Hi all;

I've gotten a bit used to have very large bottles of diet pepsi when I
have not gotten a lot of sleep the night before.

I was thinking that substituting tea for the diet pepsi would be a
good move:

- tea also has caffeine
- tea is also very low calorie
- tea is also "sugar" free
- tea is not made with a truckload of toxic waste as is diet pepsi
- tea provides some healthy chemicals, like anti-oxidants.
- tea, even pricier tea, is likely to be cheaper than diet pepsi

I've heard that Irish Breakfast Tea has the most caffeine. If someone
is looking for a tea to wake them up in the morning and clear their
head is Irish Breakfast the best choice or is there a better tea?

black tea
should have "the most caffeine"
but caffeine content varies with production batch
"irish breakfast tea" is a combination of some black teas for flavor
purpose + usually to be combined with milk sugar and such
dont know how the "healthy chemicals" fare when combined with milk,
sugar, etc

other than that ... infuse your black tea for longer time, and drink
many cups
tea is not cheaper than pepsi

SN wrote in news:29151fbf-5582-4538-9bac-
:

black tea
should have "the most caffeine"
but caffeine content varies with production batch
"Irish breakfast tea" is a combination of some black teas for flavor
purpose + usually to be combined with milk sugar and such
don't know how the "healthy chemicals" fare when combined with milk,
sugar, etc

other than that ... infuse your black tea for longer time, and drink
many cups
tea is not cheaper than Pepsi

Actually, some tea is cheaper than Pepsi depending on your area and the
sales going on, but those are the brands (like Lipton's Damnedest, a 100
bag box in American supermarkets only) that you wish to avoid.

Scottish Breakfasts are sometimes blends of black Assam tea (a province in
India) specially chosen for brewing in hard water. Try that or CRC Assam.
These are "milk teas", intended as mentioned above for milk/cream/half-n-
half and some sort of sweetener.

The longer you infuse a black tea, the bitterer & more acidic it becomes,
in general. (One exception to this is some grades of "black" pu-erh, for
which see below.) Any milk tea does that.

Also, 100%-fermented black tea is only good for one infusion, driving up
the price per cup. But actually, unless compelled by chronic lack-of-green,
I think switching to tea from diet Pepsi is a good move, more than
justified by taste alone as well as the health benefits (though you might
find yourself missing the sodium carcinogenate and/or the partially de-
weaponized plutonium at first ).

I believe that tea has other alkaloids than caffeine, one of which makes
you calmer -- that's why jitteriness &c is more often found in coffee
drinkers. Also, tea buds are higher in caffeine than regular leaves, so
the tea highest caffeine may be a black with a lot of buds (e.g. a "Yunnan
gold"), or a white picked the same way. There are defenders of greens and
oolongs, as well. There are a lot of factors.

(BTW, black (ripe, cooked) pu-erh is really green tea, mostly from Yunnan
province in China, which is specially processed to make it pu-erh. It is
"forgiving" in the matter of brewing times, especially in the matter of
bitterness (as opposed to green (raw) pu-erh, which is more demanding. The
good grades are a real treat, although it is an acquired taste, like
coffee. Also they can tolerate more than one infusion, like any good green
or Oolong.)

Tea takes time, but it's generally worth it.

Ozzy

On Jan 7, 5:26*pm, Steve wrote:

I've heard that Irish Breakfast Tea has the most caffeine. *If someone
is looking for a tea to wake them up in the morning and clear their
head is Irish Breakfast the best choice or is there a better tea?

The caffeine level in a blend (such as generic Irish Breakfast) is
completely unpredictable.

Caffeine level in black teas varies naturally from below 1% to above
6%. Variation in the tea can be due to:

- Genetic history of bush - assamica can be 33% higher than sinensis
- Country of origin - some countries have a higher proportion of
assamica - though now with hybridization this is less clear cut
- Seasonality - speed of growth influence caffeine level which tends
to be highest in the rains
- Shading - can increase caffeine
- Nutrition - high N fertilizing tends to increase caffeine, poor
nutrition to lower it
- Quality - clones are selected for cup quality which tends to
correlate with high caffeine (in blacks at least)
- Processing - some aspects of processing increase caffeine after
harvest (withering), others (fermenting & drying) decrease it.

Given the above factors (and their interactions) it takes a brave
teaman to predict the actual caffeine level in any specific single
origin much less in a blend of unknown origins.

Notwithstanding, the variation in the cup can also be due to:
- Average leaf particle size in your tea
- Size of your cup
- Ratio of dry tea to water
- Temperature of your water
- Time you infuse for
- Number of cups you drink

And we have not even considered other sources of variation in the
"wake up effect":
- personal reaction to caffeine
- habituation
- subduing affects of theanine (and the natural variation of theanine)
- caffeine complexing

However if I were specifically asked to provide the highest caffeine
tea I could find it would be a high value Rwanda CTC black Fannings or
Pekoe Dust1 preferaby from Kitabi or Gisovu factories where all the
tea is top rate clonal assamic types. In a rains grown Rwandan tea the
level could reach 6-7%. "Creaming down" as tea liquor cools is the
definitive test for quality in a black tea for UK blending (it is an
indicator of high caffeine and polyphenol content - they form an
insoluble complex that comes out of solution as the cup cools). For
the better Rwandan teas even the waste fiber will "cream down" and has
a higher commercial value (for blending UK style) than some of the
best grades from other African and Asian countries.

Taylor's Yorkshire Gold has a lot of Rwandan and high quality Kenyan
tea included in the blend.

Nigel at Teacraft

On Jan 8, 4:04 am, Nigel wrote:
On Jan 7, 5:26 pm, Steve wrote:

I've heard that Irish Breakfast Tea has the most caffeine. If someone
is looking for a tea to wake them up in the morning and clear their
head is Irish Breakfast the best choice or is there a better tea?

The caffeine level in a blend (such as generic Irish Breakfast) is
completely unpredictable.

Caffeine level in black teas varies naturally from below 1% to above
6%. Variation in the tea can be due to:

- Genetic history of bush - assamica can be 33% higher than sinensis
- Country of origin - some countries have a higher proportion of
assamica - though now with hybridization this is less clear cut
- Seasonality - speed of growth influence caffeine level which tends
to be highest in the rains
- Shading - can increase caffeine
- Nutrition - high N fertilizing tends to increase caffeine, poor
nutrition to lower it
- Quality - clones are selected for cup quality which tends to
correlate with high caffeine (in blacks at least)
- Processing - some aspects of processing increase caffeine after
harvest (withering), others (fermenting & drying) decrease it.

Given the above factors (and their interactions) it takes a brave
teaman to predict the actual caffeine level in any specific single
origin much less in a blend of unknown origins.

Notwithstanding, the variation in the cup can also be due to:
- Average leaf particle size in your tea
- Size of your cup
- Ratio of dry tea to water
- Temperature of your water
- Time you infuse for
- Number of cups you drink

And we have not even considered other sources of variation in the
"wake up effect":
- personal reaction to caffeine
- habituation
- subduing affects of theanine (and the natural variation of theanine)
- caffeine complexing

However if I were specifically asked to provide the highest caffeine
tea I could find it would be a high value Rwanda CTC black Fannings or
Pekoe Dust1 preferaby from Kitabi or Gisovu factories where all the
tea is top rate clonal assamic types. In a rains grown Rwandan tea the
level could reach 6-7%. "Creaming down" as tea liquor cools is the
definitive test for quality in a black tea for UK blending (it is an
indicator of high caffeine and polyphenol content - they form an
insoluble complex that comes out of solution as the cup cools). For
the better Rwandan teas even the waste fiber will "cream down" and has
a higher commercial value (for blending UK style) than some of the
best grades from other African and Asian countries.

Taylor's Yorkshire Gold has a lot of Rwandan and high quality Kenyan
tea included in the blend.

Nigel at Teacraft

Nigel which Yorkshire Gold would you pick?

loose leaf tea bag 250g $9.5
40 tea bags $7
loose leaf tea tin 20g $11

On Jan 7, 5:00 pm, SN wrote:

other than that ... infuse your black tea for longer time, and drink
many cups
tea is not cheaper than pepsi

Thanks for the good information.

About diet pepsi. I got started on that habit from the soda machine
at work that sells tall bottle for about $1.30. I have since started
picking up a six pack every other week at a drugstore for about 90
cents a bottle.

From some of the prices of quality teas I have seen on the web many be
cheaper than 90 cents a cup.

On Jan 9, 1:27*am, SN wrote:

Nigel which Yorkshire Gold would you pick?

loose leaf tea bag 250g $9.5
40 tea bags $7
loose leaf tea tin 20g $11- Hide quoted text -

Remembering that Taylors Yorkshire Gold is blended for use in the
English way,with milk, both the tea bags and the loose tea have
similar cup qualities. The loose tea is small grade (CTC made BP1)
and requires use of a tea strainer if made in the pot, though is
perfect in an infuser. Personally I opt for the tea bags that I
purchase in 160 bag cartons, which never seem to last long enough.

Nigel at Teacraft

here is my two cents..

as said before, black teas generally have the most caffeine
and also, I have found irish/english/scottish breakfast mixes to be
the most potent. I believe there is a saying that the irish feel a cup
of tea should be strong enough for a mouse to trod on.
that being said however, it's hard to numerically rate one specific
tea as having the most caffeine especially when you consider tea
blends. There are black teas with lower caffeine content and ones with
much higher.

there is a type of tisane called maté which is nearly equivalent to a
cup of coffee in caffeine content. it is a different tasting tea, but
if you are looking for the caffeine, you should try it out. you ca
find it at trader joes, whole foods, and tea stores like
TeaGschwendner and teavana.

I think tea can be cheaper than Pepsi, but it depends on what kind you
buy. as said earlier the 100 count box of off brang generic tea bags
will cost you maybe $4 for that same $4 you could probably buy 4
liters of pepsi.. so in that scenario i think the tea wins out.

but if you want to buy a high quality darjeeling or japanese green
tea, you may spend $30-70 for 2-5 ounces of tea

Perceptions, perceptions . . . oit to n caffeine in Mate I would
commend reading:

http://www.erowid.org/plants/yerba_m...emistry2.shtml

Erowid gives range in Mate as 0.5 to 2.0%. I have found range in
black tea from 1 to 7%. As ever it depends how strong you brew your
Mate, Tea. or Coffee. In Argentina they put huge amount in the gourd
but top it up for hours with water - on average, at 0.5% to 2% in the
leaf, it probably comes out much weaker than tea made by one shot
method.

With all caffeine intake the user generally quits when they twitch.
Tea derived caffeine (due to polyphenol complexing and theanine
balancing) can be imbibed at far higher doses before you twitch. A
student of tea scientist Prof Spiro "once drank some 20 cups within
1.5 hours and then felt quite strange and light headed" but soon
walked the effect off - I suspect that the same level of caffeine
imbibed from coffee, mate or cola would milligram for milligram have
more dire effects.

Nigel at Teacraft

On Jan 9, 5:13*pm, " wrote:
there is a type of tisane called maté which is nearly equivalent to a
cup of coffee in caffeine content. it is a different tasting tea, but
if you are looking for the caffeine, you should try it out.

..
we buy 100 Green tea bags for 0.99 [at the Ninety Nine cents store]

i add ginger, lemon, and basil for flavor

waterboy

Thanks for the clarification and sorry for that bit of mis
information.
However, my idea was still valid. Maté contains caffeine and other
xanthines and is a stimulant that can be compared to coffee though
having some notable differences.
people who drink maté frequently say that you don't get the
jitteryness that is sometimes associated with drinking coffee.
but this digresses from the Op
my only point is that you should give Maté a try and see what you like
it.
If not, then stick to black teas. I don't think there's much else to
say other than that 'm not sure how one would go about trying to pick
exactly what type ( not black white green but darjeeling, assam,
silver needle... etc) has the highest concentration of caffeine. It
will be up to you to decide that as i assume each person will be
effected a bit differently by caffeine. Buy a small amount of a lot
of kinds of tea and see which ones suit you best for your caffeine
needs.

On Jan 7, 12:26 pm, Steve wrote:
[snip]

The caffine content of tea varies wildly and is rather unpredictable.
In general, red tea (what we Westerners call "black tea") has more
caffine than green, but there're some shade-grown greens that'll
really wake you up, and equally there're some very gentle red teas you
can drink before bed and have no problems. In fact, I pulled several
all-nighters during exam week last semester drinking a greenish
Chinese oolong. So, while reds will generally have more caffine than
oolongs which generally have more than greens, it's quite impossible
to say which tea "has the most caffine". Also remember that tea is a
seasonal crop,

There is a fairly obscure southern Chinese tea, Liu Bao, which is
traditionally said to be invigorating and energizing (according to
Chow & Kramer's _All the Tea in China_, a source which has sometimes
proved outdated and unreliable).

Interestingly, the polyphenols in tea act as relaxants, which means
any tea will relax you while waking you up--it's very difficult (maybe
even impossible) to give yourself "coffee nerves" with tea.

I've heard that Irish Breakfast Tea has the most caffeine. If someone
is looking for a tea to wake them up in the morning and clear their
head is Irish Breakfast the best choice or is there a better tea?

Irish Breakfast is a traditional name for a blend based on tea from
the Assam valley, in India. Assam is known to be strong & stout, and
usually drunk with milk. It stands to reason that it'd be the kind of
thing one would want over breakfast. You might find better teas
looking for Assam on uptontea.com (where I started out with tea) or
specialteas.com rather than Irish Breakfast, since blends tend to be a
little unreliable.

JB

On Jan 10, 10:26*pm, wrote:

Interestingly, the polyphenols in tea act as relaxants, which means
any tea will relax you while waking you up--it's very difficult (maybe
even impossible) to give yourself "coffee nerves" with tea.

It's the amino acid theanine in Camellia sinensis that relaxes, not
the polyphenols. Theanine is virtually unique to tea, comprises 50%
of tea amino acids, and has a profound affect on human brain alpha
activity - inducing realaxed but alert state ideal for creativity.
See http://www.lipton.com.au/ltheanine/b...ves/index.html

Nigel at Teacraft

Steve wrote:

- tea also has caffeine
- tea is also very low calorie
- tea is also "sugar" free
- tea is not made with a truckload of toxic waste as is diet pepsi
- tea provides some healthy chemicals, like anti-oxidants.
- tea, even pricier tea, is likely to be cheaper than diet pepsi

All of these are true, but if you care about lower cost and fewer added
byproducts, skip the tea and go right to vivarin. It's pure caffeine,
obtained as a byproduct of decaffeinating coffee. You can also purchase
caffeine solution for intravenous injection although it will require a
prescription.

I've heard that Irish Breakfast Tea has the most caffeine. If someone
is looking for a tea to wake them up in the morning and clear their
head is Irish Breakfast the best choice or is there a better tea?

Irish Breakfast is a blend of different Assam teas, and the blend varies
by manufacturer. You cannot easily say that one tea will have more caffeine
than another without either trying or measuring them individually.

If you want something that you enjoy drinking, get a variety of different
teas and try them. Upton's has some nice samplers that will give you a
good idea of the range available. If you want a lot of caffeine fast,
a handful of vivarin is a better choice.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On Jan 11, 12:08*pm, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
Steve wrote:

- tea also has caffeine
- tea is also very low calorie
- tea is also "sugar" free
- tea is not made with a truckload of toxic waste as is diet pepsi
- tea provides some healthy chemicals, like anti-oxidants.
- tea, even pricier tea, is likely to be cheaper than diet pepsi

All of these are true, but if you care about lower cost and fewer added
byproducts, skip the tea and go right to vivarin. *It's pure caffeine,
obtained as a byproduct of decaffeinating coffee. *You can also purchase
caffeine solution for intravenous injection although it will require a
prescription.

I've heard that Irish Breakfast Tea has the most caffeine. *If someone
is looking for a tea to wake them up in the morning and clear their
head is Irish Breakfast the best choice or is there a better tea?

Irish Breakfast is a blend of different Assam teas, and the blend varies
by manufacturer. *You cannot easily say that one tea will have more caffeine
than another without either trying or measuring them individually.

If you want something that you enjoy drinking, get a variety of different
teas and try them. *Upton's has some nice samplers that will give you a
good idea of the range available. *If you want a lot of caffeine fast,
a handful of vivarin is a better choice.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. *C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Yow. One tablet of Vivarin is the caffeine equivalent of two cups of
coffee. Try one, not a handful. Toci