauling Institute gives a fairly inconclusive comment on the level of caffeine in tea showing data (from just 20 snapshot analyses) that the green teas they analyzed varied from 40 to 211 mg/liter, while the black teas varied from 177 to 303 mg/liter -- a larger and more representative sample of the worlds teas could have would have increased these ranges and the overlap considerably. However, LPI do suggest that the popular belief of low caffeine level in White Tea is misplaced: 'Buds and young tea leaves have been found to contain higher levels of caffeine than older leaves, suggesting that the caffeine content of some white teas may be slightly higher than that of green teas.'
POSTED BY CORAX AT 7:44 PM
Article by Nigel Melican http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and-reality.html
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2008
CAFFEINE AND TEA: Myth and Reality
by NIGEL MELICAN
EDITOR'S NOTE: When it comes to the topic of caffeine in tea, there is no end to the generating of myth and indeed of science fiction. Perhaps the most persistent canard is the one that alleges that tea can be 'mostly' decaffeinated (80% is, I think, the number most often quoted) by a quick preliminary infusion in hot water (30 seconds is the duration typically recommended). While one cannot hope to dispel so-called 'common wisdom' overnight, even by the demonstration of clear scientific fact, it is surely a step in the right direction to put the data into public circulation. That is why I have asked Nigel Melican, founder and Managing Director of Teacraft Ltd, to offer us a post on this and other aspects of caffeine in tea. Nigel is, quite simply, one of the world's leading authorities on tea; readers of CHA DAO will recall with pleasure the massive work of bibliography that he contributed to this blog in an earlier post; today's entry is, I think, destined to become a standard compendium of information on the topic.
I. DECAFFEINATING TEA
Tea contains two physiologically active compounds: caffeine and theanine. Moderate caffeine consumption is perceived by some in western countries to border on the dangerous, and many consumers, rather than abstaining entirely from drinking tea, maté, or coffee, demand a decaffeinated version. In the case of tea, this is provided commercially by a process that uses organic solvents to remove most of the offending caffeine (along with other compounds); the result, unfortunately, is at best an indifferent product. (Ironically, the very caffeine so removed is a valuable by-product eagerly sought by soft-drink manufacturers to enhance their sugary beverages.)
As well as reducing product quality, commercial decaffeination is an expensive process that takes hours of production time and doubles the raw material price of a pound of tea. How likely is it therefore that the accountants at Lipton and similar packers would have overlooked a simple and inexpensive process that removes 80% of caffeine in 30 seconds? Yet this myth exists and is propagated daily by retailers and tea gurus without any other basis than that they wish it were true, therefore it must be. So: what, then, are the facts?
In 1996, Monique Hicks, Peggy Hsieh and Leonard Bell published a peer-reviewed scientific paper recording precise time related extraction of caffeine from tea using a modern detection technique (HPLC). This paper, 'Tea preparation and its influence on methylxanthine concentration,' appeared in Food Research International Vol 29, Nos 3-4, pp. 325-330. (FRI is copyright of the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology). Methylxanthines caffeine, theobromine and theophyllin all occur in tea and have similar physiological action, but in tea caffeine is the prominent methylxanthine.
In summary: Hicks et al measured the caffeine (plus theobromine) content of six different teas (three bagged and three loose-leaf, including black, oolong and green types). They measured caffeine-extraction in boiling water when steeped for 5 minutes, 10 minutes and 15 minutes. They replicated all their extractions three times to eliminate experimental error. Extrapolation of their data gives the following caffeine-extraction percentages below 5 minutes (averaged over all tea types and formats); note that while loose tea extracted marginally more slowly than tea-bag tea, it made only a couple of percentage-points' difference:
30 seconds: 9% caffeine removal
1 minute: 18% caffeine removal
2 minutes: 34% caffeine removal
3 minutes: 48% caffeine removal
4 minutes: 60% caffeine removal
5 minutes: 69% caffeine removal
10 minutes: 92% caffeine removal
15 minutes: 100% caffeine removal
Clearly to achieve the 80% target we must wash our tea for more than five minutes! This is very much at odds with the mythical '30- or 45-second hot wash to remove 80% of the caffeine' advice, as a 30-second initial wash of the tea will actually leave in place 91% of the original caffeine!
Before the publication of this work by Hicks et al, Professor Michael Spiro and his group had already done some ground-breaking physical chemistry on tea. In their paper, 'Tea and the Rate of Its Infusion' (published in Chemistry in New Zealand 1981, pp 172-174), they disclosed caffeine concentration diffusing into water (4g loose leaf -- it will have been a CTC small fannings type -- in 200 ml water held at a constant 80 degrees C, and stirred with a magnetic stirrer). Their first data point is at 90 seconds, and shows 49% caffeine removed from leaf (i.e. into the wash water). Extrapolating from Spiro's plot gives:
30 seconds: 20% caffeine removal
1 minute: 33% caffeine removal
2 minutes: 64% caffeine removal
3 minutes: 76% caffeine removal
4 minutes: 85% caffeine removal
5 minutes: 88% caffeine removal
10 minutes: 99% caffeine removal
15 minutes: 100% caffeine removal
Again we would have to be washing our tea for a long period – three to four minutes to achieve 80% decaffeination. While a 30-second 'wash' under Spiro's rather extreme laboratory conditions (small leaf CTC tea, loose in the 'pot' rather than in a teabag, at constant temperature and stirred vigorously) leached 20% of caffeine rather than the 9% yielded by Hicks's more normal steeping, neither of these scientifically conducted findings comes anywhere near the 30-second/ 80%-decaffeination claims perpetuated as an Internet Myth.
II. CAFFEINE LEVELS IN VARIOUS TEAS
Another much-repeated claim is that black tea is high in caffeine, green tea is lower, and white tea (through the naturalness of its manufacture it is implied) has next to none. While suiting the sales pitch of some tea vendors this information is so wrong as to verge on the fraudulent.
Three scientifically verifiable facts are:
1. Caffeine level varies naturally in types of tea and levels in one type may overlap with another type
2. Black and green tea manufactured from leaf from the same bushes on the same day will have virtually the same caffeine levels (within +/- 0.3%)
3. For a given bush, the finer the plucking standard, the higher the caffeine level
Actual caffeine level in tea is highest:
• when the tea is derived from buds and young first leaf tips (thus white tea has a high caffeine level)
• when the bush is assamica type rather than sinensis (can be 33% higher caffeine, thus African black tea tends to be higher than China black tea)
• when the bush is clonal VP rather than seedling (can be 100% higher caffeine, thus new plantings in Africa are higher than old seedling plantings in Asia),
• when the plant is given a lot of nitrogen fertilizer (as in Japan), and
• during fast growing seasons.
Thus tea derived from older leaf, China type seedling bush, under-fertilized husbandry and in autumn season will naturally be lowest in caffeine. Georgian and Turkish tea falls into this category: expect only 1 to 1.5% caffeine in them, compared with the usual 3% in retail teas. Tea from well-fertilized fast-growing young tips of African clonal tea can often have 5-6% caffeine.
The above summary disregards the changes in caffeine level (albeit smaller than genetic, edaphic and climatic mediated changes) produced during tea processing. Those interested in the topic of caffeine levels in various types of tea may be interested in some experimental process-runs undertaken in the Teacraft ECM System for precision miniature tea manufacture -- 'the tea factory in a box.' This system allows any environmental variable to be controlled to a set value while the other variables are held rock-solid -- and gained the American Society of Agricultural Engineers' AE50 Award for 'outstanding technological innovation.' (Too expensive for home use, I fear.)
EXPERIMENT 1: Effect of wither conditions on caffeine level. The same leaf was put into all experimental conditions; all leaf was fine 'two leaves and a bud' standard; and was a named VP clone.
Fast wither (8 hours to 70% moisture content):
Wither at 15 degrees C: caffeine 3.20%
Wither at 25 degrees C: caffeine 3.45%
Wither at 35 degrees C: caffeine 3.30 %
Slow wither (18 hours to 70% moisture content):
Wither at 15 degrees C: caffeine 3.10%
Wither at 25 degrees C: caffeine 3.65%
Wither at 35 degrees C: caffeine 3.43 %
A quadratic response in each set, with the highest caffeine produced by slow wither at moderate temperature (also, by gut feel, the tea maker’s favorite conditions) and demonstrating that the field is not the only determinant of caffeine level in the cup.
EXPERIMENT 2: Effect of length of wither on caffeine level (hours to 70% moisture content). 2L&B hybrid seedling leaf was used; each run was replicated and the means are also shown.
10 hours: 3.20, 3.23% = 3.22%
14 hours: 3.38, 3.41% = 3.40%
18 hours: 3.38, 3.47% = 3.43%
22 hours: 3.50, 3.52% = 3.51%
30 hours: 3.53, 3.58% = 3.56%
Straight-line response, with long withering producing the highest caffeine by 0.34% over slow wither.
EXPERIMENT 3: Effect of fermentation (oxidation) duration (minutes) on caffeine level (average of four clones).
0 minutes: 3.20%
30 minutes: 3.02%
45 minutes: 2.98%
60 minutes: 2.88%
75 minutes: 2.80%
90 minutes: 2.72%
Again, a straight-line response with oxidation, unlike caffeine boosting withering, slightly reducing caffeine level in black tea. Note i) that green tea is neither withered nor oxidized, and ii) white tea is not oxidized but has a very long wither
FIELD DATA: Some hard data from published sources
Seasonal variation in the natural caffeine level of Kenya Tea clones averaged for the four quarters:
Here caffeine level is lowest in all the clones during the slow growth period of July. (Note Clone 4 variation of more than 100% from slow growth season to fast growth in December quarter.)
Again from Kenya, consider the absolute minimum/maximum caffeine measurements through the year:
Clone 1: 1.2 & 3.2%
Clone 2: 1.3 & 3.4%
Clone 3: 1.7 & 3.9%
Clone 4: 1.9 & 5.0%
These natural variations across time make it difficult the assess whether a particular tea or tea-type is a high-caffeine or low-caffeine type, particularly with a single 'snapshot' analysis, as is often listed even by enlightened vendors on the Internet. For example, should we consider Clone 4 a high- or low-caffeine type?
I have shown here a few of the factors (natural and man-made) that can change and determine caffeine level in a made tea. Other important factors that influence the level are the level of nutrition (which goes up with nitrogen in the soil) and the degree of leaf shading which increases caffeine (though it is applied, in Japan, to increase theanine).
All of this goes to show that quoting any particular caffeine percentage for a given tea type, as many people do, should be fringed with caveats, and the exact data provided as to how it was processed and when it was grown. At best (using HPLC analysis), a precise and accurate caffeine-content measure is but a snapshot in time. And in the main, none of this information is available to the tea producer, let alone to the seller.
III. SOLVENTS AND DECAFFEINATION
Any solvent used to remove caffeine will also remove other chemical compounds from tea. The completely-targeted solvent does not exist, though some are better than others. Antioxidant polyphenols (flavanols) -- present as catechins in green tea, and in black tea either as oxidised catechins (= theaflavins) or as condensed polymerised oxidised catechins (= thearubigins) -- are partially soluble in the decaffeinating solvents, though as you would expect these are chosen to maximize caffeine solubilty and minimize polyphenol solubility. Typical data is 82% removal of polyphenols by (less expensive) ethyl acetate decaffeination, and only 8% by (more expensive) supercritical CO2 decaffeination.
The methylene chloride solvent route is not allowed by the FDA for tea decaffeination (though bizarrely it is for coffee!). It is however permitted and used in Europe, and the polyphenol retention is midway between that of ethyl acetate and of supercritical CO2. Probably the best decaffeinated tea is made by applying the extraction process during tea manufacture, rather than after it. This is done in a few factories in Malawi and Zimbabwe, and produces a decaffeinated cup that is virtually indistinguishable from normal tea from the factory. Such decaffeinated tea does not appear in the USA for several reasons: it is a CTC process; the robust colour and taste demand milk; and it utilizes methylene chloride solvent.
Consumers demanding decaffeination for the sake of their health or their sleep have I suspect been subjected more to caffeine excess from coffee than from tea. Coffee-, maté- and cola-derived caffeine can deliver a jolt that tea, be it ever so strong, does not deliver, though when extracted the caffeine from all these sources is chemically the same. The natural complexing of caffeine in tea (it binds with tea polyphenols during steeping) gives a slower and more gentle uptake in the stomach and hence to the brain; and I suspect that the relaxing effect of tea's own mind-calming amino acid (theanine) also contributes to the body's reacting more gently to tea caffeine than to coffee caffeine.
IV. OTHER INFORMATION ON THE WEB
http://nobleharbor.com/tea/caffiene.html [sic]
This page supports the information given above – summarizes the Hicks et al paper, and in places borrows some of my own data, with a few (unimportant) errors. It debunks some of the popular caffeine myths and concludes 'all teas have roughly similar caffeine contents, and one cannot rely on the belief that green tea has less caffeine, as asserted by many popular claims.'
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/phytochemicals/tea/
The Linus Pauling Institute gives a fairly inconclusive comment on the level of caffeine in tea showing data (from just 20 snapshot analyses) that the green teas they analyzed varied from 40 to 211 mg/liter, while the black teas varied from 177 to 303 mg/liter -- a larger and more representative sample of the worlds teas could have would have increased these ranges and the overlap considerably. However, LPI do suggest that the popular belief of low caffeine level in White Tea is misplaced: 'Buds and young tea leaves have been found to contain higher levels of caffeine than older leaves, suggesting that the caffeine content of some white teas may be slightly higher than that of green teas.'
POSTED BY CORAX AT 7:44 PM
Thursday, August 5, 2010
My Debut in Winestyles Uncorked Magazine
Tea Is Her Specialty
Interview with Desiree Nelson, Independent Tea Consultant and Sales Manager for QTrade Teas & Herbs
by CHAD COHEN
When Desiree Nelson started working at The Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel, California, she had no idea she would inadver- tently find her calling in life: tea. It was here that she was first introduced to loose-leaf-tea and became enamored with the tradition and celebratory style associated with it. Business discussions take place over tea, in many cul- tures it is a central part of their homes, and, of course, there is the English style of tea. Desiree became determined to learn every- thing possible about tea, which, besides wa- ter, is the most popular drink in the world.
What does it mean to be a consultant for tea?
I am certified with the Specialty Tea Institute, have owned and operated my own brand of tea salons and also am the sales manager of QTrade Teas & Herbs, a leading ingredient provider and contract blender to the specialty tea and coffee industry. I specialize in improving tea busi- nesses or helping to develop a company’s concept and direction, which is currently my role with WineStyles. And, of course, I have served millions of pots and cups of tea.
How is tea similar to wine?
Both are great with food pairings and have complex layers of flavor. I recently had the pleasure of having an aged oolong, which is similar to an aged port and was quite spectacu- lar. Also, the climate and region the crop is
grown in plays equally important roles in both products and because of weather, the crop varies from year to year.
What is your favorite tea?
Organic white monkey, also known as Bai Hou, which is a high-grown Chinese tea.
What are some trends in the industry today?
Most people would be surprised by how many teenagers take to tea. Additionally, it’s become popular to have a nice fruit-blended tea (a tisane) with small pieces of candy as a dessert — it’s a combination of a serious and “foofy” beverage that is very enjoyable. I would also keep a lookout for organic and biodynamic teas as they will become more popular in the next decade. Bulk tea sales and places to buy them are on the rise and coming to your neighborhood soon.
What advice do you have if you are just starting to drink tea?
Start with what you are comfortable with and think about what you might enjoy: a for- mal single estate, a blended fruit or flavored tea, an herbal, a functional blend or tincture and think about the ways you want to cele- brate with it. It is also important to learn what the differences are in tea, from the Camellia plant to various herbal plants used.
september/october2010 Winestyles Franchise / Uncorked
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Black tea contains more fluoride than ever thought
Article 07/15/10
FoodConsumer
Thanks to Adagio for posting this article!
Black tea may contain a higher concentration of fluoride than previously thought, accoridng to a new study cited in a press release by Medical College of Geogia.
Dr. Gary Whiteford of the School of Dentistry, co-author of the study, suggests that heavy tea drinkers could get in trouble even though drinking a couple of tea a day may not pose a risk.
Early studies found black tea contains 1 to 5 milligrams of fluoride per liter, but the new study showed fluoride in black tea can be up to 9 milligrams per liter, almost doubling the early estimate.
The findings were presented yesterday at the 2010 International Association of Dental Research Conference in Barcelona, Spain.
Fluoride is believed to help prevent dental cavities, but over-exposure to it or long term ingestion of excessive amounts is considered a risk. According to the release, an average person can safely ingest 2 to 3 milligrams a day through fluorinated drinking water, toothpaste and food. However, serious bone health can result from ingesting about 20 milligrams a day over a period of 10 or more years.
The findings came after Dr. Whitford examined four patients who suffered advanced skeletal fluorosis - a condition caused by excessive ingestion of fluoride and characterized by joint and bone pain and damage. These patients had one thing in common: they drank 1 to 2 gallons of tea every day for 10 to 30 years.
Certain tea leaves contain fluoride at a level ranging from 600 to more than 1,000 milligrams per kilogram of leaves, Dr. Whitford found. Tea leaves also contain similarly higher levels of aluminum, which is considered neuron-toxic.
The detection method makes a difference. Early methods could account for the amount of fluoride as aluminum fluoride. Dr. Whitford's method can measure that amount of fluoride as aluminum fluoride.
The take-home message is that excessively drinking black for a long term can cause fluoride poisoning.
By David Liu
FoodConsumer
Thanks to Adagio for posting this article!
Black tea may contain a higher concentration of fluoride than previously thought, accoridng to a new study cited in a press release by Medical College of Geogia.
Dr. Gary Whiteford of the School of Dentistry, co-author of the study, suggests that heavy tea drinkers could get in trouble even though drinking a couple of tea a day may not pose a risk.
Early studies found black tea contains 1 to 5 milligrams of fluoride per liter, but the new study showed fluoride in black tea can be up to 9 milligrams per liter, almost doubling the early estimate.
The findings were presented yesterday at the 2010 International Association of Dental Research Conference in Barcelona, Spain.
Fluoride is believed to help prevent dental cavities, but over-exposure to it or long term ingestion of excessive amounts is considered a risk. According to the release, an average person can safely ingest 2 to 3 milligrams a day through fluorinated drinking water, toothpaste and food. However, serious bone health can result from ingesting about 20 milligrams a day over a period of 10 or more years.
The findings came after Dr. Whitford examined four patients who suffered advanced skeletal fluorosis - a condition caused by excessive ingestion of fluoride and characterized by joint and bone pain and damage. These patients had one thing in common: they drank 1 to 2 gallons of tea every day for 10 to 30 years.
Certain tea leaves contain fluoride at a level ranging from 600 to more than 1,000 milligrams per kilogram of leaves, Dr. Whitford found. Tea leaves also contain similarly higher levels of aluminum, which is considered neuron-toxic.
The detection method makes a difference. Early methods could account for the amount of fluoride as aluminum fluoride. Dr. Whitford's method can measure that amount of fluoride as aluminum fluoride.
The take-home message is that excessively drinking black for a long term can cause fluoride poisoning.
By David Liu
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