The least processed tea is ...?

This is folklore. There's no reason to expect more caffeine in a cup of black tea than you'll find in a cup of green tea. This issue has been ventilated many times on RFDT, and nobody has yet provided evidence for greater oxidation leading to more caffeine.

/Lew

And yet they feel more stimulating. It might be the taste itself, or it might be other stimulants that IIRC are present in tea. This isn't a simple matter, in my opinion. I feel that it's not only a matter of how strong of a stimulating effect you get but also that the effect is different in nature. For instance, coffee and to a lesser extent, black tea, will make me feel jittery, but not an oolong or a green tea. Crystal meth is probably like coffee, but even more so.

Hmm, I don't notice a difference. And I just googled to try to see if oxidation diminishes the level of theanine in tea, which could explain what you perceive. I came up empty (not that this is conclusive!)

I'm relieved that you use the word "probably".

/Lew

Haha! I don't really know. :P I think you may be right, though. With black teas, you often have pulverized teabag assam and ceylon teas that will have a stronger effect perhaps because caffeine is more readily released from tea dust. I'll never get the same effect from a black tea with large leaves like golden Yunnan, even if you use the same weight of leaves and brew 10 times longer. But, I imagine, if you made green tea into dust, it'll be close if not the same.

Why not try green teabags, or even matcha, and report back to us?

/Lew

I don't want to spend ~$4 on lousy tea! All japanese teas I tried smell and taste fishy. I may be insane, but the way I figure, I don't want fishy flavor anywhere near my tea.. but I've heard gyokuro can be good. Can anyone tell me if gyokuro is also fishy?

No matter.. what I'll do is take a cheapo young hyson tea from specialteas (I think) and put it into mortar & pulverize it to bits. And *then* report back!

Oxidation - the pc term for fermentation in tea - does NOT affect the theanine level. "Oxidation" as a process in tea is strictly the enzyme catalysed oxidation of catechins to theaflavins mediated via Polyphenol-oxidase or PPO. Theanine being an amino acid is unaffected by PPO. Fermentation is however a whole lot more than just oxidation, hence my preference for the former term, as it includes post oxidation condensation and polymerization of theaflavins into many species of thearubigins - none of which processes requires any oxygen - nor have any affect on theanine level. There is potentially a slight reduction in theanine level during firing (drying) due to Maillard reaction of amino acids with sugars - but this should equally affect green teas.

Nigel at Teacraft (at present on vacation in Italy)

On 2007-10-15, Nigel wrote: [snip nice post]

One of my (strange) chef friends, as an aside, was thinking of getting MAILLARD tattooed onto his knuckles. (However, he decided not to, because most people would just ask why he tattooed MAIL and LARD onto his hands.)

Have a great time!

N.

YES . Nigel, where can i find a detailed technical write up on these processes?

I see your point about "oxidation". But the reason I habitually use that word instead of "fermentation" is to reserve the latter for what goes on in tea leaves when microbes get involved. That's become important to me since I started to love Pu'er.

Thanks for introducing me to M. Maillard. I wonder if his reaction has anything to do with the alchemy of roasting oolong?

Well, bella bella, as the kid says in _Gregory's Girl_, but I hope you brought your own tea leaves!

/Lew

I thought theanine is a function of leaf age?

Green tea is made of younger tea shoots, which has higher theanine to polyphenol ratio ...

This is part of the reason why young leaves are used to make white/ green/yellow tea, because there is less polyphenol to oxidise, and you will never try to expose the theanine for extended period of time .... they disappear quickly ...

Japanese green tea is fishy probably because they are steamed made rather than pan roasted...

I am very curious about Gyokuro. I really wonder how much an authentic Gyokuro would cost.

Any good recommendation of a reliable source?

Julian

That can't be the reason, because not all Japanese steamed tea is fishy (though some of it definitely is.)

/Lew