Good decaf greens, whites, oolongs?

Decaf teas are almost never as good as caffeinated tea because they usually start with a lower quality leaf. Lupica has some good decaf teas and so does Simpson and Vail (www.svtea.com) but these are mostly black teas. I have never seen a decaf white or oolong and greens are very rare.

S&V has a green tea. It’s quite nice. Also, Bird Pick has a roasted oolong called “Royal High Mountain Decaf” which is also a favorite. Several other companies have a decaf green tea, but rarely do they have more than one. I’d love to find another oolong (or a ripe pu-erh) that is decaffeinated.

Thanks, it seems that Verdant doesn’t have any in stock (they seem to have multiple teas made from it). I’ve just emailed them to see if they plan on carrying it again. I haven’t heard of that relative to the tea plant. Nor have I found another seller of it. I totally agree that a decent decaf puerh would definitely sell well here in the States. The CO2 method really does retain a lot of the flavors. If you get the Bird Pick oolong, I’ve found that I prefer it weaker and won’t put in as many leaves.

It’s a bit on the obvious side to mention it but tisanes would be an alternative. Paranoia about issues related to pregnancy can get out of hand but it wouldn’t hurt to check a general source like WebMD related to drinking them; that kind of content can be a bit incomplete and dated but it’s usually a decent summary of accepted medical knowledge, even if a bit overly general. My wife said she craved different things related to being pregnant with both of our kids, but I can’t imagine that even if what that implies is completely valid, that she was reacting to nutritional demands, that you and your body would be familiar with the effects of lots of herbs and roots. I’m all about drinking plain teas myself, and largely moved on from an interest in tisanes in the past, but I would think the potential for health benefits could match well with that set of nutritional demands. It might even work to extend it to look into traditional knowledge about what other cultures recommend as supplements for during pregnancy. We tend to discount anything that hasn’t been proven in “the West” but some degree of traditional knowledge is probably completely valid, just relatively unproven, with another proportion of it probably just wrong.

I hadn’t heard of the term tisane before. If it’s just herbal tea, I much prefer tea from camellia sinensis. Plus, I don’t like fruity flavored teas either.

Tea people don’t like sharing that word, so tisane is just another word for herbal tea. Have you considered or tried a tea (infusion, if someone must) from rosemary or sage before? It wouldn’t be for everyone but I like those. There are dozens of alternatives, all of which would taste different, and the potential to blend them. Floral versions are common, but these might group in the same way fruity versions would for you. I absolutely can’t stand artificially flavored black teas (although an Earl Grey or jasmine black tea can be nice), and your problem might also be with what commercial teas are like, not so much the potential range.

Consider trying houjicha. This roasted green tea is very popular and has very low levels of caffeine, like if it was a decaf tea.

I’m afraid that houjicha would be too high at times. It looks like another option for my borderline days. This article says that bancha has about the same caffeine. http://www.myjapanesegreentea.com/why-is-houjicha-low-in-caffeine

Also, I got a message from Verdant saying that they expect to get more Crassicolumna tea in the fall.

Genmaitcha, might also be a possibility.