How fast does the caffeine leave the tea bag?

Sometimes I’m making a cup of tea in a hurry. If I stir as soon as I pour the water on the teabag it seems, in terms of color, that it’s done in about five to ten seconds. But I never dare to violate instructions and take the bag out in less than three minutes. Any thoughts?

Are you drinking the tea for the color, the caffeine, or the flavor?

How long you let the teabag steep determines all three, of course, but I doubt that the tea’s color has much to do with how much caffeine is in it. The stronger flavor from longer steeping has more to do with tannin, although caffeine adds to the bitterness. Probably the longer you leave the teabag in, the higher the caffeine content in your cup.

Howzat?

:smiley:

1/2 mv[sup]2[/sup] = 3/2 kT

k = 1.38 X 10[sup]-23[/sup] J/°K
Mw caffeine = 194.19 = 1.6120703968e-25 kg/molecule
Hot tea runs at ~90°C or 363°K

so:
3/2kT = 7.5176937e-21
1/2m = 1.6120703968e-25
v[sup]2[/sup] = 7.5176937e-21/1.6120703968e-25

v=215.9 meters per second

Caffeine leaves the teabag at about 215.9 meters per second.

:wink:

:smiley:

You’d better run before Ilsa_Lund gets here!

So, how many cups of tea to the moon ?

:smiley:

Caffeine and flavor, but I was thinking that maybe all three correlate.

Eh, why wait? Just eat the tea bag. Yum!

Back to the OP, does anyone know if this rate depends on what type of tea is being brewed (green, black, Earl Gray, etc.)?

CAFFEINE IN TEA vs. STEEPING TIME
The rate at which caffeine is extracted from tea leaves depends on the variety of the plant, the processing of the leaves (e.g. fermented or not) and the size of the induividual leaf fragments.