tea & coffee revisited

[Freddie]

Proper Chinese green tea brewed in a tea-pot (you don't need a strainer as the leaves are so big). Refreshing.

Any recommendations as to what is the good stuff?

[hodge]

Coffee is a distant second and, according to recent research, probably not much good for you, if you're not a regular drinker of it already.

do you have a link to the research?

[Freddie]

Here are a few things:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/201 ... t-caffeine (I think this was probably when I originally heard the idea of total abstention or regular drinking being preferable to infrequently)

https://www.menshealth.com/health/a1954 ... er-you-up/ - mixing caffeine and alcohol

However, a number of positive studies here:

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/247583.php

Some of the benefits seems to be linked to caffeine (also in tea).

As usual with this kind of thing, the findings aren't conclusive either way. My own anecdotal (whatever it is worth) experience is that coffee works as a stimulant more so than tea (it does have more caffeine). Tea doesn't seem to have the same stimulant effects for me.

An infrequent cup of coffee now and then probably isn't that serious, but anything that gives you an up also comes with a down. I expect frequent drinkers avoid this up and down by maintaining a baseline of caffeine intake, although complete withdrawal for them is probably far worse.

[Cyril Haearn]

Drank a mixture of tea & coffee by mistake once (toffee), tasted good

[Mick F]

My own anecdotal (whatever it is worth) experience is that coffee works as a stimulant more so than tea (it does have more caffeine). Tea doesn't seem to have the same stimulant effects for me.

There's more caffein in tea than coffee, but it's weight for weight.

A two-cup pot of tea has less than half a teaspoon of tea in it, whereas just a single a cup of coffee usually has a heaped teaspoon of coffee, and tea leaves are very light indeed, but coffee beans are heavy. You'd have to have a VERY VERY strong cup of tea to get even near the same caffein content as a normal cup of coffee.

[NUKe]

Tea from a pot. A good quality Assam would be my favourite.not keen on flavoured teas, apart from whitards Moroccan mint. Turkish tea is quite nice the barbers I use, always gives you a cup.

[Mick F]

Me too.
Good quality Assam loose tea.

[ThePinkOne]

Proper Chinese green tea brewed in a tea-pot (you don't need a strainer as the leaves are so big). Refreshing.

Any recommendations as to what is the good stuff?

Erm... The stuff my husband is given by Chinese colleagues which only has Chinese writing on the pack is what I drink.

Sorry I cannot be more help, you could try an ethnic food store in your local Chinese quarter. The boxes we get are vacuum packed, leaves curled very tiny but expand and uncurl when put in hot water, have to be careful not to use too many or get a teapot full of big leaves as I discovered the first time I used it!

TPO

[iandriver]

Coffee always leaves me feeling thirsty. Best reserved for occasions where the cream is floating on the top and a good glug of drambiue has been added.

A good old cup of builders tea for me the rest of the time.

[softlips]

Tea is far more thirst quenching. I don’t like the so called fruit teas, they’re nothing of the sort. I do like Earl Grey, Darjeeling and Jasmine Green tea though. Like black teas, they need brewing in boiling water for three minutes at least - and no milk. I do allow them to cool slightly- more so given the research into oesophageal cancer and hot drinks.

[Mike_Ayling]

Try some of the specialist teas,Twinnings do a few different one's,I used to ldrink Earl Grey exclusively for a time and I've tried a few different ones including,Assam,Lapsang,Dargeeling and Redbush.I do like Fennel tea occasionally

Mary and I can't stand Earl Grey but some of the others aren't bad.

Mike

[Oldjohnw]

My own anecdotal (whatever it is worth) experience is that coffee works as a stimulant more so than tea (it does have more caffeine). Tea doesn't seem to have the same stimulant effects for me.

There's more caffein in tea than coffee, but it's weight for weight.

A two-cup pot of tea has less than half a teaspoon of tea in it, whereas just a single a cup of coffee usually has a heaped teaspoon of coffee, and tea leaves are very light indeed, but coffee beans are heavy. You'd have to have a VERY VERY strong cup of tea to get even near the same caffein content as a normal cup of coffee.

As soon as you add the boiling water to tea it is, in effect, decaffeinated.

[Bonefishblues]

My own anecdotal (whatever it is worth) experience is that coffee works as a stimulant more so than tea (it does have more caffeine). Tea doesn't seem to have the same stimulant effects for me.

There's more caffein in tea than coffee, but it's weight for weight.

A two-cup pot of tea has less than half a teaspoon of tea in it, whereas just a single a cup of coffee usually has a heaped teaspoon of coffee, and tea leaves are very light indeed, but coffee beans are heavy. You'd have to have a VERY VERY strong cup of tea to get even near the same caffein content as a normal cup of coffee.

As soon as you add the boiling water to tea it is, in effect, decaffeinated.

Is that due to chemistry, or do you mean simply by dilution?

[Oldjohnw]

There's more caffein in tea than coffee, but it's weight for weight.

A two-cup pot of tea has less than half a teaspoon of tea in it, whereas just a single a cup of coffee usually has a heaped teaspoon of coffee, and tea leaves are very light indeed, but coffee beans are heavy. You'd have to have a VERY VERY strong cup of tea to get even near the same caffein content as a normal cup of coffee.

As soon as you add the boiling water to tea it is, in effect, decaffeinated.

Is that due to chemistry, or do you mean simply by dilution?

I oversimplified: apologies. Caffeine occurs naturally in the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, so all brewed tea contains some caffeine. Hotter water and longer steeping time will draw out more caffeine in brewed tea—think black or oolong tea. Cooler water and shorter steeping time extracts less caffeine—think green or white tea. Tea is the only plant that contains L-theanine, an amino acid that promotes calm and relaxation. It works in synergy with the stimulant caffeine to induce a state of mindful alertness. Caffeine from tea is thought to absorb more slowly in the body than caffeine from coffee. This gentle release promotes a longer period of alertness without a jittery rush at the start or crash at the end.

[Bonefishblues]

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