to acidify or to not acidify, that is the question

[visionarybear]

hey guys, was just wonmderinging on the merit of adding lemon juice to herbal teas, this is more a general question, how much would the actual extraction of alkaloids form the plant matter be effected by a squeeze of lemon juice?

i know that this is different for each chemical, but generally is it advised or not, this is especially true for mixes of herbs in teas.

would it in turn be better to let it seep for awhile in hot water then add lemon juice and let sit for longer?

i know there is lotsa chemistry involved in this, i could try find the best academic answer by looking at chem structures and pkas and such but jus wondering if there is a simple yes or no answer...

[Avery L. Breath]

Yes..... no...... yes, yep, sure..... I'm absolutely possative.

..... What was the question again?

I bet distilled water would do just about as well.... but I'm not much of a tea drinker.

[visionarybear]

yes i do waffle and not make sense often...

simplified:
when making herbal teas, is it generally better to:
1.steep in hot water
2.steep in hot water with lemon juice to acidify
3.steep in water and then add lemon juice and steep longer

is there a general answer or just trial and error depending on the herb in question?

[Avery L. Breath]

...... just poking fun.  I didn't neccisarily view your post as waffley or anything.

Am thinking the answer really depends on if you like Lemon juice or not.

[Stonehenge]

Not that I know that much about the subject, but I'd assume that a little lemon juice or anything acidic would tend to bring out more alkaloids since they come out better with a low ph than neutral or high. One thing I've tried that I can recommend very highly is an expresso maker. Run your herbs through that a time or two and you'll get out a lot of goodies. I tried it with some poppy pods (legal ones of course) and it did the job very well. It works fast too, like 5 minutes from start to finish of each run. You might use some lemon juice with the expresso maker to get everything but make sure your pot can take the juice and not corrode.

Expresso makers work under the principle of super critical fluid extraction. Water is the solvent but changes from a liquid to gas and back again which tends to get out even things not very soluable in water.

Stoney

[visionarybear]

thanks stoneyn that was the principle i generally work off, and the bonus is lemon juice m,akes some bitter brews taste much better, californian poppy the one that comes to mind 1st. espresso machine sounds like a great idea, i jus remembered i had one in the cupboard at my parents the otherday!

avery, it doesnt worry me, i get told i make no sense on a daily basis so im used to it, i also tend to loose grammar when i ritew long emails to friends, it frustrates them..hehe... so really i just read into it what i already knew...

[Jacko]

There was something about lemon juice added to pod tea being able to convert some of the papaver alks. to the sinister lady M that is prized by some.  Maybe that was from Hogshire's book, hard to recall just now though.

[eigenstate]

Yes, adding lemon juice should help extract more alkaloids and thus enhance tea taste, unless you don't like lemon juice, that is.

acid house
eigenstate

[winder]

Acidity will do something else for herbal extracts -- suppress the tannins.

Tannins are polyphenols that are bitter.
Polyphenols are very weakly acidic and are less soluble in acidic media.
Thus lemon actually helps remove the tannins from the dissolved form of the tea extract.

[Susanoo no Mikoto]

I drink my infusions straight.

[anti-light]

hey... i have to say that fresh lemon juice cuts the bitterness of gunpowder grade green tea quite nicely.......

yup.... and its prana adds a nice personality to the high of fresh green tea...



umm.... lemon grass is optional!!!

[Green2Herman]

Put something over the cup also.