Tea Blog

You may have wondered which tea has more antioxidants.

In fact, all types of tea have antioxidants, however, due to different methods of tea processing, some tea have more antioxidants than other teas.

All teas come from the same plant, namely Camellia sinensis and their tea processing is similar. However, in order to produce different types of teas, each tea needs to go through a slightly different process to achieve its own characteristics and flavors. Below is a simple flow chart to give you an idea as to how each type of tea is processed.

-  wither – air dry – white tea

- wither – steamed or pan-fried – rolling – firing and drying – green tea

- wither – shake and roll to bruise tea leave edges – partial fermentation – dry – oolong

- wither – roll – full fermentation – firing – black tea

As you can see from the chart, white tea and green tea do not go through fermentation process. Only oolong tea and black tea go through partial or full fermentation. It is believed that some of the antioxidants are destroyed during the fermentation process, hence, white tea and green tea have the most antioxidants, whereas oolong has less and black tea has the least.

All in all, each type of tea has some similar health attributes . We highly recommend that everyone drink different types of tea throughout the day to give you a well-balanced body. This will allow you to take advantage of all of the health attributes in tea.

Tea Blossom proudly serves the tea needs of New York’s Westchester tea drinkers including Scarsdale, Eastchester, Larchmont, Edgemont, New Rochelle, Mamaroneck, Rye Brook, Harrison, Terrytown, Yonkers, Bronxville, Rye, Hartsdale, White Plains, Irvington, Elmsford, Sleepy Hollow, Chappaqua, Pleasantville, Pound Ridge and Dobbs Ferry as well as Fairfield County, Connecticut.

Did you ever wonder why tea has less caffeine than coffee? Do you wonder what determines the caffeine levels of tea?

In fact, tea contains more caffeine than coffee when they are measured based on dry weigh. The reason is that one pound of tea can make approximately 180 – 200 cups of tea or more whereas one pound of coffee can only make about 40 – 60 cups. Therefore, when a cup of tea is brewed, the caffeine content is significantly less than a cup of coffee brewed.

Also, the amount of caffeine in tea depends on a number of factors which includes the type of tea (white, green, oolong and black), where it is grown, leaf weight and the steeping time.

Also, the number of cups of tea you can get from one pound of tea varies because it depends upon the size of the cup you use, the strength of the brew (you may add a little more tea for a stronger taste or put a little less for a lighter taste) and the types of tea leaves (some tea leaves are very large yet dense, e.g. oolong). However, if you are concerned about the caffeine level in your tea, you can always de-caffeinate the tea yourself at home, please refer to our earlier blog about “how to de-caffeinate your tea at home”

Everyday a new tea blend or flavor is created and there are many varieties and selections to choose from. You certainly do not want to miss out on the opportunity to try them only because they are not decaffeinated.

The decaffeinated teas you get from supermarkets or groceries are being chemically-processed to extract the caffeine which impacts the flavor and quality of tea. Also, your choices of tea are so limited due to higher cost of production and packaging.

Now you can overcome this dilemma by decaffeinating your tea at home – that’s right! Do it yourself (DIY)! Since caffeine dissolves in water instantly, you can extract the caffeine from your tea naturally. First put the tea leaves in a teapot, pour hot water over the tea leaves and ensure all the tea leaves are covered in the water. Then discard the water by pouring it out immediately from the teapot. Do not let your tea steep or sit in the water as this will lose a lot of flavor from the tea. This simple “Pour-in, Pour-out” process allows the water to wash the caffeine away and reduces up to 80 – 90% of the caffeine from the tea. It’s done organically and best of all, you are no longer limited in your choices of teas!

Tea Blossom has over 90 different loose leaf teas including a great wide variety of flavored blends! So why not pick your favorite tea and “DIY” to decaffeinate it at home and try some of our new teas blends!