Comments on: How much caffeine does green tea contain?

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:14:14 +0000

It is very likely that the onset of a headache when caffeine hasn’t been consumed as regularly as normal is a sign of your body detoxifying the caffeine from the blood. If you quit caffeine and go on a detox, the headaches should disappear in due time (when your blood is cleansed – unless there is an underlying problem). Caffeine is a drug – relying on a chemical to remove symptoms is simply masking underlying problems, and this puts you at risk of disease. This does not mean that you should forever quit caffeine. Yet if you are dependent on it, then maybe you should try and change this.

By: Doug

Doug — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 00:50:14 +0000

“it was like I was having withdrawal symptoms”

You were. A headache like that is a sign of caffeine addiction. Drinking a cup every morning meant you didn’t go into withdrawal. Anybody else in a similar situation might want to taper off on the caffeine a bit if you don’t want to be in that situation.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:59:47 +0000

Interestingly enough, I had a similar experience to you Nick. Early last year I was getting migraines almost every weekend. I’d be fine during the week, but halfway through Saturday, or on Sunday morning, I’d have a migraine. Like clockwork. I figured out I wasn’t drinking a strong cup of black tea on Saturday mornings, whereas every other day of the week I did — it was like I was having withdrawal symptoms. Sure enough, once I started drinking a couple of strong cups of tea on Saturdays and Sundays, the headaches became far less frequent.

Granted, I’m not so sure it’s a good thing to have to rely on a cup of strong tea to avoid a migraine…

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:00:42 +0000

I agree with the above post. I have been having frequent headaches and only recently made sure to have my cup of tea EVERY morning. No headaches for months now.

By: Jhen

Jhen — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:28:54 +0000

“I think that the Western world should just follow the example of the Chinese and not concern themselves with such trivial facts.”

I think this is akin to putting your head in the sand. If you want to do whatever you choose without considering the facts, then by all means do so, but to recommend others not concern themselves with such “trivial facts” is at once foolish and irresponsible.

I’m in my early 30′s and have SVT (look it up). Caffeine is a BIG deal to me, and I need to know such “trivial facts”. YOU follow the example of the Chinese. I’ll continue to watch my caffeine intake, enjoy a healthier heart, and sleep much, much better than I used to.

By: Fergus Ray Murray

Fergus Ray Murray — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:10:38 +0000

Thanks for that.

The tricky thing seems to be that most of the variation in the caffeine content of a given cup is down to how it’s brewed, not what’s in the tea to start with. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a single study that looks at the content of various different types of tea *when brewed correctly*. One study got part-way there, following manufacturer’s guidelines from the packet, but unfortunately these are themselves wildly inaccurate a lot of the time.

It seems to be the case that a cup of green tea brewed with boiling water for three minutes will have *about* the same amount of caffeine as an equivalent cup of black tea – but of course, it will also taste as rank as all hell, because that’s completely the wrong way to brew green tea!

It looks like pu erh is about the only tea which has a really radically different caffeine content to start with…

By: Jo

Jo — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:31:52 +0000

It's interesting to see that the subject of caffeine levels in tea still attracts so much interest after years of discussion. I think that the Western world should just follow the example of the Chinese and not concern themselves with such trivial facts. Enjoy the tea you like and not the one you've read had the most favorable number in the caffeine content list (whether that's low or high). There's very limited published data on the caffeine content of tea and information is often contradictory as you rightly stated. For a good discussion on the caffeine myth, have a look at Nigel's in-depth article and ensuing discussion on Cha Dao. There also used to be a website listing tested caffeine content of specific teas (some of these results were rather surprising and in clear contradiction to Teya's table). Unfortunately, the website is no longer available, but a copy can be found at the web archive. Jo

By: Teya

Teya — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:10:19 +0000

Loved your article about green tea and caffeine content. You are quite right in the fact that it is impossible to determine the exact amount of caffeine in our tea.

I have done a comparison of some teas and there caffeine content here:

Caffeine in Tea

Hopefully others will find this useful as well. Nice blog, I will be back to read more.

Teya
Crazy For Tea