Skirting Around Green Tea Caffeine Issue
What makes your morning beverage so special that it wakens your senses and muscles up? Are you aware that there is also such a thing as green tea caffeine? Thus, green tea can make a great substitute for coffee in the mornings considering how it is packed with many healthy advantages.
One must be cautious of caffeine as it is addictive; yet, you can get stimulated especially on mornings when you need some perking up to keep the mind focused, alert, and retentive. Because caffeine is such a strong stimulant it is still unhealthy even if coming from green tea caffeine, so one must be therefore careful with. In green tea, caffeine is an alkaloid that comes with other alkaloids and stimulants like theobromine and theophylline. Another active ingredient, L-theanine which is an amino acid in green tea extracts, counters this by offering relaxing benefit.
Is it a practical decision to stop drinking green tea just to avoid its caffeine. There is really no need to forgo the healthy rewards of green tea because there are ways to get around the issue of caffeine. Before firming up a decision, consider the following tips that may help you:
Drink green tea that is known to contain less caffeine or decaffeinated. Read the labels for more information.
Loose tea leaves generally have lesser caffeine than teabags.
Use less tea leaves in steeping or brewing and water hotter than 80 to 85oC to reduce caffeine.
Throw away the first infusion which contains more caffeine or dilute it for additional cups to be shared with others.
Young tea leaves are more caffeine-rich and healthier. Using less tea leaves may help without sacrificing the benefits. Using green tea that are derived from older leaves can be an option.
Drink up while it is hot as active ingredients like catechin and theanine bind with caffeine when medium is hot, thus rendering the caffeine weak.
These are just some ways to minimize the green tea caffeine. One need not avoid it like plague because the health benefits are just too many. Do not abuse caffeine and there will be no problems.