FOOD NEWS
The Japanese Tea Variety With The Biggest Caffeine Boost
By Elias Nash
The Japanese city of Uji, located in the southern portion of Kyoto prefecture, is a tea drinker's paradise, as tea cultivation first took hold in Japan after being introduced to the nation from China in the 13th century, according to Google Arts & Culture. Ujiu's tea, referred to as Uji-cha, comes in three basic varieties, all under the umbrella of green tea: matcha, sencha, and gyokuro.
Matcha is well-known beyond Japan in its powdered form, followed by sencha's conventional style featuring dried and rolled tea leaves, but gyokuro is probably the least known outside of Japan. However, within the country, it is widely considered the best of the best and has the highest caffeine content among Japanese teas, sometimes even eclipsing that of coffee.
Gyokuro differs from other green teas because its leaves are deprived of sunlight for about 20 days before harvesting with nylon or rice straw. Tealife explains that blocking out the sun prevents the theanine present in the tea plant from converting into the bitter-tasting catechin, helping the tea become thicker and slightly sweet with an umami flavor smelling similar to seaweed.
Although Food & Wine claims, "Gyokuro has about 1/3 as much caffeine as a single cup of coffee," they don't specify how much tea is being compared. However, when looking at the numbers, both Tealife and Shizen say gyokuro has about 160 milligrams of caffeine while Nio claims around 120-140 milligrams of caffeine per cup, surpassing coffee's 80-100 milligrams per cup.