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It's not just the caffeine. I have imbibed oceans of both coffee and tea, and there is a drying, tightening effect in green tea that is NOT found in coffee. Tea does purge the bloat, and reduces or prevents skin puffiness/redness in the face for me. Also, it seems to whiten the skin, leaving it looking healthier - whether or not it is actually an increase in health by any measurable means is up to interpretation. Coffee does no such thing.
[QUOTE=Knifegill;939345]It's not just the caffeine. I have imbibed oceans of both coffee and tea, and there is a drying, tightening effect in green tea that is NOT found in coffee. Tea does purge the bloat, and reduces or prevents skin puffiness/redness in the face for me. Also, it seems to whiten the skin, leaving it looking healthier - whether or not it is actually an increase in health by any measurable means is up to interpretation. Coffee does no such thing.[/QUOTE]
This, totally this.
Whether it's an actual increase in health, I have no idea. But whatever causes it, I feel amazing after drinking tea. This is as much a reason to continue drinking tea as any I can think of. If it makes you feel good, why not?
Tea helps my hunger signals very well. When I can't figure out whether I'm hungry, I drink a cup of tea an if I was hungry I will now feel it and if I wasn't hungry I will feel full :). Also it helps with nausea
I'm a huge tea snob, and routinely buy teas that cost around $200 a pound. It's not a cheap habit at all. But the hubby and I love going to Chinatown (or to China when we have the chance) to go tea tasting and choose our favorites. There's nothing like a good cup of green tea in the morning. :)
At Teavana, I like their Huangshan Maofeng and the Dragonswell (both green teas, the Dragonswell being much less expensive). I am not really a fan of flavored teas, which is a good thing, because I found out that Teavana has dairy in a lot of their flavored teas, and I don't tolerate dairy well.
I also enjoy the occasional cup of Oolong. I love Feng Huang Dan Cong, and Ali Shan. But there's something about Oolong that gives me a super strong buzz, where green tea just gives me a stable feeling of energy.
[QUOTE=palebluedots;939401]I'm a huge tea snob, and routinely buy teas that cost around $200 a pound. It's not a cheap habit at all. But the hubby and I love going to Chinatown (or to China when we have the chance) to go tea tasting and choose our favorites. There's nothing like a good cup of green tea in the morning. :)
At Teavana, I like their Huangshan Maofeng and the Dragonswell (both green teas, the Dragonswell being much less expensive). I am not really a fan of flavored teas, which is a good thing, because I found out that Teavana has dairy in a lot of their flavored teas, and I don't tolerate dairy well.
I also enjoy the occasional cup of Oolong. I love Feng Huang Dan Cong, and Ali Shan. But there's something about Oolong that gives me a super strong buzz, where green tea just gives me a stable feeling of energy.[/QUOTE]
Good stuff. I love Oolong too. I wonder if you've tried Pu'erh tea. I found that......interesting.
There's a great company for Chinese tea in the UK called Attic Tea, their [URL="http://www.attictea.com/"]website[/URL] has some awesome quality teas from China, and they ship worldwide. But its worth checking out just for their [URL="http://drinklifedifferently.com/"]teablog[/URL], which has interesting musings on tea, including the most recent entry which discusses why caffeine in tea doesn't affect people in the same way as coffee.
I must declare a personal interest here - my girlfriend is the designer and web developer for this company, so I'm in no way plugging them or encouraging you to purchase any of the delicious fine Chinese teas. ;) She's paid by the hour though so neither of us stand to benefit either way!
[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=3]i'v e been a tea drinker for years. used to have 2 shots of espresso around 5:00 at work, in the restaurant, and after awhile realized i was getting headaches from it. gave that up.
we have teavana here and i get their early grey blue flower. i used to buy black litchi tea in chinatown, but they changed owners and changed the formula. i haven't found it since and that brings me sads.
i like strong black tea, always straight, no sugar, no milk.
after all the drugs i did in my 20s, this seems a harmless indulgence. :eek:[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS]Did someone mention tea? I, too, imbibe in the leaf nectar...:)
Make green iced tea - 3 gallons a day - for the family (I probably drink close to a gallon myself) - adding crushed fresh mint from the garden in season, along with a bit of lime juice and stevia. I have a question regarding the caffeine issue being discussed - I am using 7 green tea bags and one black tea bag per gallon of [U]cold[/U] water, steeping for a minimum of 5 hours, sometimes over night if I start it right before bed. Would you say that it is an excessive amount of caffeine developing in the liquid? I saw the numbers being discussed, but the assumption is that the tea leaves are being steeped in near-boiling water, one tea bag per 8-12 ounce cup.
Any thoughts on the caffeine load? I had severe caffeine addiction in a previous life (pills), and find that (in this life) a couple diet cokes get me wired for sound, whereas all this tea doesn't seem to affect me - no grinding of the teeth or sleepless nights:rolleyes:.
And I am delighted that there are more places to get people into the wonders of teas - so many types, so little time! [/FONT]
Judipurple, why cold water and not hot?
[QUOTE=JudiPurple;939529][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Did someone mention tea? I, too, imbibe in the leaf nectar...:)
Make green iced tea - 3 gallons a day - for the family (I probably drink close to a gallon myself) - adding crushed fresh mint from the garden in season, along with a bit of lime juice and stevia. I have a question regarding the caffeine issue being discussed - I am using 7 green tea bags and one black tea bag per gallon of [U]cold[/U] water, steeping for a minimum of 5 hours, sometimes over night if I start it right before bed. Would you say that it is an excessive amount of caffeine developing in the liquid? I saw the numbers being discussed, but the assumption is that the tea leaves are being steeped in near-boiling water, one tea bag per 8-12 ounce cup.
Any thoughts on the caffeine load? I had severe caffeine addiction in a previous life (pills), and find that (in this life) a couple diet cokes get me wired for sound, whereas all this tea doesn't seem to affect me - no grinding of the teeth or sleepless nights:rolleyes:.
And I am delighted that there are more places to get people into the wonders of teas - so many types, so little time! [/FONT][/QUOTE]
I wouldn't worry about it too much if it doesn't affect you. There's more to it than just caffeine levels in raw numerics, take a look at the teablog I linked to in my previous comment for a piece that sums it up.
[QUOTE=Gadsie;939387]Tea helps my hunger signals very well. When I can't figure out whether I'm hungry, I drink a cup of tea an if I was hungry I will now feel it and if I wasn't hungry I will feel full :). Also it helps with nausea[/QUOTE]
I know what you mean! If I was hungry, I still will be. If not, then I wasn't really hungry at all to begin with. :)