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Decaf Tea Found In The Wild (asianscientist.com)
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.
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.
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?
Or maybe to encourage browsing and seed dispersal by birds and mammals while discouraging insect attack.
No caffeine. Discovered several hundred years ago.
Have gnu, will travel.
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.
It is a natural insecticide
Ah, *that* is why it's so useful when I'm debugging.
Ezekiel 23:20
Like string theory, it has the benefit of being correct despite not being a strong answer.
Inheritance is the sincerest form of nepotism.
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.
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!
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.
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.
In America the vast majority of the market is decaffeinated tea.
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 ;)
They discovered covfefe!
Table-ized A.I.
Now that I've moved back to England... My six-pot-a-day habit will have a serious impact....
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.
Actually four of your six examples DO come from tea, specifically from the latin "herba thea".
Real life is overrated.
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" :->
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....
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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.
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.
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)
Amazing. Four of the six things you mentioned are derived from "tea", and you didn't even notice.
Ezekiel 23:20
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
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.