getting rid of caffeine: of interest to kombucha-makers

helpful, if you want to make Kombucha with black tea and don't want the caffeine, or, if you just want a natural way to decaffeinate tea for drinking.
btw--all tea contains caffeine: green, white, black.


Getting Rid of Caffeine

All teas, black green and white, contain caffeine. If you are concerned about the amount of caffeine in your tea or in your kombucha you can get rid of much of the it by pre-steeping the tea. Caffeine is highly soluble, so usually 80% of the tea's caffeine content is released from the leaf within the first 20 to 30 seconds of steeping. You can have virtually caffeine-free tea, without sacrificing much flavour, by discarding the water after the first 30 to 60 seconds of steeping and adding fresh hot water to the now-decaffeinated leaf. This will not affect the flavonoid content of the tea. Flavonoids develop over a period of minutes. Steeping the tea for five minutes or more will allow the flavonoids to develop. Tweet