Recently I have heard and read from a source or two, that if you steep a teabag for 30 seconds, throw out the water and then make another cup of tea, your tea should be 90% caffeine free. I am a little paranoid about doing the wrong thing, and if it wasn't winter, I would be tempted to not have warm drinks at all (but it is getting too cold these days).
Generally accepted is that a cup of black tea contains about 40-60mg of caffeine, so 'they' tell us that a few cups a day should be fine. However, I would rather not have to worry, so I did a bit of research:
According to a study done by Hicks et all published in 1996 in Food Research International, steeping a tea for 15 minutes and then flushing it out removes 100% of the caffeine. Experiments have shown that steeping for about 5 minutes works quite well in retaining the flavour and that removes about 70% of the caffeine.
The data from their finding extrapolated below shows the caffeine extraction percentages within the 5 minutes period. Steeping for:
30 seconds – 9%
1 minute – 18 %
2 minutes - 34%
3 minutes - 48%
4 minutes- 60%
5 minutes - 69%
10 minutes - 92%
15 minutes - 100%
From: http://39steeps.blogspot.jp/2009/07/tea-myth-busted-90-of-caffeine-comes.html
Because 10 mins would probably take away most of the taste, along with the caffeine, I have switched to Roobios- which is caffeine free, and supposedly quite good with the health effects. It doesn't taste like black tea, but it might be the closest substitute you can get. Mind you, I think with everything- pregnant or not- moderation is always key.
Bottoms up...
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