11.01.07
Wild Misperceptions About Tea
posted by T Ching | 21 comments
Turns out that many folks in America do not drink tea due to five commonly held misperceptions about tea. Rather than simply tell you that research proves otherwise, T Ching would rather direct you to a respected and reliable website. Read the link and decide for yourself.
Misperception #1: Tea leads to dehydration. Truth be known, tea does not dehydrate.
Misperception #2: Tea contains a lot of caffeine. Compared to what? See for yourself how it compares to coffee. Look here if 
you wonder about soft drinks.
Misperception #3: Tea is bitter. Not if it is brewed correctly. Directions for a delicious cup of tea can be found here.
Misperception #4: Tea makes you anemic. This is a confusing issue due to a lot of contradictory research over the years. The link below is a research article that gives a clear explanation for all of the confusion. As a result, people who drink tea only occasionally should avoid drinking tea only during meals (milk too for that matter), but regular tea drinkers don’t need to worry. It appears that regular tea drinkers develop larger parotid glands (saliva) which releases more PRPs (Proline Rich Proteins) which binds with the tannins creating a PRP/tannin complex that is eliminated from the body without any effect on iron. Read it and drink! Pretty cool, huh!
Misperception #5: Tea is bad for children. Misperceptions 1, 2, and 4 led to this misperception. Learn the truth. And, if you want a snappy quotation, try this: Dr. John Foxe, professor of neuroscience, biology and psychology at the City University of New York, reports giving his 3 year old 6 or 7 cups of milky tea each day. Dr. Hakim, Professor at Arizona Cancer Center at the University of Arizona suggests “it might be good to switch the kids to tea.” Dr. Yang, a biochemist from Rutgers University, who is a cancer researcher, emphasizes that “It’s very clear, there is no published reports concerning toxicity due to tea consumption.”
November 1st, 2007 at 11:17 am
this is a really informative writeup which we can circulate to tea novices who are actually confused. more than confused i guess they are unaware of the benefits that tea can do. the truth has been covered - we need to spread the word around by simple messages like this.
it is so simply done - yet so well.
tching after all - they are the best..
November 1st, 2007 at 2:37 pm
I am thinking I will copy this on a poster-sized board and display it prominently in my classroom and in the halls. Perhaps tea shops and websites should do the same! Spread the word.
November 1st, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Misperception #2 is indeed a mis-perception, but the oversimplified point of view on the linked webpage (stated by a website developer) is almost as wrong.
There have been (and will be) lengthy discussions about tea drinkers about the subject of caffeine content in tea. The general mantra is the one shown on the linked webpage. But this is not the truth!
Have a look at this site from an analytical chemistry company which bears some surprises. Bai Mu Dan (a white tea) and Long Jin (a famous green) have amongst the highest percentages of caffeine amongst the 50-odd teas tested. How does that fit in? The caffeine content in steeped tea depends strongly on the steeping time, water temperature, etc.
It’s not as easy as it seems.
But we can all agree that caffeine content of tea is lower than that of coffee. And it works quite differently, too!
November 1st, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Thanks for the great post. I admit, I grew up with Myths number 1 and 4. I always was told that tea was a diuretic. Your link was a little confusing though, in that it seems to be specifically about green tea–is the same true for black teas? I drink a lot of black iced tea in the hot summer, it is so refreshing.
As for Myth #4, anemia ran through my mother’s family, but my mother drinks a lot of tea and doesn’t seem to suffer. I was really interested in the tannin connection to iron absorption and anemia, since I’ve never heard of red wine being connected to anemia, and there are certainly tannins associated with that.
November 1st, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Anne - We know that black tea has more caffeine than green or white. The study however was done in England which is predominantly a black tea drinking country. I’m told this is the first year that they’re importing more green tea than ever before. I’d be surprised if they intentionally misrepresented the findings for their culture. Their newspapers, at the time, reported that the study had debunked the “urban legend” that tea was dehydrating.
A reasonable question none the less.
November 1st, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Michelle, is what you’re saying that caffeine is the diuretic agent, as opposed to teas with less caffeine?
November 1st, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Yes Anne, it is my understanding that the reason tea was assumed to be dehydrating was because of the caffeine content. I don’t profess to being the expert in this area however. Given the low amount of caffeine in both green and white teas specifically, it made sense to me that it wasn’t dehydrating. Drinking it all day long, with a home based business, I can personally attest to the fact that I’m not going to the bathroom multiple times a day. Now that I’m thinking about it, if I were to be drinking that much straight water, I bet I’d be going to the bathroom a lot more. Now why would that be? I’ll have to ask the herbalist. The last time I had to drink a lot of water was before I had some lab work. My doc suggested I drink a few glasses of water before going to the lab. I was peeing all morning. That just doesn’t happen with tea. Granted I’m drinking 8 or more cups throughout the day but it still doesn’t seem to add up for me. I certainly get at least 3 cups of tea in before lunch typically.
Even black teas has less than half the caffeine of coffee. Did you ever hear anyone say that a coke was dehydrating? I certainly haven’t. Green and white tea have a lot less caffeine than that. Consider dark chocolate. What parent ever said…….don’t eat that chocolate bar Johnny…….it’s got a lot of caffeine in it. Parents were concerned about the sugar I imagine, not the caffeine.
November 1st, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Great post. One comment about Misperception #2 Tea contains a lot of caffeine. Over 85% of the tea consumed by Americans is soluable tea for iced tea sale (RTD products like Arizona etc, powder products like Lipton etc, tea concentrate products like Dilmah etc). The soluable tea process knocks half of the caffeine out of the tea, so Americans sincerely need not worry about their children or adults consuming too much caffeine in their iced tea.
November 5th, 2007 at 10:12 am
Fascinating. Thank for the wonderful post.
Jo, I heartily agree. High grade green tea and white tea does contain high level of caffeine. They may feel less caffeinated, but that is due to the presence of theanine rather than the absence of caffeine.
JD, the same process that removes caffeine from iced tea also removes other nutrients. It contains very little EGCG compares to a regular brew.
Anne, tea tannin is different from wine tannin. Green tea tannins (or polyphenols) consist mostly of catechins, which act as powerful antioxidants (binding to metal) and thus block iron absorption (over the short term at least).
I will still be cautious about giving tea to very young children to drink (6 years and younger).
Caffeine is one issue. The other issue is actually the dieting properties of tea. Research has shown that tea blocks nutrients absorption (fat, protein and carbohydrates). While this is good for most adults, it is bad children.
Of course, you may argue that a small amount doesn’t harm. Or drinking tea is good for children’s teeth, scientists are doing it.
I heartily agree. It is all risk and reward and if scientists haven’t said it is proven safe, why should I take the risk?
November 5th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Just a comment about misconception #2.
The amount of caffeine is also determined by the processing of the tea leaves. Assam teas typically have 10% more caffeine than other black teas. This is why they are used in breakfast teas. Also, white tea has lots of caffeine. White tea is made up of tea buds that are at the top of the bush. The higher the leaf is the more caffeine it will contain It is very difficult to assess the amount of caffeine in any tea, since all aspects of the process from bush to cup are not constant.
November 5th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
I feel compelled to chime in here. It is my understanding that white tea has, in fact, the least amount of caffeine. It is the least processed tea. Black tea is the most processed and has the most caffeine. I’ve seen this misconception before, but I believe this to be true. I’ve shared white tea with people who were particularly sensitive to caffeine and they reported that white tea was the only tea they could tolerate - further supporting my belief.
November 5th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
I believe that there is a specific reason why we hear so many different opinions about the levels of caffeine in all of the different teas. It is because EACH tea from EACH estate, from year to year, no matter whether it is white, green, yellow, oolong, red or black is unique. Each plant is unique, each estates soil, climate, elevation, growing practices, surrounding flora and fauna, time of harvesting, methods of harvesting, processing etc. are also unique. We receive disparate reports about the different teas because they all have different caffeine levels. Some whites will have low caffeine, some will have high and the same is true for all of the other teas.
The same is probably accurate for research reporting different levels of polyphenols. It’s also true that there are different understandings about the nutritional effects of tea for the same reasons. That and the fact that sometimes different studies are comparing apples and oranges or people only get part of the story or don’t fully understand the meaning of the research. It is very important to go to the source as much as possible and look at the subjects that are used, the methodology that is used which includes the form of the tea product as well as the time frame being studied. All of these things can have a significant impact on the results.
The malabsorption issue is a perfect example. Once again I think these difference of opinions occur because we each may be looking at or reading different studies that use different variables. Part of the current picture of malabsorption appears, for the present moment at least, to be explained by the length of consumption and whether the study used real tea or tea extracts. As stated in misperception #4, it has been found that regular consumption of tea causes the saliva to produce a greater abundance of Proline rich proteins that bind to the tannins to create complexes that don’t effect malabsorption the way previously believed. Those studies that used subjects that don’t drink tea regularly or studied subjects for only a brief period of time would get very different result than those looking at regular tea drinkers or subjects followed over longer periods of time. The impact on fats and carbohydrates has to do with an inhibitory effect on the enzymes that break down these substances (lipase for fats, amylase for carbs). I believe there is a difference in the percentage of inhibition and hence reduced absorption depending on whether a study uses a concentrated extract or just has people drink regular tea.
The bottom line is that despite teas lengthy existence, we continue to learn more and more new things about it. Because of this, I would agree with Julian that it is probably wise to be judicial in the offering of tea to young kids. Until all of this confusion gets a bit more cleared up, I would say 8 years or older is your best bet. That doesn’t mean the occasional sip or cup would be a problem. When it comes to kids it probably best to err on the side of prudence.
November 6th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Now this is informative. The pros and cons are very passionately dissected with good concrete evidence in support of all, based upon numerous studies and views.
I look at discourses like this with a professional sales/marketing eye, and gather it as a tool in my place of business “down the street” engaging the retailer and consumer both with your expert analysis of the benefits thereof.
Thank You All. Keep up the good work T Ching….PJF
November 8th, 2007 at 10:25 am
Kaydee, I absolutely agree. And maybe to clarify: tea buds have more caffeine than older leaves because they are younger, and as you imply, younger leaves appear at the top of the bushes.
Michelle, the idea that processing increases caffeine is flawed. Nigel of teacraft has done some research which he shared in RFDT, and his unpublished studies show that oxdidation actually reduces caffeine slightly.
Other factors such as age and cultivars have more impact.
As for white tea, young tea buds have more caffeine but even higher theanine to caffeine ratio, which makes them feel soothing rather than caffeinated. Further discussion can be found here.
Sandy, I am very interested to know how regular tea differs from tea extract in their dieting effects, as you alluded to. If you can explain more, I will really appreciate.
It is great discussions - keep it up and I look forward to more of this!
November 16th, 2007 at 8:12 am
For the best discussion on caffeine in tea, please read pages 357-363 in Chapter 8 of Bob Heiss’s new tea book, The Story of Tea A Cultural History and Drinking Guide. I have learned from many discussions with this tea expert that the caffeine content of tea is not something that can be pinned down to an absolute number, but something that is a percentage that can and will vary with each successive batch of tea that is manufactured during the tea harvest by any given tea factory in any given tea country. If reliable results were to be obtained in any given year, these numbers would most likely be completely different the following year because the results are determined by many things, including weather-based conditions. In other words, obtaining a truly reliable measure of caffeine for any given tea that can be considered an absolute is as nebulious as trying to count drops of tea in a teacup.
November 17th, 2007 at 2:55 am
TT, on your recommendation, I read the recommendation. Up above, I posted.
With respect, and as a 35-year tea planter and trader, it is my view that Bob has written a darn good and solid passage that is 100% factual and of value. You have done a nice job of giving us a good, brief summary of that passage in all you have stated but for one factual error - with respect - that our interested readers should be apprised. Casual readers may enjoy and learn from your summary greatly, but not serious readers who maybe chemists like myself. Please forgive me for the following clarifications.
A percentage is in fact a hard number in an absolute manner that can be pinned down at the moment of the tea liquor chemical analysis. I’d agree with you that it is a “soft number” which changes over time, precisely in the manner you have detailed. Still, I make the case that this percentage has great value to chemists, tea men and ultimately tea consumers. The chemical test however, to have great value, must be performed once per “batch” (or “garden invoice” as tea experts call a batch) and it must be done so on a random sample drawn from that particular garden invoice.
Trend analysis must then be be performed with those hard numbers through the whole crop’s production of garden invoices. In the case of a year-round tea crop like the world’s largest two exporter origins of Sri Lanka and Kenya, we’ll have nearly daily statistics. In tea producing places further from the equator like Darjeeling and Argentina, we’ll have fewer stats because such areas typically have an intercrop of a few months each year.
We can then compile the needful per factory all ’round the world and perform our ultimate analysis by factory. With lightening-fast computerised runs in the 21st century, this is not the huge effort it may seem at first glance - nor is the information output at all nebulous. We have already performed this analysis in the trade and come up with some fascinating results.
Of course, the “snag” is that the information - at this time - remains proprietary. The day will come, however, when it is shared. Yet still, as I posted above, we truly need not concern ourselves terribly much about even the highest caffeine-content teas - and here, I am not talking about soluble teas for iced et al. I am talking about “the real thing” - tea leaves brewed properly for hot tea consumption.
This spoken, I might look at a short list of consuming countries where the per capital tea leaf liquor consumption is highest. From that short list, one might prepare an even shorter list of said countries where tea is a requisite by the consumer to give him or her a wake-up boost a la coffee.
Short of the proprietary info that is factually available in hard numbers, this analysis may well provide useful tracking back blend components and getting a darn good idea which teas most probably have the highest caffeine content.
November 17th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Julian -
As with any herbal medicine (and, don’t be fooled, Camellia sinensis is an herb despite years of marketing to differentiate it), the more you isolate and concentrate its constituents, the closer you move to pharmaceutical type effects. This means stronger and faster effects but also increased potential for unwanted side effects.
November 17th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Sandy. thanks for the perspective. Appreciate it.
November 17th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
JD -
Thank you for your very interesting comment. First let me say, and I hope everyone takes heed of this, there is never a need to qualify or apologize when providing different or contradictory information from something that has already been written here. This is a forum for information, education and shared discussion about tea. As I stated previously, we all continue to learn on our own and from each other. I know people who have been in the industry for over 30 years and they are still learning. Part of the issue is that we are starting to look at tea from a more scientific perspective using tools we didn’t have before, like you are obviously doing now JD. It gives us new insights into the properties and effects of this wonderful brew.
The second thing is that what you wrote is very intriguing and leaves me wanting more. I understand that you are dealing with proprietary information but I would love to hear more about any other clues or bits of information you can share about your work and findings. I can only assume that your allusions refer to the difference in cultural use of tea between say for example, Great Britain and China. In Great Britain and countries that consume tea as they do, tea is brewed strong for the caffeine hit, whereas in countries like China, tea is brewed as part of tradition, culture, relationship and health reasons. From this I further assume that you are implying that black tea has more caffeine than green tea.
I am very curious about your statement “…we truly need not concern ourselves terribly much about even the highest caffeine-content teas…”. Can you elucidate a bit more? Are you implying that the caffeine content even in the highest caffeine teas is currently not very much? Or are you alluding to some new proprietary processing techniques that will eliminate the caffeine in the future or even new growing or hybridizing techniques that will grow low caffeine content plants? Please clarify if you can.
November 19th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Sandy -
Wow - you’re asking for a lot in a single blog string! (laughing). What I can share are some thoughts. Just my POV, mind you. I don’t mean to upset anyone, so I stress these are just some random thoughts concerning “Wild Misperceptions About Teas.”
So far as “health matters” in general, I would not choose to drink teas grown in countries where there is no chain of custody info available. Putting the specific caffeine discussion aside for a moment, in general we cannot know with certainty what we are drinking when we drink say China teas because China doesn’t use registered export factory marks. The Chinese export Yunnan Standard 32056 or Hainan Standard 117043 and so forth - these are bulks of a variety of regional teas.
They are exporting essentially what we might call “mystery meat” (teas actually) - why? If the teas are not tainted, if the teas are sound, this behaviour makes no logical sense in this day and age with the development of the specialty tea market that has come to value and prize certain factory marks so very highly. This is a major reason why - no matter what the wholesaler and consumer are being charged for China specialty teas by the importers - the reality is China tea remains the cheapest tea of any major world origin on the world tea market. I define “major” as an origin producing more than say 75 million kilos per annum.
All other countries like India, Sri Lanka, Kenya et al take great pride in naming the factory marks where their teas are produced. In countries that hold the major world auctions at origin (India, Sri Lanka, Kenya et al), a producer cannot join the auction without a legally registered factory mark and this is basically for chain of custody reasons - the auctioneers are, amongst other reasons, trying to protect the consumer’s health in case of problems down the line.
Last year, China decided She wished to commence holding a regular weekly tea auction for sake of efficiency and price transparency. The implications are huge. The Chinese government engaged the services of the world’s three largest tea auctioneer companies to consult on the set-up. J Thomas Ltd of India, Forbes & Walker Ltd of Ceylon and Africa Tea Brokers Ltd of Kenya all gave their input. J Thomas’ people traveled up to Beijing for face to face dialog with the Chinese.
The Chinese realized they’d have a tough time starting a weekly auction without a catalog of teas available arranged by factory marks and factory / garden invoices, precisely as the other origins auctions do. It would mean naming and registering all the tea factory marks for export in China - something that’s never been done. The idea for a public tea auction in China was tabled until the Chinese sorted out this challenge.
From the view of T Ching’s bully pulpit, I would love to see you folks press for such a weekly tea auction(s) in China. Please understand that you may well be antagonising a number of tea “authors” who claim to be expert just because they’ve written things and are members of STI or whomever - anyone on earth can join these organisations by paying the annual dues. You will also be antagonising some major tea blenders for obvious reasons.
With respect to what has become the STI for one over in the US - a great organisation whose predecessor organisation was founded by close old friends who are factually tea experts who choose to have little to do with STI anymore except to remain aboard for sales reasons - it is a super marketing machine which should not be confused with an organisation of tea experts. A person - in my view again - is not expert in tea until he or she can liquor a line of say 100 cups of wildly varying teas on the blind and tell you the country of origin, as well as district of production and ultimately even the factory mark of that tea. While there are a few, I don’t believe there are many members of STI capable of such expert analysis.
You asked me to be frank, as this is a free-wheeling forum for tea lovers. I have done so with this post and hope it does not offend. We need more do-er’s and less talkers as the industry evolves into public definitions of “quality”. Get on a plane to origin. Go upcountry and manage a tea factory or two for awhile - take an equity position in that factory garden mark company. Go down to the city and participate in the auctiion room as auctioneer or more probably as buyer. Export that tea in bulk or far better in added-value form. Then we can discuss tea expertise. And finally chemical analysis of the goods.
Keep up the great work!
-JD
April 15th, 2009 at 11:57 am
This is quite a up-to-date information. I think I’ll share it on Digg.