Does a cup of tea have the same calories and caffeine in it regardless of its size?

[nykkieberry]

In other words, tea consists mainly of water, so does it matter whether you drink a small cup or big mug, if you use the same amount of tea (one bag), sugar and milk?

[j2buttonsw]

I would say yes. If you only put in, say, 1 tea bag, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1 splash of milk and stew the teabag for the same amount of time you are consuming the same amount of chemicals. It is the concentration of chemicals which is different (the large cup being more dilute).

[nykkieberry]

Thanks! I love my tea but want to cut down on caffeine - so now i can can just drink HUGE mugs of it three times a day instead of six seperate cups (with six teabags!) Of course, the logical answer would be caffeine free teabags before anyone suggests that!

[j2buttonsw]

Having said that, I bet you don't put the same amount of milk in and I bet you stew the tea for longer so it has the same "look" (ie the concentrations are the same). In this case you will consume more calories/caffeine in the larger cup.

[darth vader]

I tried to find a website to back me up but can't but i'm pretty sure there are zero calories in a teabag (assuming you don't consume one of course). Therefore if you add the same amount of milk/sugar then the calorie content stays unchanged.

with regard to caffeine content you have to consider the rate at which the chemical is "extracted" from the tea - whether the teabag is in a cup of boiling water or a bucket of boiling water, the rate of caffeine extraction will remain constant, so providing you brew the tea for the same amount of time, then the amount of caffeine in the large mug will be the same as in the small mug. This said, as J2B points out, using a single teabag in a large mug tends to mean a longer brewing time, to obtain the same depth of colour as with a smaller cup, so the increased brewing equals a greater quantity of caffeine in the mug.

[tracymort]

Obviously when pregnant (anod now breastfeeding) I had to cut out caffeine and found the best decaff (after many trials) was Clipper Organic Decaff. Even my dp who didn't have to give up caffeine drinks it.