Tea....Drunk?

[Poseidon]

So I was reading some blogs today and read that drinking an abundance of tea can cause a drunk-like feeling... has anyone felt this? I dont know about you teachatters but I personally have not; at least not to the point of feeling drunk. Ive also read that high quality puerh has a sort of "feeling" as well. It could be because I'm 6'3" and 300lbs that it makes it tough to drink enough tea to feel "drunk"!

I guess Im interested in this feeling that you can get from our beloved leaves... Is it an overall relaxation or is it a litterally a joyous drunkeness?

[BW85]

I've experienced a range from a very deep, meditative relaxation to a level of euphoric giddiness; mostly from sheng puerh. I think it's a certain balance between the caffeine and L-theanine content, plus whatever the hell else is going on in naturally fermenting puerh. The older the tea the more pronounced the qi tends to become.

Also, with good puerh, you don't really need to drink very much to get the effects. One or two small cups is sometimes enough, or even just one or two sips if it's a well matured vintage made with quality material

[Peacock]

It's a tranquil feeling of profound understand and a deep sense of awareness. Gido Shushin wrote a wonderful poem.

I received a small brick of tea,
And sipping it, felt cool; I can do with the wind as I will.
Why should I need paradise?
My whole body is floating amid the white clouds.

The drunken feeling can be likened to floating amid the clouds, it's the giddy lightheadedness that comes from a good cup of tea.

[Poseidon]

It's a tranquil feeling of profound understand and a deep sense of awareness. Gido Shushin wrote a wonderful poem.

I received a small brick of tea,
And sipping it, felt cool; I can do with the wind as I will.
Why should I need paradise?
My whole body is floating amid the white clouds.

The drunken feeling can be likened to floating amid the clouds, it's the giddy lightheadedness that comes from a good cup of tea.

Thats a beautiful description. I can relate to that. I guess the drunkeness can be synonymous with relaxed clairity which is quite different from the drunken stupor you can get with alcohol.

[mcrdotcom]

I have definitely felt tea drunk, especially after a long session with my old origin tea goashans back when it was still open!

No swaying back and forth, but there's a certain light headedness almost, and a high of sorts... Almost like floating I guess!

As for puerh, I've had bad experiences with this... I find too much and you have "bad trip" almost XD It's basically like having wayyyy too much caffeine., which is exactly what it could be I guess!

[WysOolongTea]

Drink Coca cola can make u feel better if u in TEA-Drunk

[Evan Draper]

DON'T DRINK ALONE

[yalokinh]

I experience a very relaxed feeling followed by a tingly feeling in the limbs. It's hard to explain because only happens with tea. I've tried other beverages and it's not the same

[Tead Off]

DON'T DRINK ALONE

[MEversbergII]

I've had this happen, when I was a much more regular drinker of Japanese greens. Very brief dizziness, feeling of sinking into the floor. My guess was that it caused a drop in blood sugar. Happened fairly regularly when I'd drink 4-6 cups over a few hours. Cut way back on tea in general some months ago and haven't had it since.

M.

[Nicole]

never felt drunk when drinking tea before, but I felt super sober and couldn't sleep after drinking some teas in the night, so whenever I think i need to use a cup of coffee I drink tea instead to keep myself thinking clearly, and it works perfect for me

[Evan Draper]

My guess was that it caused a drop in blood sugar.

I came across this passage in Tea: Cultivation to Consumption ed. Willson and Clifford, and photographed it, but I couldn't tell you what section it comes from:

...the symptoms attributed to 'caffeinism' are so similar to those of 'hypoglycaemia'--formerly a fashionable diagnosis now largely discredited as the greater availability of blood glucose measurements made at the appropriate time has made it no longer tenable in the majority of cases...

My wife often used much less circumspect language in her self-diagnosis of "low blood sugar" while tea drinking, so it caught my eye

[djtanng]

Too much caffeine does make me feel a little bit weed-high mixed with the cold sweat-ish feeling I get when I have the flu.

Pu-erh also gives me a light trippy feeling, probably due to the fungus/bacteria byproducts left behind from the aging process.

And that's my experience.

[Yannick]

Question for you Mandarin speakers, or those with a better grasp on the language than myself.

I was under the impression that, while in the English speaking teaworld teadrunk often refers to pleasant state of being somewhat 'high' on tea, the term 茶醉/chazui actually refers to some of the more unpleasant feelings that can come with drinking too much tea, particularly on an empty stomach?

Is this correct? I've never been able to find much concise info on it myself. But I think it makes sense, 'teadrunk' never sounded very pleasant to me.