Reduction of the hypervalent heme pigment ferrylmyoglobin by green tea catechins in aqueous solution of pH = 7.5 was investigated by stopped-flow spectroscopy. Reduction by the gallic acid esters epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG, k2 = 1460 L mol(-1) s(-1), 25.0 °C, 0.16 ionic strength) and epicatechin gallate (ECG, 1410 L mol(-1) s(-1)) was found faster than for epicatechin (EC, 300 L mol(-1) s(-1)) and epigallocatechin (EGC, 200 L mol(-1) s(-1)), even though the gallate ion (G, 330 L mol(-1) s(-1)) is similar in rate to EC. The rate for reduction by EC, EGC, ECG, EGCG, and G shows no correlation with their oxidation potentials or phenolic hydrogen-oxygen bond dissociation energy, but with the pKa of the most acidic phenol group. Theanine, with an acidity similar to that of EC, reduces ferrylmyoglobin with a similar rate (200 L mol(-1) s(-1)), in support of general acid catalysis with an initial proton transfer prior to electron transfer.