Shizuoka First-Flush Sencha vs English Breakfast Tea
Unoxidised against fully oxidised: the single decision that separates every tea on earth.
| Shizuoka First-Flush Sencha | English Breakfast Tea | |
|---|---|---|
| Caffeine | 50 mg | 50 mg |
| Serving | 8 oz cup | 8 oz cup (240ml) |
| Strength (per 100 ml) | 21.1 mg | 20.8 mg |
| Acidity | Low | Moderate |
| Category | Green | Black |
| Origin | Shizuoka, Japan | Blend of Assam, Ceylon and Kenya teas, England |
| Best for | Teapot & mug | Teapot & mug |
| Water | 75°C | 98°C |
| With milk | Either way | Takes milk well |
| Tastes of | Fresh Cut Grass, Young Greens, Sea Breeze | Malt, Brisk, Full Body |
Which one, for what
Worked out from the two records above rather than asserted, so nothing here can contradict the table.
- A hard morning startToo close to call
- Drinking it after sixToo close to call
- A sensitive stomachShizuoka First-Flush Sencha
- Taking it with milkEnglish Breakfast Tea
- Something to sit and pay attention toToo close to call
- Making it without special equipmentToo close to call
Axis by axis
Short answer
Published tables usually put black tea somewhat above green tea per cup, but the ranges overlap widely. CupCura's two records land level: 50 mg for an 8 oz cup of sencha and 50 mg for an 8 oz cup of English Breakfast. At these recipes, caffeine should not decide between them. The colour of the leaf is a poor guide on its own, and brewing matters about as much as the type.
Why the cups can end up level
The CupCura recipes pull in opposite directions. The sencha recipe uses 5 g of leaf per 200 ml of water at 75°C (167°F), steeped for 1 to 1.5 minutes. The English Breakfast recipe uses 3 g per 240 ml at 98°C (208°F), for 3 to 4 minutes. Sencha therefore gets roughly twice the leaf per millilitre but cooler water and a much shorter steep. That is editorial reasoning, not a measurement: more leaf can offset cooler, shorter extraction, so the cups can arrive at a similar number. What measurement does support is that steep time changes caffeine in the cup.
Per 100 ml the catalogue figures are about 21 mg for each drink.
What published measurements say
The USDA lists brewed green tea at 12 mg of caffeine per 100 g and brewed black tea at 20 mg per 100 g. For an 8 oz cup of about 237 g that is roughly 28 mg and 47 mg. The FDA's consumer table gives 37 mg for 12 fl oz of green tea and 71 mg for black tea, about 25 and 47 mg for 8 fl oz. CupCura's black tea figure sits right on those values, while its sencha figure sits well above them, which fits its heavier leaf dose.
Lab data add a caution. A study of 20 commercial teas brewed in 6 and 8 oz servings found 14 to 61 mg per serving across white, green and black teas, with no observable trend by tea type, and found that steep time changed the result. A review gives 11.3 to 24.7 mg per gram for green tea leaf, which shows how much the starting leaf alone can vary. The NHS uses a planning figure of about 75 mg for a cup of tea (it gives black or green as examples), higher than CupCura's. Sources assume different cup sizes and strengths, so treat all of these as ranges, not as facts about a given teabag.
Which to pick
Because the catalogue doses match, choose on flavour and method, and adjust caffeine by how you brew.
- Sencha if you want a quick brew, cooler water and no milk. See the sencha brewing guide and the green tea temperature guide.
- English Breakfast if you want a bolder cup, plan to add milk and prefer a longer, hotter steep. The black tea brewing guide covers it.
- Less caffeine from either: use less leaf or steep for less time. You cannot brew the caffeine away; the tea caffeine guide goes further.
- Ask a clinician first if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or on medication affected by caffeine. The NHS advises no more than 200 mg a day in pregnancy; see the pregnancy caffeine guide.
The FDA describes 400 mg a day as a level not generally linked to negative effects for most adults, and says sensitivity varies. At CupCura's figures that is eight cups of either, though stronger brewing and larger mugs get there sooner.
Honest limits
Both records are single catalogue figures for one assumed cup. Real caffeine depends on the leaf grade, whether it is a teabag of broken leaf or whole needles, the dose, the water and the time, and it can move by a factor of two or more. In published tables black tea usually reads higher, so a typical green tea would likely come out lower than the sencha recipe here. This page says nothing about other differences between the teas, since the evidence behind health claims for either is mixed and outside a caffeine comparison.
Questions
How are green tea and black tea made?
The difference is processing. For green tea, leaves are heated to stop oxidation, by steaming in Japan. Black tea is withered, bruised and fully oxidised. Sencha is steamed; English Breakfast is a blend of fully oxidised black teas.
How do they compare with coffee?
Clearly lower per cup. The FDA gives 113 to 247 mg for 12 fl oz of brewed coffee against 71 mg for black tea and 37 mg for green tea.
Is green tea or black tea healthier?
This page does not rank them. The measurable difference here is caffeine, and your own tolerance and any medical advice should decide.
Sources
- FDA, Spilling the Beans: How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?
- NHS, Foods to avoid in pregnancy
- USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy: green tea, brewed (FDC 171917); black tea, brewed (FDC 173227).
- Chin JM et al., Caffeine content of brewed teas, J Anal Toxicol 2008, doi:10.1093/jat/32.8.702
- Kochman J et al., Molecules 2020, doi:10.3390/molecules26010085
- McHugh T, How Tea Is Processed, Food Technology Magazine, IFT, January 2018