Michael Plant > writes:

> I didn't ask the question, but I want to know for medical reasons.

That's still not very specific, but it's a reasonable one to throw at
me. I suspect it's a hypothetical and you're testing me.

If the caffeine intake needs to be known for medical reasons, then
it's something you don't want to take any chances with. So in such
cases you want to leave margin for error.

If your doctor says something like "little or no caffeine", then
you're stuck with *properly* decaffeinated tea if any at all. On the
other hand if you're told "no more than x mg per day" then you have to
brew such that you're sure you stay under that limit. That means that
caffeine on a per tea-type basis is unlikely to be something you want
to mess with. Find the largest reputable result for caffeine content,
and then treat your tea consumption as if each cup will yield that
amount, regardless of the type of tea. To be honest I don't know what
medical conditions would require that kind of limit, but if it's
medical than better safe than sorry.

A useful analogy might be blood alcohol limits. It's unreasonable to
ask which varieties of scotch have less alcohol, because the
differences are likely to be so small that trying to use that
information to regulate your intake would only make a difference if
you're already drinking close to the limit. And you shouldn't. So such
specific information should not be needed for this reason.

My answer would be very different if the reason for asking the
question was something like "I don't want the jitters" or "I want to
sleep". Leaving a margin for error is not so important there.

Cheers,

- Joel