Possible Green Tea Allergy :-(
Hi Tea people! I’m brand knew here so go easy on me. After making the decision to quit coffee (I have a serious addiction) I’ve become very interested and excited about tea. In my quest to find a tea that could help me through the withdrawal process, I discovered matcha. I loooovvveeeddd it however, one small drawback…I immediately got a sore throat, ears started hurting, and my breathing felt shallow. Eek! I thought I was just getting sick so I didn’t make the connection. Next morning I felt completely find. Drank more matcha and had the same issue. I stopped drinking it and have been drinking black tea for the past few days. No issues and I loved it. Well, I got a lovely lavender green tea and decided to try it today. I know matcha is very highly concentrated so I figured it would be fine to drink the regular green tea, well I’m experiencing the same symptoms on a much milder scale. Anyway, has anyone on here heard of a green tea allergy? Anyone experience it or know anything about it. Also, if I am indeed allergic to green tea will I totally be missing out on the tea experience? Any other teas to watch out for if I have a green tea allergy?
Thanks everyone!
I have heard of this, but I don’t think I have it. I do have trouble drinking green tea, especially matcha — it tends to make me nauseous for hours at a time. I actually did a thread like this about a week ago when I first signed up here. I’m not sure why this happens. I didn’t expect it because I’ve been a black tea drinker all my life, and I tolerate that very well.
I don’t think you’ll be totally missing out on the tea experience — there are so many other things to try. Also, I don’t like green tea that much, but that’s just me.
I did get the free samplers from Den’s Tea and Yunomi, and I’m planning to try some of what they sent just to be sure. They just arrived yesterday, and I’ve got so many other things that I really like right now that I haven’t been able to make myself open any of them yet. I’m gonna try the hojicha first, I think, because it’s roasted, and I’m wondering if my issue is with the Japanese steaming method — I think maybe I just have trouble digesting it.
If you really like the taste of green tea, maybe you could try some lightly oxidized green-ish oolongs to see if you can tolerate those better? Although… I’ve been told that people who have trouble with green tea may also have issues with the greener oolongs and even white teas. But who knows how you’ll respond to it?
But one other thing… If green tea is making you experience serious allergy symptoms like throat closing up, I’d be careful about consuming anymore unless I had an EpiPen on hand.
I don’t think it can be an allergy or you would get the same reaction from black tea. It could be a sensitivity to matcha. There is a big difference and it is much less serious.
+1. I’m thinking if it was an allergy, it would be to the camellia sinensis plant as a whole, and therefore you wouldn’t be able to drink black tea without the symptoms. It could be psychosomatic?
Here’s my usual answer, though I have no allergies so I can’t help there. Green tea often makes me nauseous. Green oolongs and whites also do the same quite often. I think it is entirely possible to have one type of tea bother you and not another, but I don’t think that makes it an allergy. There’s also a long step from nausea to breathing problems, etc.
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