Effects of Caffeine: How does it make you feel?
I get what you’re describing from caffeine. I also feel my heart racing and feel lightheaded. This is why I avoid coffee. Best thing to do in my experience is to eat something solid like protein and fats and drink lots of water. Best to eat before the caffeine consumption actually.
Also, some teas are more caffeinated than others. Type is not a predictor. There are a lot of factors involved.
For each new tea I try, I note how I react to it and consume accordingly in the future.
I also avoid caffeinated teas after 2 or 3 so I can sleep normally.
I think you’ll learn how much you can handle in time. I’ve also grown less sensitive over time.
Good luck. :)
I’m like Madametj. I’ve never liked coffee or soda, so before I started drinking tea, my only caffeine came from chocolate. I find that I am very sensitive to caffeine, and can get jittery or nauseous if I drink too much tea at once. It was actually rather helpful in college, because if I really needed to be alert, I could just drink tea or hot cooca – I didn’t need coffee or energy drinks. My roommate was a nursing student and could drink coffee all day long and even fall asleep over a cup. Recently I’ve run across a couple of articles that have helped me make sense of this.
http://lifehacker.com/5585217/what-caffeine-actually-does-to-your-brain
This article explains how caffeine affects your body. The most interesting facts to me are:
-caffeine has a half-life of 6 hours
-if you ingest a regular amount of caffeine daily, your body becomes tolerant to it in 7-12 days and it no longer gives you any noticeable extra energy after 18 days (This was a study using the equivalent of 9 cups of coffee).
-At 5 cups of coffee or ~500mg of caffeine, your body reaches a saturation point, and additional caffeine does not increase your alertness.
-caffeine withdrawal sets in 12-24 hours after your last dose, and lasts about 10 days.
http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and-reality.html
This second article speaks specifically about tea. There is a common myth that steeping tea for 30 seconds will remove the majority of the caffeine. This is false. The rate at which caffeine is removed from tea is as follows:
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
Through my own experimentation, I seem to do best when I have caffeine no more than once every week or two. I have no interest in fostering an addiction, even to something that has the benefits of tea, since I’m not always self-disciplined enough to avoid withdrawal, and I appreciate the energy boost that I get when I do drink caffeine. I really like herbal teas, so this hasn’t been a problem for me, although I think I will be looking for more decaf teas in the future, or experimenting with multiple steeps. If you don’t mind dealing with a caffeine addiction, you could make a point to gradually build your tolerance up to whatever level you desire over the course of several months. Hope this helps!
Oh thank you for this. I’ve heard the 30 seconds thing from many different sources. I stand corrected.
Yes, I’ve come across that article and realized that the tea is pretty much undrinkable after you go through all of that, right?
Definitely after 15 minutes, but if you are doing multiple steeps, there will tend to be less caffeine in the later cups, possibly even if you are doing longer steeps.
WHen I drink Pu’er, I am completely calm and happy; and of course have effects of a tea high. However, when I drink Oolong, I feel depleted and weak.
Does anyone have this? I have heard the opposite. Each tea is best with certain body types.
Oolong doesn’t do much to me, but the one sheng I’ve tried made me feel way over caffeinated for about 20 minutes, after which it was impossible to stay awake and I slept for an hour. It was weird.
Very odd, MJ.
Happy to send you a sample of ours if you would like. Perhaps your body doesnt work well with Sheng, or maybe it was just that one you tried.
Feel free to private message me.
I really appreciate all of the comments. I’m glad to know that my “symptoms” aren’t abnormal!
What you are describing (stomach effects) may not be caffeine. I have a very sensitive stomach, and tannin bothers me if I drink too much black tea. I don’t get the same effect with green or white teas, even though they have as much caffeine. Also, the acid in coffee really gets to me; decaf is every bit as bad as regular coffee. When I needed to stay awake in meetings, I would pop a tums or two for every cup.
Re the caffeine, if I have too much after about 3 PM I find myself clenching and unclenching my fists at midnight, when I should be falling asleep.
Caffeine affects people differently. My in-laws used to make a pot of coffee at 10 PM every night, sit and drink 2 cups each (to relax) and then go to bed and sleep soundly. If I did the same, I would be up pacing the living room until 6 AM.
That’s a good point. For me, I get something akin to nausea when I drink green teas and sometimes white or green oolongs. It is worse if I haven’t eaten recently and quite unpleasant.
I also am one of those who have no discernible effect from caffeine – I can have lots and go right to sleep or none and suffer no extra drowsiness or headache.
This is good to know, it could very well be the tannins that bother my stomach too, since it is more prevalent with black teas than any other variety. Thanks for posting! :)
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