Lewis Perin wrote:
> I don't have any numbers to give you. The best I can do is to not
> that theanine is a pretty small molecule, not greatly different in
> size from caffeine, and all other things being equal, you'd expect it
> to exit the leaf at a similar. Of course, some other things may be
> unequal, like the chemical properties of the two molecules! I bet
> DogMa could take a far better educated guess than I.

Julian wrote:
> 2. Caffeine is quicker to dissolve in water compared to catechins or
> theanine, that is why the first infusion is much richer than caffeine
> compared to the other more beneficial chemicals.

I had a quick look in at-hand reference books, but couldn't find good
water-solubility data on both molecules. Perhaps someone with
library access would like to look.

Size matters, but it's not just the molecule itself. Effective
hydrodynamic radius for diffusion depends on the size of the hydration
sphere, which in turn depends on things like dipole moments in various
parts of the molecule, and how it wraps itself up - not a factor for
caffeine, but perhaps important for theanine. If I had to guess, I'd say
that they're probably similar enough in extraction rate that
time-slicing won't allow a useful separation. Perhaps Julian would be
kind enough to provide a research source for his assertion.

Re the reference
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrob...d=oid%3A208400
language like "... in the first two minutes all the caffeine is drawn
out. ... During the next few minutes, tannin and theanine are gradually
brought out of the tea leaves" is misleading. Things aren't drawn out;
they fall down a concentration gradient, and not all at once. They tend
to follow a slow induction - quasi-steady state - asymptotic decline
profile influenced by leaf hydration, remaining concentration and even
the local concentration of other ingredients. A mental image of stepwise
effects is not correct. (For an egregious example, see the recent
Illycafe piece in Scientific American, which was so misleading and
self-promoting that I canceled my decades-old subscription.) Until
someone bothers to do real lab work like the caffeine paper cited by
Nigel (unfortunately under conditions not perfectly relevant for most of
us here) on both molecules at once, it's all idle speculation.

-DM