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Decaf Tea Found In The Wild (asianscientist.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

Chinese scientists have discovered a type of tea plant that naturally does not produce caffeine. They published their findings in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. From a report: In 2017, Americans drank nearly four billion gallons of tea, according to the Tea Association of the US. The association estimates that up to 18 percent of those drinks were decaffeinated. To decaffeinate tea, manufacturers often use supercritical carbon dioxide or hot water treatments. However, these methods can affect the brew's flavor and destroy compounds that are associated with lowered cholesterol and reduced risk of heart attack or stroke. In the present study, researchers led by Dr. Chen Liang at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences studied hongyacha, a rare wild tea found in the mountains of southern China. They used high-performance liquid chromatography to analyze hongyacha buds and leaves collected during the growing season.

101 comments

  1. Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought only coffee had caffeine?

    1. Re:Tea has caffeine? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      I thought only coffee had caffeine?

      Caffeine is produced by dozens of species of plants. It is a natural insecticide, and also discourages browsing since it tastes bitter to most mammals.

    2. Re: Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Any time in order decaf tea and everywhere they serve it, they assume I want an artificial sweetener. They just assume because I order decaf Iâ(TM)m not normal or something

    3. Re: Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They use it in chapstick, maybe?

    4. Re:Tea has caffeine? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Or maybe to encourage browsing and seed dispersal by birds and mammals while discouraging insect attack.

    5. Re: Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gigantic intellect

    6. Re:Tea has caffeine? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Informative

      Or maybe to encourage browsing and seed dispersal by birds and mammals while discouraging insect attack.

      Tea has caffeine in the leaves. Coffee has it in the seeds. Neither species benefits from these being eaten.

      Neither birds nor non-human mammals like the taste of caffeine.

      Btw: "Hongyacha" means "red bud tea".

      In every language the word for tea is similar to either "tea" or "cha". If tea first came to the country by sea, they adopted the Fujianese word "ti". If it came by land, they adopted the word "cha" used in northern China and along the Silk Road. The only exception is Japanese which uses "cha" despite tea first arriving by sea.

    7. Re:Tea has caffeine? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Funny

      It is a natural insecticide

      Ah, *that* is why it's so useful when I'm debugging.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    8. Re: Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. That is a weak explanation

    9. Re:Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought only oranges were orange! We should hang out.

    10. Re: Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      that joke was so bad it hurts

    11. Re: Tea has caffeine? by fibonacci8 · · Score: 1

      Like string theory, it has the benefit of being correct despite not being a strong answer.

      --
      Inheritance is the sincerest form of nepotism.
    12. Re: Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Itâ(TM)s easy to confuse that with the actual fact that nothing rhymes with orange get. With the program

    13. Re:Tea has caffeine? by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 1

      Neither birds nor non-human mammals like the taste of caffeine.

      To be fair, human mammals don't normally like the taste of caffeine either. It's an acquired taste, and often only after milk and sugar.

      --
      Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    14. Re: Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see you or someone has to reply to APK every time? For what purpose? Why has nobody told hi to go away? Or specifically where to go? He would have me literally beating my head on the wall

    15. Re:Tea has caffeine? by Rei · · Score: 1

      Like most science news in general, the coverage on this is poor. There are tons of Camellia species (the tea genus) which don't produce caffeine, many of which are consumed. What makes this one (Camellia ptilophylla) special is the very high theobromine content in the leaves (6%), thus the apparently recent English name, "cocoa tea".

      Tea contains a lot of interesting compounds, and the ratios between each one vary a lot depending on the Camellia species. Some have meaningful caffeine (including ones with much higher levels than C. sinensis (3%), including C. japonica (5%)). Others have little to none.

      --
      You people make me envy the deaf and the blind!
    16. Re:Tea has caffeine? by _merlin · · Score: 4, Informative

      In every language the word for tea is similar to either "tea" or "cha".

      Except for all these other languages. Did you learn that "fact" from the slashdot story a while back? You shouldn't believe everything you read on this website.

    17. Re:Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      In every language the word for tea is similar to either "tea" or "cha".

      Except for all these other languages. Did you learn that "fact" from the slashdot story a while back? You shouldn't believe everything you read on this website.

      I think it wouldn't be too hard to see "herbata" as combining herb+tea and letting it evolve over a few centuries. As for two extra words for languages that barely anyone speaks... well, exceptions confirm the rule. He is wrong, though, concerning "word by land" theory. In Portuguese the word is "chá" (sounds like "shaah") and the Portuguese reached China by boat. The page I linked above gives a better explanation.

    18. Re:Tea has caffeine? by dabadab · · Score: 2

      Actually four of your six examples DO come from tea, specifically from the latin "herba thea".

      --
      Real life is overrated.
    19. Re:Tea has caffeine? by azrael29a · · Score: 1

      In every language the word for tea is similar to either "tea" or "cha". If tea first came to the country by sea, they adopted the Fujianese word "ti". If it came by land, they adopted the word "cha" used in northern China and along the Silk Road. The only exception is Japanese which uses "cha" despite tea first arriving by sea.

      Ha, then explain why in Polish it's called "herbata" :->

    20. Re:Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ha, then explain why in Polish it's called "herbata"

      Easy. The "ta" in "herbata" (tea-plant) is the part that literally translates into "tea", and it sounds similar to the English word too. The reason for this is explained in the very text that you just quoted.

      It's basically a minor localisation of the Dutch "herba thee" meaning "tea plant/herb", referring to the Dutch word "thee" which also happens to be the direct source of the English word "tea". The Dutch got the word from the Fujian province of China, which was initially their main source of the plant.

      If you're looking for a decent exception to the "all words for tea come from either Amoy or Cantonese" factoid then I recommend going with the Burmese word "laphet".

    21. Re:Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Caffeine doesn't taste much at all.
      It isn't the caffeine that gives taste to coffee and tea.
      It is just there to stop insects and does nothing to discourage larger animals.

      Same thing for most spices. They are protected against insects but we eat them because we like the taste of their natural pesticide.

    22. Re:Tea has caffeine? by Sique · · Score: 1

      Actually, herba is the latin word herb derives from, and herbata indeed means something like "the herb tea". At least that's what the polish wiktionary tells us.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    23. Re:Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tea has caffeine in the leaves. Coffee has it in the seeds. Neither species benefits from these being eaten.

      Seeds being eaten, not fully digested, then growing where the animal defecates is a very common method of seed dispersal so that the plant grows away from its parent and doesn't compete for nutrients.

    24. Re:Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In every language the word for tea is similar to either "tea" or "cha". If tea first came to the country by sea, they adopted the Fujianese word "ti". If it came by land, they adopted the word "cha" used in northern China and along the Silk Road. The only exception is Japanese which uses "cha" despite tea first arriving by sea.

      And Hungarian, where it is the opposite.

    25. Re:Tea has caffeine? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Amazing. Four of the six things you mentioned are derived from "tea", and you didn't even notice.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    26. Re:Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hebata == cha

    27. Re:Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I drink coffee and tea unadulterated, but if I'm in the mood, I'll put a pinch of salt in and that masks much of the bitter. When I looked it up, sounds like salt is very important and takes priority over many other flavors. Instead of salt mixing with the flavors like most flavors do, the brain just strait up ignores the bitter and says "this is yummy, keep eating", because salt has historically been important.

    28. Re:Tea has caffeine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unless you have the characters handy, I think the "ya" here means office, and it's "red office tea."

  2. Desirable cafeine by manu0601 · · Score: 3, Funny

    these methods can affect the brew's flavor and destroy compounds that are associated with lowered cholesterol and reduced risk of heart attack or stroke

    Compounds like cafein, you mean?

    1. Re: Desirable cafeine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Compounds like cafein, you mean?

      Nope, but maybe caffeine?

    2. Re: Desirable cafeine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are gonna go far some day

  3. Not actually decaffeinated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Decaf" just means it's been soaked in Vaigra or Cialis.

  4. Re:You people need to STOP BULLYING ME... apk by viperidaenz · · Score: 0

    Maybe it would help if you stopped spamming your worthless shit on slashdot.

  5. Rooibos Tea by PPH · · Score: 1

    No caffeine. Discovered several hundred years ago.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Rooibos Tea by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 1

      It is not tea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      Just because it is marketed as tea doesn't mean it's actually tea.

      --
      Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    2. Re: Rooibos Tea by KixWooder · · Score: 1

      Rooibos is not technically tea as it does not come from a tea plant. Itâ(TM)s brewed like tea, but rooibos is bush unrelated to tea. Its tea like coffee is tea.

      --
      I hate fat people.
    3. Re: Rooibos Tea by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      It's also not tea.

    4. Re:Rooibos Tea by PPH · · Score: 1

      It is not tea.

      But then is Hongyacha tea?

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    5. Re:Rooibos Tea by Rei · · Score: 1

      Interesting plant, though. It likes very acidic soils - tolerating pHs as low as soda. It also likes high levels of alumium, which are normally toxic to most plants.

      --
      You people make me envy the deaf and the blind!
    6. Re:Rooibos Tea by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 1

      Is it a Camellia sinensis?

      --
      Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    7. Re: Rooibos Tea by crowne · · Score: 1

      Yes, and I remember being somewhat confused upon hearing some English folk discussing what they had eaten for their tea the previous evening...

      --
      RTFM is not a radio station.
    8. Re:Rooibos Tea by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      Doesn't have to be sinensis, camellia japonica tea also works, although it is somewhat bland, obviously not being cultivated for the taste. Other kinds of camellia might work as well.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  6. Re:Rooibos "Tea" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It tastes the same to some, and unpleasantly different to others. It's undertones and after-taste (without milk) are completely wrong to me, it seems only slightly more similar to tea than decaf coffee. Despite this the overtones are similar enough that it just feels like horrible tea rather than something different, mint of ginger tea would both be better.

  7. Green tea is great for you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I drink about 2 gallons a week, over ice usually. I brew my own. Caffeinated. I also drink about 32oz espresso a day as well. IT work for 21 years, so God Himself knows I need it.

    1. Re:Green tea is great for you by coofercat · · Score: 1

      Green tea is indeed mostly good for you - it's hydrating and has lots of things in it which are generally beneficial. It can however affect your absorption of iron. That's not necessarily a problem for many people, but for those who need to keep their iron topped up, lay off the green tea.

    2. Re:Green tea is great for you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > so God Himself knows I need it.

      If you think that you know what 'God Himself' knows or thinks then you really need to cut down on something that you are taking be that caffeine, heroin or LSD.

    3. Re:Green tea is great for you by sydbarrett74 · · Score: 1

      lay off the green tea

      Or just eat some organ meats.

      --
      'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
    4. Re:Green tea is great for you by coofercat · · Score: 1

      Most western diets already have plenty of meat in them, and so have plenty of provision for iron intake. Assuming you're eating meat pretty much daily, then there's already enough iron there. If you're not seeing it in your blood, then you have a problem with absorbing it. Sure, eating super-iron-rich foods may push your levels up, but dealing with the absorbtion issue could mean you don't need to do so. If you're drinking a couple of cups of tea per day, then switching from green tea to (say) rooibos may be enough to 'fix' your iron levels.

      That said, everyone's different. If you'd prefer to eat some liver and spinach instead of switching your tea - and it works out for you, then go for it.

  8. You could select for lower caffeine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't this already possible by simply selecting for lower caffeine levels? We did the reverse with tobacco and nicotine. I assume there simply isn't much demand for it.

  9. Lol. String theory... of all things. Good joke. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    String "theory" hasn't even left the realm of pseudoscience. It has literally not a single thing to show for all those wasted decades. It has always been either wrong, or could not make predictions that will ever be testable.

    So go join your pals at the ether, electric universe and flat earther club.

  10. Crappy measurement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What the heck is a gallon?

    I mean, they already have a measurement unit called "cups"; why not use that one when measuring amounts of tea?!?!

    It's like them saying "we drink 6 million gnufflegruffs of tea every year".
    Not easy to understand, those units.

    1. Re:Crappy measurement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a standard "cup" possibly exists in some context but I was under the impression the "cup" unit of volume is undefined.

  11. Caffeine-free in name only by crepe-boy · · Score: 3, Informative

    I read the article. The plant still produces a similar, related methylxanthine compound, theobromine. Drinking the tea will still have many of the effects of caffeine.

  12. Who drinks decaf tea? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I like tea. I've have about 5 different types of tea (tea leave, not that herbal infusion crap) in my cupboard. I drink tea a few times a week. I've rarely seen decaf tea for sale.

    Why? Because tea doesn't really have that much caffeine in it to begin with. Coffee seems to be a pick-me-up, but tea has always been more of something to calm you down.

    In other words, so what? There's little or no market for decaf tea now, why would there be one when you have to raise special plants that don't have caffeine in them at all?

    1. Re:Who drinks decaf tea? by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      In America the vast majority of the market is decaffeinated tea.

    2. Re:Who drinks decaf tea? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People who want to live a no-drugs life ("straight edge") as if they were Mormons? Literal Mormons?

      Or people who never drink coffee, to start with. I like to drink tea, but just like to drink a lot at once and brew a second time with the same tea.
      It's good but sometimes I do feel the caffeine some. So I don't drink tea really all that often. Depends.
      I like some herbal tea, my language fixes that problem by not calling it tea.

      I don't drink decaf tea, since I didn't know it exists.

      Another related problem. I went to e-cigs again : compared to years ago now I have one with twice the battery, more power, more reliable, an USB port on the battery.
      But I don't really know how much nicotin I'm taking in and although I went with some medium strength (11 and 12 mg/L) it might have quite some effect on myself. I'm not currently feeling any hunger. I might have other ways to feel hungry since I have no trouble finding my way to the kitchen still. I'm finding myself willing to buy another e-cig and smoke liquid with zero nicotin in it.
      Earlier, I would have thought this defeats the purpose but I just feel like the need to try this (and get a few fun fruity flavors, which I've always strictly decided against otherwise).

    3. Re:Who drinks decaf tea? by Yosho · · Score: 1

      I've rarely seen decaf tea for sale.

      That's because it doesn't exist. The decaffeination process used on coffee would destroy tea leaves. Anything you see marked as "decaffeinated tea" isn't actually camellia sinensis at all; it's probably either some herbal mixture or rooibos.

      That's why if this is an actual variety of camellia that naturally doesn't have any caffeine, it's a big deal.

      --
      Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
  13. Mint Tea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mint or apple spice tea....caffeine free since forever.

  14. Something is wrong. by dschiptsov · · Score: 1

    Caffeine is an evolution adaptation of plants to not being eaten by insects. It cannot be just got rid of. And a tea without caffeine is nonsense ;)

    1. Re:Something is wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bell peppers got rid of capsaicin whether that's good for them or not.
      That's good for me, I can just use paprika powder carelessly and get some of the taste I had in the days I used chili peppers (if I get less cheap and lazy I'll also use bell peppers directly)

      Maybe others of our foods are like that, we're more likely to keep the non poisonous ones near us.

  15. Eureka, he's a friggen profit! by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    They discovered covfefe!

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Eureka, he's a friggen profit! by Chrisq · · Score: 1

      No other president has had caffeine free tea discovered in his presidency. Surely this prove's he's the gretestest president of all time.

  16. The consumption will go down rapidly by andrewa · · Score: 1

    Now that I've moved back to England... My six-pot-a-day habit will have a serious impact....

    --
    :(){ :|:& };:
  17. Appropriate measurement by CaptQuark · · Score: 1

    Just because you don't use "gallons" in your location doesn't mean it is not the appropriate unit of measurement in this context. Notice the report is from the Tea Association of the US. Wouldn't you be more surprised to see the report say "Americans drink 16 billion liters of Tea"?

    A "cup" is also a hard to define. In the US, it is 8 US ounces, in the old UK system it was 10 UK ounces, and the international metric cup is 250ml. See the article "Cups and Ounces" here. https://www.thecalculatorsite....

    --

    1. Re:Appropriate measurement by jabuzz · · Score: 1

      Brushing aside the notion that American's drink tea (I thought you threw it in Boston harbour)you denounce cups based on the concept that there is standardized size for a cup.

      However you are fine with gallons. So would that be an Imperial gallon at 4.54609 litres (8 imperial pints) or the Queen Anne Wine gallon at 3.785411784 litres (231 cubic inches as used in the USA) or the US dry gallon at 4.40488377086l.

      Then again it could one of a whole series of pre 1884 UK liquid measures all called gallons.

    2. Re:Appropriate measurement by bobbied · · Score: 2

      Americans drink tea. The stuff we threw into Boston Harbor was in fact tea, but it wasn't thrown overboard because it was tea, but because it was being taxed.

      You see, the issue wasn't we liked coffee better, but that we liked not paying taxes and coffee was not subject to crazy tax rates by the crown...So, in true social justice fashion, it became un-patriotic to drink tea in the colonies. It was seen as spitting in George's eye, the guy in charge who didn't seem to care one wit about his subjects on this side of the pond. So the loyalists drank tea, and rebels drank coffee.

      Once coffee got a foot hold, folks acquired a taste for the tax free stuff and the rest is history, starting with a a bunch of tea drinkers hoping on boats and leaving the colonies.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  18. Pressure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They used high-performance liquid chromatography to analyze hongyacha buds and leaves collected during the growing season.

    High-pressure, not performance.

  19. IMPERSONATING ME AGAIN? apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    & NO WAY I'd "cry" like you "playing victim ne'er-do-wells" on /. (TROLL /.ers, not all) OR post on hosts offtopic.

    YOU HELPED ME https://science.slashdot.org/c... (& you quit trying to make me look bad trying to "tell lies" on hosts as "ME" IN YOUR IMPERSONATIONS of me e.g. https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... as regards Intel speculative execution attack? Hosts PREVENT 'EM)

    APK

    P.S.=> I KNOW the 2nd to last link above's KILLING YOU - YOU ACTUALLY HELPED ME getting me to see if hosts stop more than portsmash (& Meltdown + Spectre too) & "lo & behold" - hosts WORK on 'em - U LOSE... apk