TEA AND COFFEE: TWO WAYS TO EXPERIENCE CAFFEINE

Coffee and tea do not occupy the same place in our daily routines. Coffee is often associated with a quick, almost immediate burst of energy. Tea, by contrast, is more readily linked with a gentler, more gradual lift, one that many people find better suited to sustained concentration. This perception is widely shared. It does not, however, mean that the caffeine in tea is somehow different.

Caffeine is the same molecule whether it comes from tea, coffee or yerba maté. Once consumed, it is rapidly absorbed by the body, with peak blood levels generally reached between 30 minutes and 2 hours. Yet this similar absorption profile does not explain why many people report a different experience when drinking tea rather than coffee. Tea contains a range of compounds that may interact with caffeine. However, the available evidence does not suggest that they significantly slow or block its absorption. Other naturally occurring substances in the leaves, such as L-theanine, may also influence the overall experience after a cup of tea. Even so, this hypothesis should be treated with caution, as many studies have used doses around four to twelve times higher than those found in a normally brewed cup.

If the difference in how tea and coffee are experienced cannot be clearly explained by slower caffeine absorption or by the action of a single compound in tea, the most convincing explanation probably lies elsewhere: in the amount of caffeine that is actually extracted during brewing.

The Difference is Likely to Occur Before Absorption – In The Cup.

Tea leaves typically contain around 20–40 mg of caffeine per gram, a similar order of magnitude to coffee beans, depending on the species and variety. A cup of tea, however, is not prepared using the same quantity of raw material as a cup of coffee. Studies on brewed tea commonly use 2–3 g of leaves for 150–200 mL of water. By comparison, an espresso is usually prepared with 7–9 g of ground coffee, while a filter coffee typically uses 12–18 g for a 250–300 mL cup. As a result, a serving of coffee generally contains around two to five times more caffeine than a standard cup of tea.

Brewing therefore makes all the difference: the amount used, the volume of water, brewing time, temperature and the surface area exposed all influence caffeine extraction. Finely ground coffee presents a much larger surface area, allowing its compounds to dissolve rapidly in water. Tea, by contrast, is often brewed from whole or rolled leaves, which release their caffeine more gradually.

Analyses carried out by Camellia Sinensis illustrate this difference under real tasting conditions. Using 5 g of leaves brewed in 500 mL of water, the Ceylan New Vithanakande, for example, yielded 88 mg of caffeine in the analysed infusion. Yet laboratory analyses of some black teas report caffeine contents of around 22–28 mg per gram of dry leaf, suggesting that, for the same quantity of tea, around one and a half times more caffeine is theoretically present in the leaves than is recovered in the brewed cup. In other words, not all of the caffeine contained in the leaves necessarily diffuses into the infusion.

Taking the time to explore a cup of tea therefore suggests a simple explanation for its gentler stimulation: tea is often a less caffeine-rich drink than coffee, and the brewing process does not always extract the full caffeine potential of the leaves.

Key Takeaways

  • The caffeine in tea may feel gentler than the caffeine in coffee, even though it is exactly the same molecule.
  • Although caffeine from tea and coffee reaches peak blood levels over a similar timeframe, the experience can still feel different.
  • A typical cup of tea contains, on average, two to five times less caffeine than a typical cup of coffee.
  • Unlike coffee, tea does not usually release all of its caffeine into the brewed cup.

Bibliography

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  • GIESBRECHT, Timo, RYCROFT, Jane A., ROWSON, Michelle J. et DE BRUIN, Elske A. The combination of L-theanine and caffeine improves cognitive performance and increases subjective alertness. Nutritional Neuroscience, 2010, vol. 13, n° 6, p. 283-290. DOI : 10.1179/147683010X12611460764840. PMID : 21040626.
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