# What's the relationship between how much caffeine is released during brewing tea and its color? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-relationship-between-how-much-caffeine-is-released-during-brewing-tea-and-its-color/615611 "2012-03-13T02:00:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-relationship-between-how-much-caffeine-is-released-during-brewing-tea-and-its-color/615611/1 "2012-03-13T02:00:03Z")
I’m talking about black teas generally. When I brew a particular tea, is the color change related to how much caffeine is released. Do the two track closely? Not at all? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-relationship-between-how-much-caffeine-is-released-during-brewing-tea-and-its-color/615611/2 "2012-03-13T03:42:54Z")
There is no general connection between color and amount of caffeine. Some of the lightest-colored teas we serve at my tea bar are heavily caffeinated, and some of the darkest have very little. Even if you are talking about a specific type of tea, you can’t measure caffeine content reliably through color except as a general indicator of steeping time. For example, if you always drink the same brand of Irish Breakfast Tea, and you only use the leaves once, then the color will indicate approximately how long the leaves have been in the water, which will in turn indicate how long the caffeine extraction process has been running. ETA: In case you’re interested, the most popular “home decaffeination” process involves simply adding boiling water to the leaves, swirling it around for 10-30 seconds, and dumping the water out. When you then use the leaves to make a cup of tea, you will have roughly half the caffeine content. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-relationship-between-how-much-caffeine-is-released-during-brewing-tea-and-its-color/615611/3 "2012-03-13T17:26:50Z")
On the other hand, the bitter taste you get from overbrewing is due to the tannins, the same compounds that are responsible for the color, so if your concern is just for the taste, the color is a reasonably decent guide. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-relationship-between-how-much-caffeine-is-released-during-brewing-tea-and-its-color/615611/4 "2012-03-13T18:08:47Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:2, topic:615611”] ETA: In case you’re interested, the most popular “home decaffeination” process involves simply adding boiling water to the leaves, swirling it around for 10-30 seconds, and dumping the water out. When you then use the leaves to make a cup of tea, you will have roughly half the caffeine content. [/QUOTE] [Most](http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and-reality.html) [evidence](http://nobleharbor.com/tea/caffiene.html) suggests that this is not the case. 10-30 seconds extracts maybe 10% of the caffeine, and while a second full steeping with the same leaves will be reduced, but not to the same level as ‘decaffeinated’ tea. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-relationship-between-how-much-caffeine-is-released-during-brewing-tea-and-its-color/615611/5 "2012-03-13T18:49:34Z")
Basically, I’m just trying to determine how long I should let tea steep for if I want to get a good dose of caffeine. I’m often in a hurry though, so was wondering if the color of the tea could be used as an indicator. Wondering if: 1. the coloring of the tea is done by the same things that caffeinated the tea 2. the coloration “curve” of the tea could be used as an accurate proxy for the caffeine curve 3. or if these things happen at two different rates and one does not suggest the other Oh—just checked those links. Very helpful. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-relationship-between-how-much-caffeine-is-released-during-brewing-tea-and-its-color/615611/6 "2012-03-14T03:07:15Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > [Most](http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and-reality.html) [evidence](http://nobleharbor.com/tea/caffiene.html) suggests that this is not the case. 10-30 seconds extracts maybe 10% of the caffeine, and while a second full steeping with the same leaves will be reduced, but not to the same level as ‘decaffeinated’ tea. Thank you! That data is completely at odds with the claims in several of my tea books, but it looks like it was very well researched. I’m going to have to keep digging for fresh data on this.