A presentation at the American Chemical Society's national meeting indicates that bottled teas contain less of the chemicals that give tea its health benefits when compared to home-brewed teas. It should be no surprise that mass-market, mass produced teas are less healthy—the amount of added sugar and unneeded calories ensures that. But Professor Chi-Tang Ho and Dr. Shiming Li found that the concentration of polyphenols—antioxidants commonly found in teas—was virtually non-existent.

Using high performance liquid chromatography, the researchers examined the chemical contents of six commercially mass-produced teas. The six teas analyzed contained 81, 43, 40, 13, 4, and 3 milligrams of polyphenols per 16 fl. oz. bottle. For comparison, a cup of home brewed green or black tea will contain between 50 and 150 milligrams of polyphenols, depending on tea variety and steeping conditions.

Polyphenols can give tea a bitter and astringent taste. To make it more palatable, manufacturers will add more sugar, and/or less tea to each bottle, reducing the health benefit of the tea itself. Given that tea sales clear $7 billion annually in the US, it is probably worth informing the public of what benefits, or lack there of, they are getting. Now I can feel even better about letting my freshly steeped cup full of golden monkey slip past my lips, and drink to my good health.