What to drink while you work, by caffeine level

If you are choosing a tea to keep on the desk, the only property worth deciding on first is caffeine: how much, and how it is spread across the hours you actually work. Everything after that — flavour, how fussy it is to brew, how many refills it takes — is what determines whether the mug stays there past the first week.

The top of the scale: matcha and breakfast blacks

Matcha and breakfast-style black teas like Assam sit at the top of our caffeine scale. Matcha is there because it is powdered leaf whisked into water, so the whole leaf goes into the cup rather than an infusion of it. Black tea is there for the more ordinary reason that it is fully oxidised and generously dosed. Both suit a first cup of the day rather than a fourth. The honest caffeine ladder sets out the whole range.

The middle: sencha and oolong

Most green teas and oolongs sit in the middle of the scale, and this is where the working day tends to live. Sencha is grassy and clean and takes two minutes at 80°C, which is short enough to fit between two tasks. Oolong is the more interesting choice for a long afternoon because it re-steeps: the same leaves give several cups, each one a little different, so one measure of leaf covers hours without a trip back to the kettle.

The bottom: hojicha, kukicha and herbs

Roasted and twig-based greens like hojicha and kukicha are the ones to know about for late afternoon. They are still real tea, still toasty and satisfying, and they sit far lower on the scale than their leafy siblings — the roast is the reason. Below them, herbal infusions are at a flat zero, which makes them the option that does not follow you into the evening. Worth knowing: decaffeinated tea is not the same as caffeine-free, since the process removes most of the caffeine but not all of it. White tea is also mislabelled constantly — it is not the lowest-caffeine true tea, despite how often it is sold that way.

Brewing it so it does not go bitter at your desk

The failure mode at a desk is always the same: a cup abandoned mid-task, over-steeped, undrinkable. Two habits fix it. Take the leaves out on time rather than leaving them in the mug, and if the cup tastes weak, add leaf instead of minutes — extra time mostly extracts tannins, which read as bitterness rather than strength. The brewing chart has the temperature and time for every family.

Building the actual habit

The most useful thing a tea does at a desk has nothing to do with the leaf: making it takes you away from the screen for three minutes, several times a day. Pick something you like enough to get up for, keep the caffeine ladder in mind as the hours pass, and let the afternoon cups drift downwards. Our catalogue lists caffeine level, flavour notes and brewing for everything on the shelf.