kat said

Is there such a thing as TOO MUCH tea?

I don’t tend to think so! I was curious how much tea you all drink in a day. I have to be careful sometimes because my stomach will start hurting if I have too much caffeine- but tea has so little right? (except for matcha of course)

59 Replies
gmathis said

Usually 3 cups in the daytime and maybe a decaf or herbal after dinner. My doc, checking me out for stress/blood pressure issues, didn’t seem to think that was excessive.

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Carolyn said

On heavy tea days I drink about seven cups of various kinds of tea (starting dark and moving to light and then to dark decaffeinated). On light tea days I just have one cup of Sinharaja in the morning.

Linda said

are you my twin? cause we drink tea in the same order (LOL). I always have to have decaffeinated after 5:00 just can’t sleep otherwise.

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Cofftea said

I drink at least 3 a day, but normally average at least 6- somtimes 8 or 10. I ALWAYS resteep my leaves so if you’re thinking ~50mg of caffeine x6 cups, it’s not nearly that much. I have normally at most 2 1st infusions of tea during the day and maybe a 1st or 2nd infusion of a dessert tea. If mom wants tea, I always give her the 1st infusion of whatever I’m making. I also occasionally steep a 1st infusion in my coffee. No decaf or purely herbal for me. I will add herbs to my teas occasionally, but that’s in addition to the 2.25g of true tea per serving.

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Cofftea said

This brings up an interesting question… is eating/drinking too many tea leaves (like you would drinking matcha) dangerous?

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Angrboda said

This varies a lot for me. On any given work day I have something in my travel mug in the morning, usually a cheap white.

At work I have another tea, usually a black one. A thermal pot is made in the morning of this and consumed throughout the day. It holds about 1 liter. How much I actually drink of it depends on how busy I am. If we’re not too busy I’m more likely to keep my cup with me in the lab while I’m working (yes, I know it’s unhygenic, yes, I’m being careful not to take a sip of random chemicals instead, or spill stuff in it or other such dangerous stuff. But we do it anyway.) Likewise if I’m really really busy because then I might not have time to sit down for a proper break and have to eat on the fly and such. Then I need it to stay upright. On an average day, I discard probably 25% of it before going home.

On the train home I sometimes get some sort of coffee drink. Usually a cafe latte or similar, but I’m trying to wean myself off this, as it’s turning into an expensive habit when you’ve already ordered your drink before you realise that you didn’t actually feel like drinking one. It’s not going so well, but at least I’m getting good at not also buying a muffin or a cookie. Small steps.

At home after work I typically make a small pot at some point during the evening, but usually just one.

If I’m not at work… I drink pretty much what I post. I make small pots but several different sorts.

All in all, I think the amounts consumed are probably more or less the same. Just a different drinking pattern when I’m at work than when I’m at home.

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rabbysmom said

I don’t think so. In relation to all the Diet Coke I used to drink before I stopped buying it for the house, my tea drinking is healthy! I usually have green tea in the am, a couple of cups of black in the afternoon and then herbal tea or decaf green at night- two to three cups. Of course it depends upon the day.

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teaplz said

Scientifically, yes, there is such a thing as too much tea. An average person should not intake more than three cups of coffee a day, which equals out to around 7-10 cups of tea as the maximum (depending on what tea you’re drinking, of course). Caffeine is still very much a drug, and beyond normal amounts, people can experience the very negative side effects of caffeine addiction.

A common misconception is that whites have less caffeine than blacks. The opposite is actually true. They have just amount caffeine, if not more, than your black teas. You can find this information plenty of places around the net. (http://www.amazing-green-tea.com/white-tea-caffeine.html for example).

Cofftea said

does 7-10 cups mean 7-10 1st infusions? I’ve also heard drinking large amounts of tea as well as eating the tea leaves can depleat your body of iron. Iron supplement for me then if I have to. :)

Keemun said

…the kind of iron that meat carries (fish, pork, beef, chicken) does not get blocked or touched in any way by tea (haem iron that is…).

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kat said

Wow teaplz thats a trip! Do we know that source is valid for sure? I’ve heard and read so many opposing this( not to say ur wrong) just how the hell do we know who to believe?!lol

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According to “The Story of Tea” (Mary Lou & Robert J Leiss, 2007) white tea has about the same caffeine content as green tea, depending on how long you brew it. Somebody recently mentioned that they had a book about caffeine. I think it was entitiled “Caffeine: The World’s Most Popular Drug”. Did that book say anything about the caffeine content of white tea?

Keep in mind that caffeine is also in many over the counter painkillers such as Excedrin.

Personally, after talking to doctors, tea drinkers and drug addicts over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that each individual person has their own limits for each type of tea, even black. Some people may only be able to tolerate one cup of tea while in Turkey they drink an average of 20 cups/glasses of Ceylon per day, according to a 2003 report in the St. Petersburg Times http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/19/Columns/Turks_are_tea_d_off_2.shtml

Off to put the kettle on.

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Carolyn said

From my reading the truth about caffeine in tea is far more complex than being able to say that one tea has more or less caffeine than another type of tea. Differences in tea plant variety, growing conditions (wetness and shade), processing methods, and so forth all affect caffeine levels. Also what portion of the tea plant is used also affects the caffeine level. (Buds have more caffeine than older leaves.)

This link reports on studies done on caffeine and tea: http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and-reality.html

He says that these are the scientifically verifiable facts. (But please read the entire thing. It’s wonderful.)

Here is a quote from the link:
-————————————————
1. Caffeine level varies naturally in types of tea and levels in one type may overlap with another type

2. Black and green tea manufactured from leaf from the same bushes on the same day will have virtually the same caffeine levels (within +/- 0.3%)

3. For a given bush, the finer the plucking standard, the higher the caffeine level

Actual caffeine level in tea is highest:

• when the tea is derived from buds and young first leaf tips (thus white tea has a high caffeine level)

• when the bush is assamica type rather than sinensis (can be 33% higher caffeine, thus African black tea tends to be higher than China black tea)

• when the bush is clonal VP rather than seedling (can be 100% higher caffeine, thus new plantings in Africa are higher than old seedling plantings in Asia),

• when the plant is given a lot of nitrogen fertilizer (as in Japan), and

• during fast growing seasons.

Hope that interests everyone else as much as it does me.

As to the book The World of Caffeine it doesn’t really talk about caffeine differences between various teas. But it is an excellent book otherwise.

Auggy said

Loved the snippets you included. Wasn’t going to go to the link until I read them. Now? I’m off to go read! Thanks!

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