Homemade decaffeinated tea

[tesscaline]

Two things: Latest studies claim coffee is not a diuretic. Drink a pint of coffee, urinate a pint. It's just the excess water that makes you think you are diureticising.

Plus, isn't additional urine flow usually a good thing for bladders, kidneys, and related plumbing ?

1) I never claimed coffee was a diuretic. I said caffeine was.
2) Can you link to these "recent studies"? I am aware of the ones showing that caffeine does not cause dehydration, but that's not the same as caffeine not having any diuretic effect at all.

http://www.mckinley.illinois.edu/Handouts/caffeine.html

Its diuretic effects are usually compensated for by the beverage's fluid content.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/health/nutrition/04real.html

Most studies have found that in moderate amounts, caffeine has only mild diuretic effects

http://advance.uconn.edu/2002/020722/02072207.htm

While there have been several studies done that show caffeine is a mild diuretic, there is no evidence that exercise, when combined with the consumption of caffeine or caffeinated beverages, will result in chronic dehydration

and

Caffeine consumption causes a mild diuresis very similar to that of water (water, when consumed in large volume, increases urine output)

 

[quarky]

Home extraction (and purification) of caffeine is a laudable venture.
Historically, we drink infusions of plant biomass that contain caffeine for the caffeine.

But I can see the point of extracting it, as long as it's because you want to save it for an emergency, or you want to gift a caffeine junkie with a gram of the clean product.

Flushing it down the drain is an insult to the plant that contains this legal stimulant.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

So why bother drinking tea after you wash all the flavor out along with the caffeine? Why not just have a cup of hot water?

Oh, I understand, you want homeopathic tea? That would be a 2I dilution?

Nah--it's nothing like homeopathy.

As mentioned, you can remove a substantial amount of the caffeine in a first brief infusion without losing the tea flavor.

There are some process to decaffeinate tea that use chemicals like methylene chloride and ethyl acetate. Another process uses water.

I do it myself because it is easier for me to find non-decaf tea and I am not sure I want to drink tea that was decaffeinated with those chemicals.

My motive is that decaf teabags cost around 400% what regular generic bags cost. (And the generic bags don't come individually wrapped--IMO extraneous packaging.)

I also brew a lot of loose leaf tea, and I don't think that's available as decaf at all. (It might be, but I'd be willing to bet it's still a lot pricier than regular.)

And I drink a LOT of tea. My aim is for about half-caf. (If I don't use this method, I would use half decaf bags and half regular.)

 

[ponderingturtle]

Two things: Latest studies claim coffee is not a diuretic. Drink a pint of coffee, urinate a pint. It's just the excess water that makes you think you are diureticising.

Plus, isn't additional urine flow usually a good thing for bladders, kidneys, and related plumbing ?

I thought caffeine was a diuretic, it was just not that strong so coffee will hydrate you, if not as effectively as water.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Is wine toxic ?

Well. . you can certainly get intoxicated drinking wine.

 

[ponderingturtle]

Is wine toxic ? I don't know I do not drink wine.

nimzo

Wine contains many compounds that are toxic. If something is toxic or not all depends on the dosage.

Drinking it by quart is probably a very bad idea. Drinking it in the levels in wine is probably not that bad.

 

[nimzov]

My motive is that decaf teabags cost around 400% what regular generic bags cost. (And the generic bags don't come individually wrapped--IMO extraneous packaging.)

I also brew a lot of loose leaf tea, and I don't think that's available as decaf at all. (It might be, but I'd be willing to bet it's still a lot pricier than regular.)

And I drink a LOT of tea. My aim is for about half-caf. (If I don't use this method, I would use half decaf bags and half regular.)

Yes and it is inexpensive and a very easy operation that takes 20-30 seconds.

 

[Taffer]

Tea without caffeine? I don't understand the point, but...

Green tea, unless it is decaffeinated, also contains caffeine. Normal green tea itself may contain more caffeine than coffee, but the length of infusion with hot water, and the number of time you use the green tea leaves can greatly reduce your caffeine intake. Experiments have shown that tea after a first 5 minute brew contains 32 mg caffeine. But if the same leaves are then used for a second and then a third five minute brew, the caffeine drops to 12 mg and then 4 mg.

5 minutes? That's far too long a brew for green tea. Try 30s to 1 minute.

 

[tesscaline]

Tea without caffeine? I don't understand the point, but...



5 minutes? That's far too long a brew for green tea. Try 30s to 1 minute.

Indeed. 2 minutes max for best flavor. Anything more than that ruins the tea.

 

[Cuddles]

http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...serid=10&md5=46846ccffded0fbab0735f571471686d

Unfortunately, I do not have access to the full article for the details.

Thanks. I notice that the abstract specifically says that this works for fresh tea leaves, but that for dry ones, such as would be found in teabags, a large amount of the flavour and other stuff is also lost. Do you, and any others who have said they use this technique, only use it for fresh leaves? JoeTheJuggler, for instance, specifically mentions using teabags, so it would appear that at least in his case there would be no benefit from doing this.

 

[nimzov]

For tea bags as compare to fresh leaves, I guess that the percentage of caffeine and catechins removed could be different, but I am not sure that means that there is no benefit.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Thanks. I notice that the abstract specifically says that this works for fresh tea leaves, but that for dry ones, such as would be found in teabags, a large amount of the flavour and other stuff is also lost. Do you, and any others who have said they use this technique, only use it for fresh leaves? JoeTheJuggler, for instance, specifically mentions using teabags, so it would appear that at least in his case there would be no benefit from doing this.

ETA: Also, the statement you're referring to in the abstract was talking about a 3 minute infusion. I would never leave it for that long and then throw it out.

With black tea, I've used it for both fresh leaves and teabags, and I would agree that you get better results with fresh leaves.

However, since I go for about a half-caf final result, when I use bags, I do the first infusion with several bags (removing something like 80% of the caffeine if the interwebs are to be believed), then add a couple more un-diluted bags for the final infusion. But even so, you don't remove all the flavor with that first, brief infusion.

The claim that this technique is akin to homeopathy is wrong.