Tea naturally contains caffeine.
Caffeine occurs naturally in both green and black teas. According to Mayo Clinic.com, home-brewed tea contains 40 to 120 mg caffeine in every 8 oz. Thus, reducing the amount of caffeine in the tea is highly recommended for people with medical conditions or those that wish to minimize the amount of stimulants they ingest.
Instructions
Choose Color
1. Choose your tea leaves carefully. The caffeine content in a tea leaf varies based on a few characteristics such as hue and age. Shaded leaves and younger leaves contain more caffeine. Thus, it is advisable to pick older and lighter leaves when preparing your tea.
2. Steep your tea in a smaller teapot. Larger teapots hold more water, so they are able to steep more caffeine from the tea leaves. Thus, by using a smaller pot less caffeine is steeped into the water. The taste may be stronger if you use the same amount of tea leaves for a larger pot, but the caffeine content will be reduced since the water will be more saturated.
3. Lower the maximum temperature of the water to around 80 or 90 degrees Fahrenheit while steeping the leaves. Completely boiling water helps release more caffeine thereby increasing the caffeine level. Thus, using hot water at a temperature slightly less than boiling will help reduce the caffeine content. Cooking thermometers are available at most local supermarkets and grocery stores.
4. Brew tea at half strength. Use half the amount of leaves you would normally use. This will result in half the caffeine content. If the resulting batch of tea is not strong enough in taste, slowly increase the amount of leaves. Experimenting with different tea leaves and brewing temperatures will help you find your desired caffeine level. Take the time to try different leaves in small doses.
5. Shorten the brew time. Rather than steep the tea for 3 minutes, let it steep for 1 minute to cut the caffeine in half.
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