The effects − tea as a substitute for coffee
People often visit us because they want tea to substitute the large amounts of coffee they drink. Now, it’s good to know that the cocktail of substances you find in a cup of tea is somewhat different to what you’ve known from coffee. Both the beverages contain caffeine, but its effects on the human organism are always different. Coffee kicks in faster and more intensively, but its effect is shorter. On the other hand, effects of tea are less conspicuous, they unfold more slowly and their effects are lasting longer. It takes some time to get used to both the options.
Effects of Tea
If you expect a wakeup call from tea, you better choose one consisting of young tips picked early in the spring. They contain the most active substances, with caffeine taking the lead. It’s because caffeine is bitter and protects the plant from pests that cannot wait for the juicy and otherwise very tasty leaves. You can tell young leaves by fine hairs. The fine silver or gold fluff serves no other purpose than preventing small insects from accessing the young leaves. Don’t be surprised about the price − teas made from these tiny young leaves are much more expensive than large-leaf teas. It’s because you need up to ten times as many of them.
However, tea leaves don’t contain only stimulants. There are also substances that reduce the effects of caffeine or work as relaxants. The effects of different teas are still somehow mysterious. There is a myriad of factors that influence the content of different substances in a brew, some of them unpredictable and hard to influence. The effects of tea are often very subjective. What made you alert yesterday can relax you today.
A typical tea that has relaxing effects due to a high content of the gama-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is Gaba Oolong from Taiwan. We also recommend teas with a lower content of caffeine, such as Kukicha, Houjicha and Genmaicha from Japan. On the other hand, spring teas from Darjeeling, Gyokuro and Matcha produced in Japan and Yunnan pu-erh from younger trees provide a good wakeup call.
