Title? Steeping too long apparently releases tannins which end up making the tea taste bitter, but what does this do to the health benefits and caffeine content of the tea? I have white tea that lists the caffeine as 15-25mg per cup (bag I assume), and it says to steep it for 4 minutes. So at 4 minutes the caffeine is already at the maximum and I can just leave the bag in there for 30 minutes if I wanted too and the caffeine would still be the same?

And more importantly does a long steep time have any negative effects on antioxidants or other health benefits of tea?

(I don't care about taste)

EDIT: Just found this:

"When it came to white tea, the antioxidant properties were affected by time but not temperature. It was able to retain most of its antioxidants whether it was steeped with hot water or cold water extraction—but teas steeped for 2 hours had more antioxidants than those which had only steeped for 5 minutes. In other words, the longer it sits, the more antioxidants you'll sip."

"Green tea's antioxidant capacity is dependent on time and temperature. Flavonoids were the same whether steeped in hot water for five minutes or two hours, but prolonged cold water extraction of green tea produced the highest free-radical-scavenging activity. If you're in a rush or if cold water isn't your thing, not to worry, steeped green tea in hot water for five minutes still had very high antioxidant levels."

"In contrast to white tea, black tea shouldn't be left to steep for too long. The more time black tea sits in hot or cold water, the more it loses antioxidants. Black tea showed its best antioxidant activity after a 5-minute hot water extraction."

So I guess to get the most out of it I let it steep for 2 hours if possible