All teas are naturally caffeinated in varying amounts; black teas have the most, white teas have the least. Many people like a little caffeine-kick at certain points of the day, but if you'd like to cut back on your caffeine and still be able to enjoy your favourite blends, here's a simple way to decaffeinate your tea at home.
To Decaffeinate your Tea at Home:
To Decaffeinate your Tea at Home:
1. Boil water as usual, and pour over tea (full cup of water, or at least enough to cover the tea).
2. Steep your tea leaves for 30-45 seconds. Then drain the liquid.
3. Immediately fill the cup with more boiling water, and steep as usual.
(You may find you will need to steep an extra minute to achieve the same flavour level. Experiment with your favourite teas to find out what will work best.)
This will remove 80-90% of the caffeine.
About Commercially Decaffeinated Tea
If purchasing store bought decaf teas, make sure the ones you choose are decaffeinated through a natural method using a water and/or a CO2 process, if possible.
The other methods of commercially decaffeinating teas use Methylene Chloride, and Ethyl Acetate. These two processes retain only 30% of the polyphenols, and leave a residue on the leaves that makes them a problematic choice for tea.
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