Development and Properties of Green Tea with Reduced Caffeine

Kieko Saito; Yoriyuki Nakamura

Kieko Saito Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Shizuoka, Yada, Shizuoka 422-8526, Japan and Tea Science Center, University of Shizuoka, Yada, Shizuoka 422-8526, Japan.
Yoriyuki Nakamura Tea Science Center, University of Shizuoka, Yada, Shizuoka 422-8526, Japan.

Keywords: Camellia sinensis, green tea, reduced caffeine, anti-oxidative activity, anti-lipase activity

Abstract

Caffeine is one of the main components of green tea and has side effects such as sleeplessness. Senior citizens, children, and pregnant woman should avoid tea despite its known beneficial effects. In this study, we developed green tea with reduced caffeine content (low caffeine tea) as a palatable tea that can be offered to everyone. To reduce the teas caffeine content, we subjected the plucked tea leaves to a hot-water spray process, and successfully produced a low caffeine tea infusion with 30% the caffeine content. The concentrations of other main components, such as catechins and theanine, in the low caffeine tea infusion did not differ from the control. Further, the physiological function of the tea was assessed; the anti-oxidative activity was investigated using a stable free radical and the anti-lipase activity using an artificial substrate. There were no significant differences between the infusions of low caffeine tea and green tea in anti-oxidative and anti-lipase activities. The results showed that our developed low caffeine tea could be an attractive high quality tea with health benefits for everyone.