CONCENTRATION OF CAFFEINE IN Camellia sinensis

Abstract

Considering that tea is the second most consumed drink in the world it is important not to have excess caffeine in its composition since it causes some physiological effects to human health such as diuretic and chemical dependence. The present project had as objective to compare the results obtained from the determination of caffeine in teas from the Camellia sinensis species with those found in the literature. For that, three samples of white tea, three of green tea and three of black tea of the same brand were used. The analyzes were performed in triplicates and caffeine determined by spectrophotometry in the ultraviolet region. Black tea had the highest caffeine content (0.106 mg / g), white tea 0.082 mg / g and green tea the lowest (0.067 mg / g). However, the three types of teas have low concentrations when compared to the literature that presented values between 14.3 and 40.0 mg / g of caffeine of tea.