Jasmine Tea Caffeine Content

Jasmine tea is a common sight in most Chinese restaurants, where it is popularly served before dinner. This tea has a unique flavor comprising a combination of slight sweetness and acridness and is favored for the refreshing feeling it brings to the body and mind. We all know that tea contains some amount of caffeine. So does jasmine tea have caffeine? Several people are worried about jasmine tea caffeine content, which is why we will specially look at this aspect of jasmine tea in this article. However, before heading into that, let us have a quick look at how jasmine tea is prepared?

How is Jasmine Tea Made

Originating from the Sung Dynasty, jasmine tea is a type of tea prepared by scenting green, pouchong or oolong tea with the fragrance of fresh jasmine flowers. During the day, scores of jasmine flowers are harvested and stored in a cool place until the night. It is at night that these flowers bloom to the fullest and are the most fragrant. At night the tea leaves are layered on the floor or flat surface over which these fragrant jasmine flowers are layered. The fragrance or scent from the flowers gets infused into the tea and envelopes the tea leaves completely in four hours or more. This process is carried out 6-8 times and thus, jasmine tea is formed.

How to Prepare Jasmine tea

Jasmine tea is available in specialty tea stores in various forms. They are available in the form of tea bags and candy, loose leaf tea, tea powder or even in the form of tightly rolled balls called jasmine dragon pearls tea. The tea will also differ in the quality. Quality of jasmine tea depends on the quality of green, black, oolong or pouchong tea used to prepare jasmine tea. Moreover, it also depends on the effectiveness of scenting process. Jasmine tea can also be found in large retail outlets. To prepare jasmine tea, choose from the different versions available. Most folks use the dragon pearl form, which can be prepared by adding ½ teaspoon of jasmine tea balls into boiling water and allowing it to steep for 2 minutes.

How Much Caffeine Does Jasmine Tea Have

People today are caffeine conscious and are trying their best to avoid as much caffeine as possible. This is because caffeine is known to have detrimental effects on the heart and overall health. Moreover, pregnant women are also asked to limit the amount of caffeine consumption per day, because caffeine can pass on to the fetus and cause complications. On the other hand, some folks are sensitive to caffeine and have no choice but to avoid it completely. We all know tea and coffee contains caffeine. However, what about jasmine tea?

Just as the other forms of tea such as black tea, white tea, green tea, oolong tea, etc. contain caffeine, jasmine tea also contains caffeine. It's quite obvious because jasmine tea is nothing but green tea or other teas scented with jasmine. So the contents of the base tea will be the contents of the jasmine tea, except the additional fragrance and flavor. The amount of caffeine in jasmine tea will depend on the place where the tea was grown, when it was picked and the variety of base tea. So what is jasmine tea caffeine content? One cup of jasmine tea contains 5 to 20 mg of caffeine.

To decrease the jasmine tea caffeine content intake, you can wash your loose tea leaves by allowing them to steep for 2-3 minutes and then discarding this liquid. Now steep the tea leaves again for another 2-3 minutes. The latter liquid will have lesser jasmine tea caffeine content. One can also pick up decaffeinated jasmine tea from the store. However, by doing this you are not just forfeiting caffeine, but the flavor and the tea's nutritional content to a large extent. The flavor of decaffeinated tea changes the taste to a more metallic kind of flavor and also destroys most of the antioxidants in the tea. Therefore, it's better to avoid purchasing the decaffeinated form.

If you really want to reduce the amount of jasmine tea caffeine intake, choose high quality loose leaf jasmine tea while buying it from the store. Jasmine tea caffeine content is higher in tea bags than in the loose tea form, moreover, it also contains lesser antioxidants. To tap most benefits, get the loose tea form only. Besides, higher quality tea means you can steep the same leaves more than once to prepare tea. This way the second tea formed will contain lesser caffeine content than the first. This reduces your overall caffeine intake.

Now that we know that jasmine has caffeine, the next question arises 'is caffeine in tea bad for you?' Research reveals that some amount of caffeine benefits our body, while another research says caffeine can conduce to nervous breakdowns. The key to this problem is 'moderation'. Excess levels of caffeine in the body can prove deleterious. On the other hand, there is no need to become extremely health conscious and completely avoid jasmine tea, just because it has some caffeine. Have jasmine tea in moderation and everything will fall into place. Do not forfeit the numerous jasmine tea health benefits you will receive from this tea, just because of the small amount of jasmine tea caffeine content.