Does scoby incorporate L-theanine from green tea into its components?

[Guest guest]

Hi, Everyone!

I know that green tea contains L-theanine - an amino acid that calms

one down and improves the work of brain. However, green tea has

caffeine which is not desirable in this case. Scoby breaks caffeine

down, however, will it also incorporate L-theanine into its

structural components? Does anyone have a clue how to find this out?

Thank You.

[Guest guest]

Hi,

Where did you read that caffeine is broken down by the scoby?

> Scoby breaks caffeine

> down,

[Guest guest]

Hi

it was me that said that originally. And i've looked all over the internet for

the website i read it at (it spoke a lot of organic chemistry and seemed

perfectly legit) but haven't found it. I haven't checked Len's website yet as

i'm pretty sure it wasn't there, but it's worth a look. his info is pretty

extensive..................

blessings

mark

Re: Does scoby incorporate L-theanine from green tea into its

components?

Hi,

Where did you read that caffeine is broken down by the scoby?

[Guest guest]

Hey all,

Here is a page I frequent from time to time. Probably what you read Mark.

http://www.bluemarble.de/Norbert/kombucha/Nutrient/nutrient.htm

There is a bunch of info regarding the nutrients needed by kombucha

and how they are metabolized.

Here is a snip with the info in question:

SNIP>

Black or green tea provides all the additional components and growth

factors required by the Kombucha culture. It not only contains a

number of important trace elements but also nitrogen compounds,

carbohydrates, enzymes and vitamins. The stimulating components,

caffeine and theophylline, belong to the purine groups which are

required for building nucleic acids. Since these groups are used by

the microorganisms, it could be assumed that the caffeine and

theophylline in the tea are actually used up because they represent a

source of nitrogen. What happens to the caffeine in Kombucha tea is a

frequently asked question and this perhaps provides the likely answer.

Total nitrogen in black tea represents 4.5% of the dry weight: 0.92%

is found in soluble proteins, 2.51% is insoluble and 1.07% is

contained in caffeine (for a tea containing 3.71% caffeine) and

theophylline. According to one source (Abraham, 1995) green tea

contains 5% caffeine and black tea only 2%. Green tea therefore

provides more than twice the amount of nitrogen for the Kombucha

culture. It is important to keep in mind that herbal teas do not

contain these particular important nutrients and can for this and

other reasons not be considered very suitable for making Kombucha.

Günther (1994) already mentioned that Bing considers the purines

- and caffeine belongs to this family - as providers of important

nutrients for Kombucha. My assumption that the microorganisms in

Kombucha do in fact break down caffeine to obtain critical nutrients

is supported by an analysis performed by Chappuis. He reported

in a post to the Kombucha discussion group that he observed a

reduction of caffeine by 25% during the first two weeks. (Feb. 28,

1998).

Here is the relevant part of a table he included:

Analyte

0 Day

7 Day

14 Day

21 Day

Caffeine mg/l

196

163

147

147

pH

4.0

3.5

3.3

3.2

I would expect that theophylline, the other purine compound in black

and green tea, gets similarly used up during the " fermentation "

process.

<SNIP

Take Care,

Beau

On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 11:16:27 -0500, Mark-n-Suze

<limelite-1@...> wrote:

>

> Hi

>

> it was me that said that originally. And i've looked all over the internet

for the website i read it at (it spoke a lot of organic chemistry and seemed

perfectly legit) but haven't found it. I haven't checked Len's website yet as

i'm pretty sure it wasn't there, but it's worth a look. his info is pretty

extensive..................

>

> blessings

> mark

> Re: Does scoby incorporate L-theanine from green tea into its

components?

>

> Hi,

> Where did you read that caffeine is broken down by the scoby?

>

>

>