TeaChat

Anyone else experience a "buzz" when drinking tea? (no, I'm not lacing my tea with anything "herbal" lol)

Just been noticing since brewing my tea in a more gongfucha style, that after 3 cups, my brain has this kinda tingly feeling. Not unpleasant, but I've never noticed getting this before when brewing tea western style.

maybe it's the polyphenol hit or something. Someone tell me I'm not crazy here.

Welcome to the wonders of theanine and cha qi. Good, strong oolong makes me lean back in my seat and even gets me tea drunk!

jayinhk wrote:Welcome to the wonders of theanine and cha qi. Good, strong oolong makes me lean back in my seat and even gets me tea drunk!

so it's NOT just me then. I've been sitting here with my brain dingling as if I'd had 3-4 beers in me and all I've had is about...oh, maybe 4 steepings of TGY. I was starting to wonder if it was an allergic reaction or something.

It's not just you.

It is not just you. One of my tea friend will brew until the sip hit the top back part of the brain. When he hits bullseye, he is a happy man.

Another tea friend face turn red when he had a good tea.

Cha Qi or magic of tea, welcome to Le Tea club de Qi.

I don't know if I've ever reached this state with sencha, perhaps once or twice.

But I have certainly experienced this with oolong. the first time it happened to me was at a teahouse in Hong Kong while on vacation... we had been there for maybe an hour and the wife wanted to continue on to other things, but I was in NO CONDITION to go walking around town at that point! So of course this necessitated spending more time out the teahouse to calm down... and you know, while spending time at a teahouse you gotta drink tea... so...

hmmm, who needs booze then? I wonder why more kids haven't caught on to this in their attempts to get buzzed lol!

I get it with some teas and with others I don't, sometimes it can be elusive. However the "buzzed" feeling is more like my head feels weightless and without the sluggishness associated with alcohol.

Peacock wrote:I get it with some teas and with others I don't, sometimes it can be elusive. However the "buzzed" feeling is more like my head feels weightless and without the sluggishness associated with alcohol.

true. it's a different feeling, I noticed that while feeling almost drunk, I also felt focused, like the gears in my head had been thuroughly greased

Yes definetly this happens on a regular basis with roasted, darker oolongs and sheng-pu erh. With green tea, I only experienced this sometimes with shade tea, like gyokuro.
Its especially funny to withness this in others.. I happens sometimes that some of my friends want to drink these special teas with me that I'm always drinking, and especially with a certain Dong Ding traditional (not the green style!) they often end up intoxicated. Much more so than me who is quite used to it by now
It happened that they thought I served them something entirely different I had been inquired really furiously, like: "now tell me! what exactly is that oolong tea? Is it even legal?" Once I had a hard time explaining the guy that its just like the green tea in a bag, just processed differently and of much, much higher quality.

By the way, I'd say it sometimes feels quite like a mix between the feeling after a session of meditation and the feeling of being lightly stoned (I read about how that is supposed to be , just much clearer, less intense and less intoxicating...
For sure, much more like that than like Alcohol which often dulls the senses and makes the moods volatile, and really changes all the perceptions.

And let me add this: I so, so very much prefer this in a relaxed group of people.. sitting on a table, talking, playing games and drinking loads of tea! It very often leaves a so much more pleasant aftermath than drinking beer as people sometimes do it here in Bavaria . In my tea-drunk eyes, its totally superior to alcohol. Its so great to see the pics from China where they have these huge tea-tables that have been carved out of a whole tree, I think thats the regular's table of the future.

miig wrote:Yes definetly this happens on a regular basis with roasted, darker oolongs and sheng-pu erh. With green tea, I only experienced this sometimes with shade tea, like gyokuro.
Its especially funny to withness this in others.. I happens sometimes that some of my friends want to drink these special teas with me that I'm always drinking, and especially with a certain Dong Ding traditional (not the green style!) they often end up intoxicated. Much more so than me who is quite used to it by now
It happened that they thought I served them something entirely different I had been inquired really furiously, like: "now tell me! what exactly is that oolong tea? Is it even legal?" Once I had a hard time explaining the guy that its just like the green tea in a bag, just processed differently and of much, much higher quality.

By the way, I'd say it sometimes feels quite like a mix between the feeling after a session of meditation and the feeling of being lightly stoned (I read about how that is supposed to be , just much clearer, less intense and less intoxicating...
For sure, much more like that than like Alcohol which often dulls the senses and makes the moods volatile, and really changes all the perceptions.

And let me add this: I so, so very much prefer this in a relaxed group of people.. sitting on a table, talking, playing games and drinking loads of tea! It very often leaves a so much more pleasant aftermath than drinking beer as people sometimes do it here in Bavaria . In my tea-drunk eyes, its totally superior to alcohol. Its so great to see the pics from China where they have these huge tea-tables that have been carved out of a whole tree, I think thats the regular's table of the future.

come to think of it, that is EXACTLY the feeling. That kinda open minded, relaxed feeling like you're tapped into the zen of the universe, half afraid to move for the fear of breaking the spell. Alertness heightened without being jumpy. No wonder chinese monks are all about the tea! lol

I can get on board with the whole tea gathering instead of boozing it up. Hell, I've been contemplating trying to put together a "tea party" at some point with my friends. Just not sure exactly to what level I'd go about it

It is definitely not just you! I also find certain teas give a buzz/cha qi.

Becareful of the Tea Hangovers! Sadly I am not joking here either....

AdamMY wrote:Becareful of the Tea Hangovers! Sadly I am not joking here either....

haven't had one of those yet.

Ursinos wrote:

AdamMY wrote:Becareful of the Tea Hangovers! Sadly I am not joking here either....

haven't had one of those yet.

Me neither.