Black tea is produced by oxidizing the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. This plant also gives us oolong and green tea, with the only difference being the aging of the harvested leaves.
Traditional medicine uses Black tea to treat headaches, low and high blood pressure, and stomach ailments. Many also believe it can assist in the prevention of Parkinson’s disease and some cancers. Our question is, does black tea have quercetin?
Quick Answer: Yes – Black tea does contain quercetin. Compared to other similar foods, its quercetin content is high.
Quercetin Content of Black Tea
Black tea provides 1.99mg/100ml of quercetin and is rich in manganese, potassium, and many flavonoids.
Is Black Tea High in Quercetin?
Compared to other foods, black tea is very high in quercetin.
Let’s take a look at how it compares to 5 similar foods.
- Coffee only possesses 0.05mg/100ml of quercetin, 1/40th of what black tea provides.
- Green tea has about 25% more quercetin than black tea, with 2.49mg/100ml
- As you would expect, Oolong tea falls between black and green tea with 1.3mg/100ml of quercetin.
- White tea offers no quercetin.
- Commercially produced ready-to-drink black tea contains 0.74mg/100ml of quercetin, a fraction of what brewed black tea provides.
Sources:
WebMD “Black Tea “: https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-997/black-tea
USDA Database for the Flavonoid Content of Selected Foods: https://www.ars.usda.gov/arsuserfiles/80400525/data/flav/flav_r03.pdf
Hey, I’m Joey. I’ve been cooking since I was a little kid and love everything about it. You can find my writing about food, kitchen appliances (such as blenders) and much more. Thanks for stopping by!
