Publication date : 24 Jan 2024

About this book

Tea is the world’s most popular beverage. Dive into a cup of tea with a chemist and discover the rich molecular brew that can be extracted from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. Tea contains over a hundred different chemical compounds which contribute to its colour, taste and scent – and its stimulating effects. The best-known is caffeine, but how does caffeine end up in tea and how can you get it out?

Beginning with the leaves, Steeped explores the chemistry behind different styles of tea, from green teas to pu-erh. It tackles the age-old question of when, or even whether, to add milk. And it puts the chemistry to use with advice on how to brew a better cup.

Contents
Chapter 1 A Cup of Chemistry
1.1 The Mysterious Wilhelmina Green
1.2 What This Book Is About
1.3 What This Book Is Not About
1.4 An Incredibly Brief History of Tea
1.5 Chemistry Lessons
1.6 Chemistry TL;DR
1.7 A Slightly Longer Course in Chemistry
1.8 Chemistry’s Big Ideas
1.9 How to Read a Chemical Structure—or
What Do Molecules Really Look Like Anyway?
1.10 Decoding Chemical Names
1.11 Molecules in the Mirror
1.12 Pouring the Big Ideas Into a Teacup

Chapter 2 Reading the Tea Leaves
2.1 Tea Is a Work of Art
2.2 Wither or Not?
2.3 Bruised and Battered: Enzymatic Oxidation
2.4 Killing the Green: Hitting the Off Switch
2.5 Maillard’s Reaction
2.6 Shaped and Dried

2.7 Microscopic Chemists: the Making of
Fermented Pu’erh Teas
2.8 White and Yellow Teas
2.9 From the Leaf to the Cup
2.10 Brewing a Better Cup
Further Reading
References
Chapter 3 The Drug in the Cup
3.1 A Stimulating Beverage
3.2 An Atom’s Eye Tour of Caffeine
3.3 Molecular Locks and Keys
3.4 Adenosine: A Molecular On/Off Switch
3.5 Blocking the Signal to Sleep
3.6 Caffeine and Humans: It’s Complicated
3.7 From Cup to Receptor: Brewing a Dose of
Caffeine
3.8 Pharmacokinetics or Why Am I Still Awake
at Midnight After Having Had Tea at 4?
3.9 Side Hustles
3.10 Can You Get Addicted to Caffeine?
3.11 What Does the Plant Get From Caffeine?
3.12 Making Tea Without Caffeine
3.13 Beyond Caffeine
3.14 Brewing a Better Cup
Further Reading
References
Chapter 4 The Taste of Zen
4.1 A Joy and a Delight
4.2 A Molecular Inventory
4.3 Reading the Tea Leaves
4.4 A Taste of Zen
4.5 A Potent Wizard
4.6 Molecular Zen: l-Theanine
4.7 The Power and Peril of Oxygen
4.8 Catechins: Can You Catch Them All?
4.9 Molecular Chameleons
4.10 Bitter Dregs: Other Alkaloids
4.11 Fluoride Is in More Than Your Toothpaste
4.12 Metals and Minerals
4.13 Tea Is Radioactive and So Are You

4.14 Organic Acids and Vitamin C
4.15 Insects Are a Feature Not a Bug
4.16 Brewing a Better Cup
Further Reading
References
Chapter 5 The Agony of the Leaves
5.1 Extracting What You Want
5.2 Making a Cup of Tea
5.3 Tea is Mostly Oxidane
5.4 “Tea You Have Not”: Time and Temperature 126
5.5 Hotness Levels
5.6 A Little Agitation Is a Good Thing
5.7 Tea Grown Cold
5.8 Exhausted Leaves Get a Second Wind
5.9 Tea in an Instant
5.10 Brewing a Better Cup
Further Reading
References
Chapter 6 Sugar and Spice
6.1 Spicing Up a Cup
6.2 Milk
6.3 Milk or Tea First?
6.4 A Taste of Honey
6.5 Naturally Sweet: Sugars
6.6 Sweet Surprises
6.7 Tiny Proteins
6.8 Molecular Love Triangles
6.9 Chai: Tea Can Be Hot in More Ways Than
One
6.10 Tea. Earl Grey. Hot
6.11 Drink This With a Grain of Salt
6.12 Lemon
6.13 Brewing a Better Cup
Further Reading
References
Chapter 7 Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water
7.1 The Technology of Tea
7.2 What Comes Between You and Your Tea:
Teabags, Balls, and Baskets

Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea By Michelle Francl