Decaffeinated Tea - What is it, how it’s made and is it as good for you?
We wrote a blog post about this topic back in 2008 and since people are still interested in decaf tea, we are re-posting it here:
We often get asked about Decaf Tea - especially how it’s made and if it still has all the health benefits of regular tea. Here’s the scoop:
How it’s made
The plant species that tea is made from Camellia sinensis, is part of a group of plant species that contain caffeine naturally. A cup of black tea contains anywhere from 40-50 mg of caffeine, roughly half the caffeine in a cup of coffee. Decaf tea is produced by steaming mature tea leaves and then treating them with either Ethyl Acetate or carbon dioxide. Ethyl Acetate is a naturally occuring chemical compound that is used as a solvent in nail polish removers, in paints as an activator or hardener and industrially to decaffeinate coffee beans and tea leaves. Tea leaves are essentially washed in ethyl acetate, which binds to the caffeine molecules and removes them from the leaves.
The carbon dioxide method involves extracting the aroma and flavor from tea leaves first by treating them with carbon dioxide. The leaves are then treated with more carbon dioxide at a higher pressure to remove caffeine from the tea leaves. After this step, flavor and aroma are added back to the leaves.
As you can see, both of these methods require extensive manipulation of the delicate tea leaves in order to remove the caffeine. The major difference between coffee and tea decaffeination is also that coffee undergoes massive physical and chemical upheaval of roasting, after is decaffeinated but before it is drunk. Tea goes straight from decaffeination to consumer.
Is it still as healthy for me as regular tea?
Most studies done on the health benefits of tea use regular tea that hasn’t been treated for decaffeination. According to a UC Berkeley Wellness Letter from May 2004, no one knows whether decaffeinated tea is as healthful as regular tea.
At Fully Loaded Tea, we believe in drinking either full-caffeine black, green or white tea to ensure you’re getting the full health benefits from your cup of tea, or drinking one of our caffeine-free blends that are made with fruits and berries. We don’t use decaf tea in any of our blends and have no plans to do so in the future. We don’t want our tea to be treated with any chemicals before we drink it!
Our caffeine-free blends include:
Shameless Berries Fruit Tea - goji berries, seabuckthorn, and blueberries for all the health benefits that come from these berries
Bulletproof Currant Fruit Tea - blackcurrants, cranberries, lingonberries and rosehips
Wild Siberian Fruit Tea - rosehips, blackcurrant leaves, summer flowers
