Green tea comes from the same Camellia sinensis plant that gives us oolong and black tea, but the leaves are not fermented. Used in herbal medicine for thousands of years, doctors today continue to find new and exciting benefits from drinking green tea or taking it as a supplement. The question is, does green tea contain quercetin.
Quick Answer: Yes – Green tea does contain quercetin. Compared to other similar foods, its quercetin content is high.
Quercetin Content of Green Tea
Green tea contains 2.49 milligrams of quercetin per 100 milliliters and is a rich source of vitamins A, E, D, C, B, B5, H, K, and the powerful antioxidant epigallocatechin-3-gallate.
Is Green Tea High in Quercetin?
Compared to other foods, green tea is very high in quercetin.
Let’s take a look at how it compares to 5 similar foods.
- Black tea contains 1.99mg/100ml of quercetin, slightly less than green tea.
- Green tea offers much more quercetin than coffee which only provides 0.05mg/100ml.
- Instant tea drinks deliver 0.87mg/100ml of quercetin, far less than green tea.
- Oolong tea provides 1.30mg/100ml of quercetin, just over half of that contained in green tea.
- White tea has less quercetin than any other type of tea, completely lacking Flavonol.
Sources:
National Library of Medicine “epigallocatechin-3-gallate“: https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Epigallocatechin-gallate
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!
