EXTRACTION OF CAFFEINE FROM TEA
Canadalla, Mary Flor N.
Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences, Visayas State
University, Visca, Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines 6521-A
Bachelor of Science in Agriculture
INTRODUCTION
One of the most popular caffeinated drinks consumed worldwide is tea. Caffeine
(C8H10N4O2) is a chemical found in coffee, tea, and other products (Postu, 2013). Tea bags
may readily be used to extract caffeine. In this experiment, extraction technique was used for
removing the caffeine from a mixture, in the process of boiling, decanting, filtrating, and
evaporating.
A solid-liquid and liquid-liquid extraction was included as a method of extraction. In
solid-liquid (tea bags – water) extraction, the tea was boiled in hot water for a short period of
time to extract most of the caffeine. Then the extraction of caffeine from the tea mixture by
liquid-liquid (CH2Cl2 – filtrate) extraction using the separatory funnel (Baptiste, 2020).
Caffeine has higher solubility in Dichloromethane. Organic solvent dissolves in organic.
Dichloromethane (CH2Cl2) was used as an extracting solvent, it is more accessible among
other solvents. The addition has resulted in distribution between the water layer and the organic
layer. The organic solvent layer facilitates the easier dissolution of organic compounds.
In this experiment, the students used a reagent in isolating the caffeine. The reagent
used are anhydrous calcium carbonate, anhydrous sodium sulfate and sodium chloride. In its
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pure form, caffeine is a white crystalline powder. In the process of acquiring the percent
recovery, it can be expressed by:
mass of crude caffeine Eq. 1
% 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 = × 100
weight of tea
OBJECTIVES
The conduct of the present laboratory exercise aimed to answer and accomplished the
following objectives:
1. To extract caffeine from tea
2. To determine the percent recovery of caffeine from tea
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 1: Results and Data Gathered
DATA
1. Weight of Tea + Beaker 17.16 g
Weight of Beaker 6.44 g
Weight of Tea 10.72 g
2. Weight of Erlenmeyer flask + Crude caffeine 120.82 g
Weigh of Erlenmeyer flask 120.51 g
Weight of Crude caffeine 0.31 g
% Recovery 2.89%
In this experiment, five (5) Lipton (Black Tea) tea bags weighed (10.72 g) was used as
a sample, in which the tea solution was the based form. The sample was boiled in a 250 mL
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beaker for 10 minutes in addition of distilled water (100 mL) and calcium chloride (5 g) which
functions as a base and combines with tannins. After heating, the tea solution was cooled down
in preparation for decantation and filtration. The Erlenmeyer flask was weighed and labeled
before being used for the filtrate.
In the filtration process they used fluted filter paper, it increases flow rate and loading
capacity by increasing the filter surface area.
Figure 1: Steps in the preparation of fluted filter paper
Setting aside the filtrate, the tea bags was again boiled in 100 mL distilled water, two
times. In the filtrate, 1.5 g of sodium chloride (NaCl) was added and dissolved. The addition
of sodium chloride decreases the formation of water-caffeine hydrogen bonds, with increasing
salt concentration there is a decrease in the probability of solvent separated ion pair formation
(Figueroa, 2020). The filtrate was then transferred in a separatory funnel and added a 10 mL
of dichloromethane as its extracting solvent. The addition of dichloromethane to the sample tea
solution containing caffeine has resulted in the transfer of caffeine in dichloromethane solvent.
The filtrate mixture was mixed well until two layers formed: an organic and aqueous layer.
Dichloromethane is denser than water with a density of 1.33 g/cm³. Which is why it is found
at the bottom of the separatory funnel, in the organic layer. Organic layer was drained into the
pre-weighed Erlenmeyer flask (120.51 g) and added 1g of sodium sulphate (Na2SO4).
Anhydrous sodium sulphate, a drying agent will absorb the small amount of water that is
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dissolved in the dichloromethane and a small amount of water from the aqueous layer that may
have gotten into the flask by accident. After swirling the contents of the flask, decanting the
liquid into a pre-weighed 120.51 g Erlenmeyer flask was done. In the flask, there were small
amounts of solids excessed. The clear solution of the organic layer in an Erlenmeyer flask was
covered with aluminum foil with small sized holes and was stored for one (1) week for further
observations.
Comparison of the permissible range for crude caffeine, according to Caffeine informer
website. It was stated that Lipton black tea contain an amount of 55 mg of caffeine per tea bag.
As the experiment required the used of five (5) tea bags, 55 mg (caffeine per tea bag) was then
multiplied to 5 (number of tea bags), which resulted to 275 mg and was converted to grams
resulting in 0.275 g. Comparably the crude caffeine that was isolated was noticeably more than
the standard caffeine (Lipton black tea) range by 0.035 g.
To acquire the percent (%) recovery, the students used the Equation 1. The mass of
crude caffeine or the crude white crystalline caffeine (0.31 g) was divided to the weight of the
tea (10.72 g) then was multiplied to 100, resulting in 2.89%.
mass of crude caffeine
% 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 = × 100
weight of tea
0.31 𝑔
% 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 =
10.72 g
% 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 = 0.0289 𝑔 × 100
% 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 = 2.89%
CONCLUSION
In conclusion to this experiment, dichloromethane will be used to decaffeinate Lipton
Tea. This experiment will be conducted to determine the caffeine content of used tea leaves.
We can conclude, from a series of experiments that have been carried out the weight of crude
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caffeine was relatively larger than the standard caffeine range and caffeine content of the tea is
also relatively high.
REFERENCES
International Journal of Advanced Research in Chemical Science (IJARCS). Extraction of
Caffeine. https://www.arcjournals.org/pdfs/ijarcs/v6-i9/2.pdf (accessed November 5,
2022).
Caffiene informer. Lipton Tea. https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/lipton-tea
(accessed November 6, 2022)
Baptiste, Elder Jean. Isolation of Caffeine. 2020
https://www.coursehero.com/file/75649926/Extraction-of-caffeine-lab-report-1pdf/
(accessed November 8, 2022)
Figueroa, Melanie. Extraction of Caffeine from Tea. 2020 https://www.studocu.com/en-
us/document/new-mexico-state-university/organic-chemistry-ii/lab-report-extraction-
of-caffeine-from-tea/7345981 (accessed November 5, 2022).
