Getting Tea Drunk. Is That Really A Thing?
Yep Yep.
Tea drunk may sound like an odd idea to many as who would ever think that you could get drunk off anything other than alcohol? Some may hear the term and think it’s just a fun way of describing a tea session, or sharing a pot of tea with some friends. In actuality you CAN indeed get “drunk” off tea. Now as someone who has never been drunk off alcohol as I don’t drink booze at all, I can safely say that tea drunk is not quite the same.
What I mean by this when you have too much alcohol, you become one of two kinds of people. You either become a fun loving wild child with no inhibitions or you become the angry aggressive person. There could be a third kind of person but from my experience with people getting drunk I’ve only ever seen the two. However when you get tea drunk I find a person’s demeanor doesn’t really change much. Yes the increased amount of caffeine can make you more hyper and giggly but I find the real side effect comes at the end. The one thing that getting drunk by tea and drunk by alcohol have very closely in common is how you feel after.
I know because I get tea drunk way too often. I have a terrible habit of going into the tea room for a short session, then three hours later I’ve gone through four kettles worth of water and 2-4 different teas. This is never my intention, but being at my tea table surrounded by my leaves in a room who’s soul purpose is to promote calming and peace just drives me try and continue as long as possible. And usually I’ll grow tired of the tea I’m having and start thinking about another tea, which turns into another tea and so on. And usually by the end, while I have no regrets as the teas were delicious and my mind was at rest, my body is angry. LOL.
Some of the most common side effects of getting tea drunk I experience:
- Headaches
- Shakes/ Jitters (This is for more extreme cases)
- Upset Stomach
- Extreme Hunger
- Drowsiness
The hunger is usually the first thing that hits me. I unintentionally will drink these large amounts of tea on an empty stomach. I always mean to eat something before I have a tea session but more often I end up forgetting to. This usually results in a very angry stomach craving as much food as possible to soak up all the tea. Then once I’ve eaten enough to settle the stomach the drowsiness really sets in. But like I said I always enjoy the teas so I have no regrets, and thankfully too much tea doesn’t turn me into an angry drunk nor do I lose control of my inhibitions, I just feel a major hang over.
I know the odds of me ceasing this behaviors is slim and I’m sure many of you reading this may have experienced this yourselves. But for those of you who urge to keep the tea flowing as long as possible, be better then me and try these few tips to help prevent or ease the after affects.
1. DON’T drink on an empty stomach. Eat something that will digest slowly and soak up some of the caffeine.
2. Be weary about teas with high tannin's. Tannin heavy teas can really mess your stomach up faster especially if you are sensitive to tannin’s. Tannin’s in Green Teas don’t tend to bother me but in Black Tea I tend to get headaches if I drink too much.
3. Take small breaks in between teas. What a twenty minute Youtube video or something to give your stomach a chance to digest.
4. Start with light teas like White Teas or Chinese Greens and build your way up to Raw/Ripe Puerh’s or Black teas.
5. Listen to your body. Once your stomach starts to says no, follow it’s lead and say no to the gaiwan.
