advantage to switching tea?

ice89

i've always drank around 3-4 cups of tea a day, but i was considering switching to green tea as it apprantly so healthy. is there much benefit to this? i notice that not drinking tea gives me a headache. is this a withdrawal symptom? how much caffeine is in green tea? and is it healthier in the long run to drink only green tea?

thanks for any info

Monkey61

Yep the headaches are caffeine withdrawal. I knew I had to stop when I would get massive headaches and fuzziness every time I needed a cup of tea.

I switched to decaf. If you buy a decent brand you get used to the taste pretty quickly and won't even notice the difference anymore - except no headaches. Caffeine withdrawal is hard, but a couple of weeks without it and you'll feel far more awake and healthy.

I'm not well versed in the health benefits of green tea, but it does have caffeine. Plus I think it tastes like muck and would rather drink normal decaf.

Serafijn

The Twinings green tea with jasmine is lovely, I drink it all the time

Green tea is rumored to have loads of health benefits from reducing the risk of certain types of cancer to speeding up your metabolism (and aiding weight loss). Not sure how many are true but in any case I find it a lot lighter and more refreshing nowadays than normal tea.

totoal

Serafijn wrote: »

I find it a lot lighter and more refreshing nowadays than normal tea.

Would that be down to lack of milk or do you take milk with normal tea?
There is the coffee and tea forum here

Serafijn

Yes I do take milk with normal tea so that would be a factor. I can't stomach it without though!

Mr Magnolia

The headaches could well be a withdrawal symptom, several posters have reported headaches when trying to give up tea or coffee.

There are a lot of reports listing the benefits of green teas, some of which are mentioned above. Personally, I find it unpalatable but some of the green tea blends aren't bad though. You should look out for some of the variety packs to find a blend that you like. Tea leaves will produce a finer tea then bags so it may be worth looking into buying them if you do find a blend you like. There are some online suppliers listed in the stickys in ths coffee forum.

missmatty

I find that Roobois (red south african) tea is very palatable, but i don't know if it has caffeine or not.

implausible

The oul green tea can be a bit manky sometimes. Try one with lemon or jasmine, think you can get a variety pack from Twinings. Personally, I love their peppermint tea. There are loads of varieties of herbal tea available, you're not just confined to green tea as a caffeine-free alternative to tea.

dollydishmop

Currently in the middle of getting off caffeine myself....drink on average 8-10 cups of tea a day, often more than that...so it made sense to me. Don't drink coffee at home at all anymore, instant coffee started tasting funny to me ages ago...but I do love lattes from coffee machines though.

Stopped drinking coke a few months back (would normally have had 1-2 cans a day)

Currently drinking 2-3 cups of fat tea (fat = full caffeine) first thing in the morning, and then drinking thin tea (thin = decaff) for the rest of the day.

So far so good. Plan to be down to one cup of fat tea, first thing, within a few days, andthen when the box of 'fat' tea bags has run out I won't replace it.

No headaches so far...none that are noticeable anyway, and decaff tea is almost tasting as good as the fat stuff.

Don't know what I'm going to do without coffee-machine latte's though, when I'm out driving/shopping :eek:

_Whimsical_

missmatty wrote: »

I find that Roobois (red south african) tea is very palatable, but i don't know if it has caffeine or not.

I agree .Rooibus tea is lovely.It has a high concentration of anti oxidants, is caffine free and has much lower levels of tannin levels than ordinary tea (high tannin levels inhibitate the absorbition of some minerals eg. iron).

The best thing about it is that you can put milk in it and it tastes very similar to normal everyday tea.I hardly notice the difference anymore except that I think Rooibus is a bit nicer because there's something a little more full about the flavour.

missmatty

Oh really?! I didn't know you could put milk in it, might try that Yes it has a lovely flavour, I hate black tea so could never drink ordinary tea milkless but sometimes i go off the taste of milk for some reason.

jdivision

Doesn't green tea contain caffeine? I drink peppermint to avoid that

petethebrick

Serafijn wrote: »

The Twinings green tea with jasmine is lovely, I drink it all the time

Green tea is rumored to have loads of health benefits from reducing the risk of certain types of cancer to speeding up your metabolism (and aiding weight loss). Not sure how many are true but in any case I find it a lot lighter and more refreshing nowadays than normal tea.

I'm not a big fan of any of the Twinnings teas. Green tea is delicious and refreshing, it does contain caffeine but so what? there are loads of reported health benefits.
The best I've found are the ones you buy in the Asian supermarkets, far superior quality to the supermarket brands here.

jdivision

petethebrick wrote: »

it does contain caffeine but so what? there are loads of reported health benefits. .

If you're used to drinking tea and drink certain types of green tea instead, the caffeine is more comparable to coffee. So the headaches some people mentioned above could come from too much caffeine rather than from the withdrawal symptoms they think they're experiencing.