Dear Dogma

You got me there. It is good to hear what a chemist has to say.

I think my assertion comes from two parts: caffeine dissolves in water
faster than catechins, and compared to the theanine, caffeine
solubility in water is more sensitive to temperature - i.e. caffeine
dissolves much faster in hot water.
Sadly, I have a quick scan through my materials and it is not
immediately obvious there is a good relevant study that compares water
solubility of caffeine and theanine.

Another factor is caffeine and theanine reactivity with other
compounds in hot water. There are suggestions that caffeine forms
compounds with tannins and theaflavin. It will be interesting to know
how much of caffeine reacts away and how that compare to theanine -
and in fact how the two interact.

What was interesting during my quick scan is that young leaf (tea
flush) contains more theanine and catechins than older leaves. With
the ratio of theanine (and probably caffeine) to catechins much higher
in younger leaves than older leaves.

Julian
http://www.amazing-green-tea.com