Coffee Vs Tea

[Homer55]

Ive heard this rumour for ages now, which contains more caffine Tea or Coffee?

[Clanad]

According to the Stash Tea site, While coffee and tea are both sources of caffeine, the amounts of caffeine in any single serving of these beverages varies significantly. An average serving of coffee contains the most caffeine, yet the same serving size of tea provides only 1/2 to 1/3 as much.(Ref.: Caffeine by The Institute of Food Technologists' Expert Panel on Food Safety & Nutrition.) One of the more confusing aspects of caffeine content is the fact that coffee contains less caffeine than tea when measured in its dry form. The caffeine content of a prepared cup of coffee is significantly higher than the caffeine content of a prepared cup of tea. . .

[Gef]

Impossible to answer as there is no such thing as a standard cup of coffee or a standard cup of tea.

[naz_nomad]

Pond for Pound, there's not a vast difference ... but in a cup, coffee has loads more caffeine than tea of the same liquid volume

[theprof]

To start with, you need to appreciate that variations in caffeine content in specific plant species results from diversity in varieties, climatic variations in the growing area and the horticultaral techniques used during growing. As a result it cannot really be standardised.

As far as tea is concerned, young tea leaves contain the highest caffeine concentration. So it does depend whether your cuppa has been made with young tea leaves or old tea leaves.

The processing conditions also affect caffeine content of coffee. Much caffeine is lost via sublimation during high temperature roasting of coffee beans although not all beans undergoe this treatment.

It should be remembered that there is a higher level of caffeine in tea than in coffee beans per se, but 200 cups of tea as the beverage are obtained per pound of tea, whereas only about 40-60 cups of coffee are prepared per pound of coffee beans.

The mean (average) figures expressed as a percentage are approximately as follows:

Arabica Coffee 1.2% caffeine
Robusta Coffee 2.2% caffeine
Instant Coffee 3.3% caffeine
Decaff. Coffee 0.06% caffeine
Black Tea 3.0% caffeine
Green Tea 1.9% caffeine
Instant Tea 4.8% caffeine

Because instant coffee is a fairly random unverifiable blend of beans, the caffeine content can vary between batches.

[theprof]

The percentage figures I cited above are the caffeine content in the dry products.