Sensitivities to Oolong?
For the past year I’ve found that I’m really sensitive to oolong teas. I’d say about 75% of the time I drink it, I feel sick to my stomach shortly after. The feeling passes quickly, but its disappointing because oolong teas are my favorites! I’m fine with strong black teas, only oolongs make me feel sick.
Has anyone else dealt with this?
That’s really odd since it’s all the same plant, just different levels of oxidation and methods of cooking. Could it be that the oolongs you’ve had have chemicals on them like pesticides or other pollutants? Maybe the 25% percent that don’t affect you are more “clean” somehow?
I’ve never noticed oolongs affecting me differently than other teas aside from the caffeine content. I hope we can help fix your problem so you can enjoy oolongs again. They are my favorite too.
I’ve tried organics too, with the same result. I don’t think its the caffeine amount, since black teas don’t bother me. I do drink my black teas with milk though. Can you add milk to oolong? Maybe that would help?
I don’t know. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try, but it seems a shame to mask the oolong flavors with milk.
I’m sorry we couldn’t be more helpful. :( its a really confusing problem you have!
i do get strange reaction from some tea without any know reason like matcha who trigger my seasonal allergy but all the other green tea do nothing it may come from the different level of oxidation maybe try looking at where they come from ( which store ) to see if they don’t get in contact with other thing
Allergic to tea?!? EEEE GAD! How horrible that would be!
it’s hard to be sure that the tea have not been in contact with any other sort of allergen ( a little like much food now have sticker on it saying they may have been in contact with something along the way from the beginning to your mouth ) it’s don’t take much to have a reaction when it come to food :S
Are you drinking on an empty stomach? I’ve only felt as you described after long days of tea tasting without having enough to eat. I find the buffer of food helpful for combating any sensitivity to caffeine and it’s diuretic effects.
The suggestion that “rinsing” your leaves and throwing out the first steeping reduces caffeine is an urban legend. Sorry about that. Instead, have high calorie, neutral tasting snacks on hand while you’re sipping like digestive biscuits, nuts, butter crackers, etc, or make sure you’ve eaten a meal about an hour ahead of a long tasting session.
Also- I’ve found nearby smoking always makes me nauseous when I’m drinking tea (mainly an issue in China, where most men smoke, even at the tea markets). I’m not sure if this is a factor for you, but it’s something to keep in mind.
Do you have a source regarding the rinsing not removing the caffeine? I’ve always been suspicious of that idea, but it’s so prevalent, and I don’t know where to check it.
I believe this is the main study:
http://www2.hcmuaf.edu.vn/data/lhquang/file/Tea1/Tea%20preparation%20and%20its%20influence%20on%20methylxanthine.pdf
‘Tea preparation and its influence on methylxanthine concentration,’ appeared in Food Research International Vol 29, Nos 3-4, pp. 325-330. (FRI is copyright of the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology)
If you’re less inclined to read through the whole thing, you can also read http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and-reality.html
Below is a simple summary from CHA DAO (the above link) blog:
In summary: Hicks et al measured the caffeine (plus theobromine) content of six different teas (three bagged and three loose-leaf, including black, oolong and green types). They measured caffeine-extraction in boiling water when steeped for 5 minutes, 10 minutes and 15 minutes. They replicated all their extractions three times to eliminate experimental error. Extrapolation of their data gives the following caffeine-extraction percentages below 5 minutes (averaged over all tea types and formats); note that while loose tea extracted marginally more slowly than tea-bag tea, it made only a couple of percentage-points’ difference:
30 seconds: 9% caffeine removal
1 minute: 18% caffeine removal
2 minutes: 34% caffeine removal
3 minutes: 48% caffeine removal
4 minutes: 60% caffeine removal
5 minutes: 69% caffeine removal
10 minutes: 92% caffeine removal
15 minutes: 100% caffeine removal
Clearly to achieve the 80% target we must wash our tea for more than five minutes! This is very much at odds with the mythical ‘30- or 45-second hot wash to remove 80% of the caffeine’ advice, as a 30-second initial wash of the tea will actually leave in place 91% of the original caffeine!
Before the publication of this work by Hicks et al, Professor Michael Spiro and his group had already done some ground-breaking physical chemistry on tea. In their paper, ‘Tea and the Rate of Its Infusion’ (published in Chemistry in New Zealand 1981, pp 172-174), they disclosed caffeine concentration diffusing into water (4g loose leaf — it will have been a CTC small fannings type — in 200 ml water held at a constant 80 degrees C, and stirred with a magnetic stirrer). Their first data point is at 90 seconds, and shows 49% caffeine removed from leaf (i.e. into the wash water). Extrapolating from Spiro’s plot gives:
30 seconds: 20% caffeine removal
1 minute: 33% caffeine removal
2 minutes: 64% caffeine removal
3 minutes: 76% caffeine removal
4 minutes: 85% caffeine removal
5 minutes: 88% caffeine removal
10 minutes: 99% caffeine removal
15 minutes: 100% caffeine removal
Again we would have to be washing our tea for a long period – three to four minutes to achieve 80% decaffeination. While a 30-second ‘wash’ under Spiro’s rather extreme laboratory conditions (small leaf CTC tea, loose in the ‘pot’ rather than in a teabag, at constant temperature and stirred vigorously) leached 20% of caffeine rather than the 9% yielded by Hicks’s more normal steeping, neither of these scientifically conducted findings comes anywhere near the 30-second/ 80%-decaffeination claims perpetuated as an Internet Myth.
One other interesting result of the Hick’s study was a comparison between Western Style brewing and gong-fu brewing. Drinking ten cups of tea-bag tea (with ten different tea bags) could cause health problems associated with too much caffeine in a day. However, resteeping the same leaves may have no noticeable health impact. In Hicks’ words…
“If one were to consume 10 cups of tea per day by brewing
green or black tea the Western or bagged tea method,
one would approximately consume 445 or 588 mg caf-
feine and 17.8 or 31.7 mg theobromine respectively.
Someone brewing green tea or black tea by the loose
leaf method would approximately consume 289 or
301 mg caffeine and 9.6 or 13.5 mg theobromine per
day respectively, which is about a third to a half less
methylxanthines as compared to the Western brewing
method.”
“Methylxanthine consumption causes decreased drow-
siness and lessened fatigue at doses between 50 and
200 mg/day and can cause such health problems as
headache, tremors, nervousness, and irritability at doses
between 200 and 500 mg/day (Stephenson, 1977)”
Not that this is scientific, but you’re not entirely alone. I find green tea makes me feel sick to my stomache sometimes (especially pure tea) and also green oolongs as well. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a weird taste aversion and generally stear clear of them now. I also happen to hate milk so the thought of a milk oolong makes me feel yucky. Sorry to not be of help, but maybe some comfort?
I’ll try only drinking it on a full stomach and see if that helps. Thanks for all the replies!:)
It is interesting how our bodies react to things. White tea, despite being my favorite, gives me indigestion.
I get nauseous with some green teas as well, esp sencha and gyokuro. Based on my research I think it’s the polyphenols which haven’t been burned off by oxidization of the tea leaf. I never have this sensation with darker oolongs or roasted greens. That said, try steeping the leaves at a slightly higher temp, this helps me!
On another note, I also feel ill if the Oolong/green is of the Jasmine family. (the oil is worse, but the leaves don’t bode well either)
Thanks for the info, Indigo. Unfortunately the green tea nausea has made green tea by and large unappealing to me, but it’s brilliant to have an ‘answer’.
Login or sign up to leave a comment.