What is the difference between caffeine free and decaffeinated tea

What is Decaffeinated Tea? Wellness Nutrition. Sign up for the Sunday Edit newsletter to stay in-the-know on all things skincare and beyond. Email Address. Most Popular. By Lindsay Tigar. By Iman Balagam. By Jancee Dunn. By Andrea Navarro. Make Sundays special again! Sign up for the Sunday Edit newsletter to stay in-the-know on topics that spark a conversation for everyone. Recently, decaf teas have been gaining popularity, and for a good reason.

They may provide similar benefits as regular teas, but minus the potential side-effects of caffeine. Read more about deaf teas in our guide. Caffeine is a hot topic among health-conscious people, and many tea drinkers refrain from drinking tea only because of caffeine. A regular cup of tea will have anywhere between 20 to even mg of caffeine. The amount of caffeine will depend on many factors, and although you can control some of them, you will never be able to fully remove caffeine from tea by yourself.

For example, steeping less tea leaves in cooler water for shorter time will give a cup will less caffeine, but weaker a flavor too. Decaf or decaffeinated tea is tea that underwent a process of decaffeination or removing caffeine. There are different methods of removing caffeine from tea leaves, and some may be better than others.

Decaffeination methods using direct solvents such as ethyl acetate or methylene chloride remove not only caffeine, but most of the nutrients and flavor too. Tea leaves are steamed and soaked in solvent until most of the caffeine is removed. This is the oldest decaffeination method that first appeared more than years ago. CO2 or Supercritical Carbon Dioxide method is currently considered the best method for decaffeinating teas.

Unlike other methods, it preserves almost all nutrients while removing the caffeine. This means that both health benefits and flavor will stay mostly the same as in the regular tea. Decaf and caffeinated teas, although very similar, may still have some differences. Most decaf teas will have smaller broken leaves. The flavor of decaf teas will depend on the tea type and the way it was decaffeinated. Caffeine content will be significantly reduced, but there will still be some caffeine left, usually less than 2 mg per cup, although some types may have more — even 5 mg per cup.

Read on for the low-down. Caffeine is a natural chemical found in certain plants, most notably in coffee, cacao and of course black, green and white teas.

Whilst tolerable in small quantities, too high a caffeine intake can affect blood pressure and heart health, and can contribute to insomnia as well as anxiety, palpitations and tremors. Because, it is a natural compound, the amount of caffeine in each plant can vary enormously. Coffee generally has the most milligrams of caffeine, but different types of tea, whether black or oolong tea, green or white tea, can contain varying levels depending on where it was grown and how it was picked and processed.

Some black teas might even have more caffeine than some weaker coffees. Green tea generally has less than black teas, but again there might be quite a lot of overlap at the upper end of the green tea caffeine scale. This means that if you're drinking tea it can be very difficult to gauge exactly how much caffeine you are consuming in a day. Water Processing — This process is generally associated with coffee beans, but some tea producers have begun using it on their tea leaves. Hot water extracts the caffeine, along with flavors and almost everything else.

The water is filtered through a carbon filter, which catches the caffeine molecules. The water is returned to the tea leaves, where they soak up the extracted flavors again. Though safe, it is widely unexplored in the tea realm. If you are one to lose deep sleep because of too much caffeine, decaffeinated tea is something worth looking into. Decaf tea is not without its drawbacks. Most of them are harmless, but undesirable.

If caffeine is something you are determined to avoid, decaffeinated tea will still cause issues for you. Even though the tea leaves will contain only 2. The idea that decaffeinated tea is generally less flavorful is not made up out of thin air. While the Carbon dioxide method preserves more flavors that any other, it is not widely practiced.