Comment by voytec
3 years ago
L-theanine is a hell of a drug!
And 65-75°C is a safe bet for almost all greens. Germs won't survive on dried herbs with no access to water.
Bacterial spores can survive on dry stuff and these can be inactivated by high temperatures, but 65°C should do. Also, we humans have this cool ability to raise body temperature to kill unwelcome stuff, so we're good until cordyceps evolves.
Toxins on the other hand, may be able to survive even boiling.
Go for 65-75°C and don't ever taste bitter green tea.
Just in case you wanted to optimize your extraction technique: "The optimal conditions for extracting theanine from green tea using water were found to be extraction at 80 °C for 30 min with a water-to-tea ratio of 20:1 mL/g and a tea particle size of 0.5-1 mm." https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21735551/
Funny thing, botulism toxin does not survive boiling temps, but its spores do.
Don't the spores only matter for babies and the severely immunocompromised?