Decaffeinated Green Tea
Basically, the purpose of decaffeinated green tea is to provide the consumers with the health benefits of green tea without all of the caffeine. A cup of green tea contains about 15-30mg of caffeine. This is enough to produce the stimulating effects that are associated with caffeine. Now, some reports claim that decaffeinated green tea might be less beneficial than regular green tea. In order to see whether they are right or wrong, we first have to understand what actually happens when green tea is decaffeinated.
Naturally occuring chemical compounds called polyphenels are suspected of giving green tea its health benefits. They include epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) which is believed to be important in the prevention of cancer. Basically, there are two methods for decaffeinating green tea, one uses ethyl acetate and the other CO2. Green tea which was decaffeinated using ethyl acetate retains only about 30% of the EGCG. CO2 processing uses carbon dioxide and water to remove caffeine. Green tea which was decaffeinated with this method retains about 95% of the EGCG. As tea composition is very complex, though, it is not clear how many additional compounds in green tea play a part in its health benefit and whether or not these compunds are effected by the decaffeination process.
There is a third method for decaffeinating green tea which can be adopted by anyone. All you have to do is brew your tea and discard the first infusion. After this you add more hot water and pour the liquid off for a second time. Unfortunately, with this process not only the caffeine is ‚washed out’ but also a majority of the health benefits.
No matter what method is used, the decaffeinating of green tea has many positive aspects. People who drink decaffeinated green tea will no longer experience insomnia, headaches, nervousness, or dizziness.