Sunday, January 03, 2010

Decaffeinating Tea? Does This Work?

I had sent a query to an Israeli food list about where to find decaffeinated "black" tea, since among the dozens of teas in our local supermarket there isn't any.  Actually someone on the list suggested a Jerusalem supermarket where my husband bought a couple of types for my father.

Someone else wrote me the following:
-- I won't totally promise this is true but I read that if you steep the tea a few seconds, dump it out and then brew the tea it is pretty much decaffeinated - I guess the home version of water decaffeinated - only for tea.


 
I wonder if it's true.  If you know, please reply in the comments.  Thanks

4 comments:

nigel said...

No it does not work. This question has been debated at length by tea bloggers and others - for a definitive answer see: http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and-reality.html

Nigel at Teacraft

Batya said...

nigel, thanks so much for the information.

Evilynn said...

Yes, it works!!!!, I do it all the time. About 10 seconds. I know that people say it's not true, but it simply is. It has something to do with the most potent caffeine being released in the first 10 seconds, later on the tannin is released and this counteracts the rest of the caffeine. My father invented this method, only in reverse: he swears that tea brewed for 10 seconds is as potent as a cup of coffee.I am very sensitive to caffeine due to PMS and have tried for years to cut down, started doing this 4 months ago and haven't had the jitters since.
Try it for a week and see.

Batya said...

Thanks, it's good to know before we spend more on decaf tea.