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comment by flac
flac  ·  2658 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hey Hubski, do you use any alternatives to caffeine?

I mean, if you want a specific tea with hella caffeine, Pu Erh is the mother of all black teas. You wil find that it tastes like dirt. This is because it is somewhat fermented underground, strengthening/changing its energizing functions.

Similarly, Yerba Mate is very energizing and I believe it is technically "caffeine free" - but only because it has a stupid amount of a caffeine-like compound called "mateine".

I suspect that you'll run into the same problems that you do with coffee though, in that they'll keep you up longer than you'd like.

In my opinion, the ideal type of tea for this - and any other number of purposes - would be a nice Oolong. Falls between Black and green teas as far as caffeine goes, and can be re-steeped up to 6 or so times. What I did in school was get a travel mug with a french press built in, put in a serving of oolong tea leaves, and go back to the Starbucks or food court for (free!) hot water refills every time I needed it.

At the 6th resteep, there will be virtually no caffeine content left, but still some flavor. It's a good way to gradually decrease the amount of caffeine you're ingesting over time.

I don't remember if you're in the US or not, but I highly recommend Strand Tea if you are. I live a town away from them now, but I've been buying from them since I started/ran the Tea Club at my college 4 years ago. Really solid prices, a good selection of a bunch of teas, honest people, and the shipping is fast and reliable - I usually got my packages 2-3 days later when I lived in NY. They should also have travel mugs that will work for infusing for sale too. If not, get a Bodum french press travel mug on amazon - I think mine was like 15 bucks when I got it. Still have it somewhere.

An 8 oz. Bag of tea is like 100 tsp, if I remember correctly, which would be up to 600 steepings of Oolong. At 10 or so bucks, that's stupidly cost effective.

If you buy from Strand Tea, my favorite Oolong of theirs is the "Three Treasures" - really unique, and has a tremendous depth of flavor that changes with each steeping.





japanesebonustrack  ·  2657 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yerba Mate is absolutely not caffeine-free. Not even technically. It contains caffeine. Mateine is simply a marketing term for caffeine (source).

Additionally, a lot of Mate sodas, for example Club-Mate, have a caffeine warning on the label.

Anecdotally, it's ridiculously caffeinated, but in a good way, I guess. But I was not prepared for the levels of stimulation it gave me the first time I drank it, after a sleepless night.

user-inactivated  ·  2658 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Don't want to waste the Costco supply I have of green, but I love the idea of re-steeping tea throughout the day. I'll be sure to refer back to this once I'm finished with the box. Thanks for linking the site!

I'm all the way down south in FL.

P.S. I don't know if I've already written this, but I'm in love with Summahtune.

OftenBen  ·  2658 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I wish I liked Pu Erh. I've tried it a few times at home, twice in fancy tea shops and it just tastes like rotten mud to me.

Seconding the Oolong suggestion though. That or good green tea.

kleinbl00  ·  2658 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Nobody likes Pu Erh.

There's a reason Americans drink coffee more than all other teas combined - once you're used to coffee, you want fuckin' coffee.

OftenBen  ·  2658 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    once you're used to coffee, you want fuckin' coffee.

God don't I know it.

Cold brew might as well be a vitamin for me at this point.