caf-FEIND
So I used to down coffee, rockstar and jager bombs like no one’s business between going to school, debate team, having a job and taking care of my father.
Well life has slowed down and I’m not partying like crazy, but apparently instead of developing a tolerance to caffeine, I’ve become caffeine sensitive.
I am afraid of decaf, I was afraid of decaf coffee and I’m more afraid of decaf tea. What I am thinking of doing is strecthing out my caffeine consumption by alternating between a few cups of herbal and a cup of caffeinated tea. That said, does anyone have any reccommendations of their favorite herbals and/or NATURALLY decaffinated tea blends?
I love my black teas and green teas, but the caffeine is killing me! I’m suffering a never ending headache and going to bed when the sun comes up in the sky.
Resteeps have less caffeine. The only decafs I have tried a flavored teas and none that I like enough to recommend.
Yeah, we have a bunch of grotty fruit flavored herbal teas that I like to forget exist. I have a teeny tiny bit of a rooibos sample that I suppose I can stretch until I can go tea-testing again.
headache sounds like caffeine withdrawal rather than sensitivity (sensitivity is basically where if you have a cup of tea it makes you violently ill, nauseated, heart palpitations, shaking or twitching, sharp changes in blood pressure either too low or too high.). might need to wean yourself off slowly my dear.
I recommend chamomile if you like very very floral stuffs. other wise i would recommend a high end green tea. Republic of teas Double green tea (sencha/matcha mix) is really good. it is caffeinated but the theanine in the tea cut the caffeine down. if you want you can purchase L-theanine pills/capsules/chewables/chewing gum from the health food store and just take 100mg of that when ever you want something caffeinated, you wont have the jitters, crash, or “heart attack” that you normal might get.
and L-theanine by its self will make you awake like caffeine but extremely calm. like if you wanted to take a nap you could or if you wanted to go jogging you could. might want to test that out :D.
The L-theanine sounds interesting! I will need to research it. With me and caffeine normally what happens is that if I’m not up and active my heart races and I’m a bit jittery, uncomfortable but not deadly. I suspected it was a withdrawl, which sucks because I get it an hour or so after a cup of tea. >.> I have too many of these withdrawls. Between caffeine and nicotine (quitting smoking) my body HATES me.
ah. I did not know about the Nic. that might be part of the problem as well. Caffeine also messes with your stress hormones.
Yup. sounds more like withdrawal. if you go from really high levels of daily caf. to lower levels you can still experience withdrawal.
Yes yes. I’ve taken it for therapeutic reasons for a few months now. It has no side effects and is not habit forming. it’s usually marketed for stress or anxiety reduction. but i know a lot of (online) tea drinkers take it to dampen caf. or supplement it’s alertness effects.
I see! Ill have to be extra careful; I have to avoid depressants. If it just inhibits caffeine then it should be fine. Thanks for the info!
uh… I don’t think it is a depressant… or a stimulant.
from what i understand it crosses the blood brain barrier and (gosh i dont remember which one!) either it metabolizes into gaba or stimulates the production of gaba. somewhat similar to an anti-anxiety medication, but without the crazy side effects. might want to talk to your doctor then before taking it to make sure it is right for you. :D wouldn’t want you to get sick. but most likely your doctor wont even know what you are talking about.
So long as its not a depressant I should be fine as I already suffer from clinical depression. I have a hollistic doctor I can check with.
I developed a sort of intolerance to caffeine last year, no idea what caused it, probably all the coffee I drank in the summer and energy drinks, but I started weaning off tea by drinking ones that were a bit less caffeinated – white teas mostly. Then I switched to entirely herbal and rooibos. Now I’m finding I can tolerate a lot more again, so it might have been a hormone phase. However, I still feel so-so if I drink a not as high quality caffeinated tea (upset stomach, can’t sleep, etc), however, if I have a very high-quality green or white, I feel amazing and can sleep really well. So I think it depends on the tea, but I would definitely start out slowly decreasing your intake, then switching to all herbal/rooibos if possible.
Hope this helps a bit, and I hope you feel better! Good luck with quitting smoking too, you can make it!! :)
Tea leaves that are harvested later in the season are naturally lower in caffeine. Japanese tea growers are very good at processing these leaves into a tea that can be drank everyday, at night, and by children. They are the roasted green teas such as Houjicha and Bancha. The roasting process also naturally decaffeinates the tea. We are featuring a Houjicha and Kyobancha in our next shipment: http://tealet.com/
Rooibos is quite popular for a herbal alternative that still has a bit of a tea ‘feel’ to it. Personally I don’t much care for plain rooibos, but I’ve learned in recent years that when flavoured with fruit it can be extremely enjoyable. I would look into that if I were you. It’s easy to get and there are about as many different flavours to choose from as there is with regular tea. My personal favourite is one with raspberry and vanilla. All sweet and dessert-like. :)
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