Tea for Two and Two For Tea

Me for you and you for me...sorry had to get it out of my system. Anyway I saw on Blog2Lose that people were talking about tea, decaf to be exact in most cases. Well I've had a momnesia attack...earlier today I read on someone's blog about how to decaffeinate tea at home, any tea. Oh my gosh, I wish I could remember where I read it...anyhow...lol here's a few tips that I see reoccurring and the links I got them from...Enjoy!

How to remove caffeine from Tea

Approximately 80% of the caffeine in tea is released during the first 30-seconds of steeping, therefore to remove most of the caffeine from any tea simply
1) Pour boiling water over the tea leaves
2) Allow the leaves to steep for 30 seconds
3) Pour out the brew, saving the steeped leaves
4) Re-steep the same leaves with more boiling water for the recommended steeping times.

From: http://www.clusterflock.org/2006/10/how-to-remove-caffeine-from-tea.html

Removing caffeine from tea is a matter of 'washing' it

Discussing the process of coffee decaffeination in an earlier post, I mentioned my "trick" for keeping the caffeine low in tea: steeping
the leaves more than once (and yes, I did admit to using tea bags, a topic for a future post I'm sure). Bruce Dearborn Walker piped in
and mentioned that many tea drinkers "wash" their leaves in one quick steeping of hot water before drinking to remove most of the
caffeine.

With good tea, a 20- or 30-second steep won't remove much flavor and, in fact, many tea houses wash some types of leaves before
serving as a matter of course (like the Tao of Tea in Portland). My big question is, how much caffeine does this really remove? And
does it really remove the nutrients, as well? Have any great chemistry minds done the research? And if not, do we have any readers
who'd like to dive in and test the caffeine in several varieties of post-wash tea?

From: http://www.slashfood.com/tag/remove+caffeine/

And last but not least...

How to Make Caffeine-Free Green Tea in Your Own Kitchen

by Kristie Leong MD, Sep 3, 2007
Green tea has an amazing array of health benefits. Unfortunately, not everyone can tolerate the caffeine in green tea. Here's how to
remove caffeine from green tea in your own kitchen.

It seems we learn more every day about the amazing health benefits of green tea. This amazing drink is thought to reduce the risk of
a variety of chronic diseases including heart disease and certain types of cancers. Drinking green tea each day has even been
shown to lower the risk of contracting certain infections. Is it any wonder that the medical community is recommending drinking this
drink every day?

Unfortunately, not everyone can tolerate the side effects related to the caffeine content in green tea. Caffeine acts as a nervous
system stimulant which can result in such unpleasant symptoms as excessive nervousness, a rapid pulse rate, increased blood
pressure, and difficulty falling asleep. In persons who suffer from heart disease or hypertension, caffeine in high doses can be
dangerous.

If you can't tolerate caffeine, but you'd still like the health benefits of green tea, what are your alternatives? You can buy decaffeinated
green tea, but your tea may have been decaffeinated by a chemical process which removes many of the beneficial catechins that
are thought to be the active substances that protect against disease. Plus, it can be hard to find a good selection of flavored green
teas that are caffeine free.

Why not prepare your own almost caffeine free tea at home? It's a lot easier than you might think. This caffeine removal process
works because more than 80% of the caffeine in green tea is released during the first 30 seconds of steeping. Here's how to make
caffeine free green tea in your own kitchen:

1. Prepare your boiling water as you normally do.
2. Arrange your tea bags or loose green tea leaves in your pan.
3. Pour the boiling water over your tea bags or lea leaves and allow it to steep for 30 seconds.
4. Discard the hot water which should contain more than 80% of the caffeine found in the tea leaves.
5. Prepare a fresh pot of hot water and steep your tea as usual.

While this method won't produce completely caffeine free green tea, it will remove 80-90% of the caffeine. Since green tea naturally
has anywhere from 20-40 mg. of green tea, removing 80-90% of the caffeine leaves you with somewhere around 2-8 mg of caffeine
which is a level most people can tolerate. Plus, the caffeine removal process is so quick and easy!

If the caffeine in green tea is causing problems for you, give this method of producing almost caffeine free green tea a try. You can still
benefit from the health benefits of green tea without all those jitters.

From: http://www.gomestic.com/Cooking/How-to-Make-CaffeineFree-Green-Tea-in-Your-Own-Kitchen.43694

I knew the info existed I just had to find it!!! Now I think I'll have a cup of Earl Grey in the morning!!! Or maybe some spiced Chai!!!

I don't frequent any of the above sites and the info I'm posting is just copy and pasted from other sites, so the highlighted links are their doing, not mine!