tea ball vs. bag per cup?

You'll only be getting the amount of the `healthy' chemicals as are in the tea leaves, of course. More tea leaves, more of the chemicals.

Nevertheless, concentration doesn't matter that much. Dilute drinks taken over the course of the day should be fine, up to a point. In fact, it's almost certainly better than drinking 20 cups (or however many you average) with new tea leaves each time. That would probably be far too much caffeine.

You should figure out how many fresh cups a day suit you, and then refresh the leaves appropriately during the day.

Cheers,

- Joel

I see what you're saying, but what I really want to know is, if the tea is rich and full, can I assume that there are plenty of catechins, phenols, etc? Or, do those properties weaken and become dilute at a different rate than the taste and color of the rest of the tea?

Peter

You can't make that assumption. Each chemical becomes dilute at a different rate. I don't fully understand all the details, but I think it comes down to how quickly a chemical leeches from the leaves during infusion. If it leeches quickly, it will be present only in the first few cups and then the concentration will drop off sharply. Other chemicals may leech slower and maintain a more steady level from cup to cup. All this *might* come down to water solubility, but I expect it's more complex.

Caffeine is the typical example of a chemical that drops off in concentration very quickly. That's why discarding an initial quick infusion works as an ad hoc decaffeination. I'm sorry, but I don't know how the other chemicals behave.

Cheers,

- Joel

Thanks very much. That definitely sheds some light on the subject.

Largely if not mostly what determines the taste and color of tea are the various antioxident polyphenols such as catechins, flavonoids, tannins, theanine, vitamins, minerals, etc (I don't play a chemist on TV.) These constituents are released on a bell curve and if I were guessing a 10 minute infusions of white tea buds would release 90% of the healthfull benefits. Obviously tea volume is no more than concentrate. I always error on more volume. A teabag in a cup taste bad a couple in a pot taste great and make sure you get the first cup from gongfu service. You could pull the tea ball certainly after 30m and not throw anything away. The bell curve says multiple infusions can't taste the same. Sure you could slice it up for equal area but then brewing times vary which certainly isn't gongfu. So let your tastebuds do the talking and the healthfull chemistry takes care of itself.

Jim

Well, it sounds like I'm fine with leaving the teaball in and getting plenty o'good stuff.

thanks for the info.

Peter

Are you sure? You can tell superficially that many of the chemicals in teas don't have a colour from the fact that green and white teas do not infuse much colour into the water. Caffeine is tasteless, odourless and colourless. Only some polyphenols, not even all of the flavonoids, have a colour. Similarly with taste. Despite the name, some flavonoids are tasteless.

While you're right about the bell curve as far as I know, wouldn't the standard deviation of the curve vary from compound to compound? That's what I meant by differint `rates' in my other post. I don't know the details, but the solubility of these compounds will be affected by other compounds, by the pH of the water, etc. A rudimentary web search turns up at least one flavonoid that is hydrophobic.

It would be nice if all these compounds behaved roughly the same way, but I really don't think it happens, and I wouldn't trust taste and colour.

Cheers,

- Joel

I think the chemistry of constituents in tea is pretty well known. I just listed some that came out at my fingertips in response to the health inquiry. The totality is the taste of tea and even the colour for unoxidized teas. So whatever makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck from gunpowder or the hot flash from a Chinese oolong is part of the taste. I think most teas fit the standard bell curve because it is the same plant and the multiple infusion argument would make the curve platykurtic (flat) and the best single cup leptokurtic (peaked). My experience the first cup is the best and all that varies is the amount, time, volume with given constants that vary according to your locale like altitude and water standards. Taste is all you can trust. I'll accept the fact tea makes a good compost but I'm not going to brew tea that long to find out.

Jim