Coffee

BY ALEX ZORACH

Tea is a popular beverage made from the leaves and sometimes other parts of the Camellia sinensis plant. Tea is one of the most popular beverages in the world, and is widely consumed in numerous countries. Coffee, on the other hand, is also widely popular, and is somewhat more popular in the United States. Both of these plants contain caffeine, a drug which has a number of different effects on the human body, the most noticeable of which is a boost in alertness and energy level.

Why do these plants contain caffeine?

The positive or desirable effects that caffeine have on the human mind and body, including a boost in alertness, focus, concentration, and energy or activity level, are in a sense "side-effects" of the original purpose of caffeine. Caffeine does not exist for humans; humans discovered the drug, by accident. The true purpose of caffeine is as a poison to protect plants from animals that might eat them--particularly, insects.

Caffeine is a poison, even to humans. The doses of caffeine that humans consume in coffee and tea are quite small, measured in a quantity of milligrams. Even a very strong cup of coffee tends to have well under 200 milligrams of caffeine. Tea has much less, ranging from 15-75mg for a typical 8 ounce cup. Large doses of caffeine become toxic...first producing undesirable effects (including jitters, anxiety, and general malaise) and becoming dangerous (weak or irregular heartbeat, and other potentially life-threatening conditions) at higher doses. Caffeine can even kill a human.

Humans are fairly robust animals, able to process large quantities of a lot of chemicals that nature throws at us. We have large livers, and kidneys and other biological systems which are designed to process and remove toxins efficiently. Our liver contains numerous enzymes, including ones which gradually convert caffeine to more harmless byproducts which are eventually excreted from our body safely.

Insects, and smaller animals, do not have this luxury. With their small bodies, they cannot afford to carry around large livers full of lots of different types of enzymes. Insects tend to specialize in eating certain foods, carrying with it only enough enyzmes to process whatever chemicals that insect encounters in its diet. To most insects, even a small amount of caffeine is toxic.

Where do the tea and coffee plants produce caffeine?

The protective function of caffeine is immediately evident if one looks at the concentration of caffeine in various parts of the tea plant. The leaves on the tea plant that are most vulnerable to being eaten by insects or any sort of herbivore are the tender young leaves. Tougher leaves are harder to chew; the structure of the leaf itself affords the plant some protection against herbivores, insects or otherwise. So the plant focuses its chemical defense, caffeine, in the new leaves. This is why tippy teas, those containing a greater portion of tips and leaf buds, tend to be much higher in caffeine than teas made out of larger, more mature leaves.

So, next time you drink your cup of tea or coffee in the morning, think about what you're drinking. A convenient drug to boost alertness? Yes. But realize that that drug originated not for you, but to protect a plant against pests. Our enjoyment of caffeine is a convenient accident of biology!

Alex Zorach is the creator of RateTea.net, the definitive source for tea-related info on the net. RateTea features ratings and reviews from users like you, and a has a database of teas classified by brand, style, and region, with a wealth of information about each varieties of tea. You can also learn more about the caffeine content of tea, including discussion of what makes certain teas contain more or less caffeine than others.

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