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On tea and the art of doing nothing
- throwaway1777 4y agoTruly a strange article, like the author has never tried breakfast tea which has almost as much caffeine as coffee and will definitely keep you awake…
- zwieback 4y agoCame here to say that - I just checked, my preferred breakfast tea (Brooke Bond Red Label) has 60 vs. coffee 95 so definitely in the ball park. I always thought it was like a quarter of coffee.
- coldtea 4y ago>60 vs. coffee 95 so definitely in the ball park It's only "in the ballpark" if you used to think it was a quarter. Otherwise, it's a whooping 60% more...
- throwaway1777 4y agoDrink a second cup.
- coldtea 4y agoWe're talking about standard behavior. People regularly drink taller coffees, there's cold brew, etc. And, of course, you could always drink 20 cups too and have more caffeine than an intravenous shot even. But if we go with just drink the required amount of cups for your target caffeine level, there's no sense in discussing which has more caffeine.
- neaden 4y agoTo nitpick breakfast tea isn't a type of tea. There is English Breakfast Tea which is a specific blend of black tea and spices. Black tea usually have 50 mg of caffeine per cup, roughly half what coffee has. Oolong, Green, and White tea all have even less. Yerba Mate has more caffeine but that is a different plant than true tea.
- samatman 4y agoNone of the English/Irish/Scottish Breakfast Teas are spiced, they're blends but pure tea, and they do tend to feature Assams and other high-caffeine varieties.
- nicbou 4y agoI just did research on caffeine in tea, and the results are all over the place. One brand of Earl Grey can have twice as much caffeine as the other. Even then, 50 is the upper bound if you seep the tea for 5 minutes, and it's still much less than coffee.
- n4r9 4y agoIn my experience it keeps you awake but it doesn't give the same kind of productive buzz that coffee does. I think this is to do with not just the caffeine but the general combination of other chemicals, such as l-theanine.
- QuercusMax 4y agoI recently had to drive 5 hours on very little sleep, and I only had tea available. I had to stop at a gas station to get coffee because the tea wasn't cutting it, even at triple strength. T will stop me from being able to fall asleep, but it does not keep me alert in the same way that coffee does.
- l8rlump 4y agoI believe tea also contains other alkaloids that even out the caffeine uptake over time, so that's another reason it's a different experience.
- coldtea 4y agoHis point wasn't as much about the caffeine content, as about the culture. Besides, breakfast tea doesn't have anywhere near "almost as much" caffeine as coffee. At best 45-50mg on average. Coffee starts 20-30 mg above that and the sky is the limit with a large latte or cold brew.
- fy20 4y agoIt really depends on what tea and how you use it. Steeping the same tea for 1 minute or 3 minutes will result in a vastly different amount of caffiene in the cup. And then it depends on how much tea you use in the first place, so giving tea a "mg per cup" measurement isn't very repeatable. Coffee is much more standardised on how much you use and how long it is brewed for. My breakfast tea consists of 3 teaspoons of loose Assam, 2 teaspoons of brown sugar, left to steep for around 5 minutes until it starts to become bitter, then topped with a generous serving of cold milk. I believe the official description would be a 'proper builder's brew'. The caffiene in that is going to be completely different to an Earl Grey you have after work to chill out. I can't stand the taste of bergamot when it's left to steep, so I usually only let it sit for 30 seconds.
- gopalv 4y ago> the author has never tried breakfast tea which has almost as much caffeine Tea time is a better cultural marker than the drink itself. And probably why you jumped to breakfast tea, because you're thinking of something occupying the same role as a morning cup of coffee. Most people wouldn't have a coffee break at 4:30 in the evening, but a tea break at 4:30 is perfectly okay. But the whole point of a "tea time of the soul" is to contemplate over tea before drinking it. Coffee offers no such moment to wait for it to cool, because a big cup would be too much coffee, but just enough tea. I thought that's the actual point of the article too. And then you start back at what you were doing, but a little more deliberate about it.
- ungamedplayer 4y agoI like to think that the act of making tea takes my concious mind off the task, just long enough for my unconscious mind to push solutions to my current problem into my wakened mind.
- meken 4y agoMaybe he’s talking about herbal tea (zero caffeine)…
- thunkle 4y agoI've been extremely sensitive to caffeine and so coffee doesn't work for me. Recently I've been enjoying the ritual of preparing white tea from one of those hard tea disks. I have a special tea knife that lets me pry away layers, I then put them in a small tea pot (8oz) do a first rinse, and add the specific water temp and the specific time. I've found the ritual itself to be quite tactile and pleasing and the caffeine to not be too overpowering. It's a lovely way to wake up or take a work break.
- leetrout 4y agoDid you develop this sensitivity? It has been worse for me since i have hit my mid 30s and got worse again after having covid.
- thunkle 4y agoI've always had a sensitivity.
- baby 4y agoSo have I. At 33 I decided fuck it. I’m going to drink coffee everyday until it works for me. And after 1-2 weeks it worked out. I still get stressed out, and if I drink more than one espresso I’ll get anxious, but I can drink one coffee per day now and it brings me SO MUCH energy it’s crazy. Btw the same was true with weed. Weed used to make me sick like hell. I decided to just keep smoking and in a few times my body just adapted to it. I can’t smoke too much otherwise it’ll get mental, but I can smoke a bit and be happy.
- tuatoru 4y agoTIL about the existence of white tea. Thank you! Fun fact: "White tea may have first appeared in English publication in 1876, where it was categorized as a black tea, ..." So white can be black sometimes! 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_tea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_tea
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- chanandler_bong 4y agoThe author obviously has never been to the UK. Nothing happens without tea. Sure, coffee is commonplace, even dominant in some realms, but tea is life. Have a plumber in to fix a leak, or an electrician to look at a wonky switch? Without the offer and supply of copious cuppas, you'll be lucky if you don't drown/get electrocuted after the job is "done".
- vram22 4y agocuppa cha.
- gerdesj 4y agoAre you sure you actually read the article (this isn't /. don't you know): "I suspect this is why from China and Japan to here in the UK, slow and elaborate practises have formed over centuries around the proper way to drink tea." The author is a Brit, ie one of us. We own a built in coffee machine that does bean to cup - I insist on an Italian standard type blend (but wifey is starting to chafe about that - we'll see, ie I'll change it eventually) - 75% Arabica and 25% Robusta. We also drink an absolute shit load of black tea. Nothing fancy because all black tea is roughly the same. I use to work in a tea plant in Hampshire (UK) many years ago so I have a fair idea about the stuff. We generally go for Yorkshire for no particular reason. Tea is superb on a hot day and we have had quite a few recently. I have no idea why it works so well but when it is 40C+ outside then why not reach for a 90C cup of tea?
- skyyler 4y ago>Nothing fancy because all black tea is roughly the same Please, please, please, please try some good Chinese teas some time.
- n4r9 4y agoIt's funny how in the West there's a great emphasis on the purity, origin and quality of coffee or wine, but when it comes to tea we'll happily drink a bagged blend of the lowest-grade leaves. Once you've tried a nice cup of high grade Yunnan gold-tipped loose leaf black tea, a new world opens up.
- ketanmaheshwari 4y agoThe author surely means taking occasional breaks that involve just tea and doing nothing else. Otherwise how does one earn a living and support their dependents while doing nothing as much as they love it?
- LesZedCB 4y agoyou don't take a break from work to drink tea. while laboring, you are in the mode of "doing" something, whether that be programming, writing, or otherwise creating. while drinking tea, nothing must be done. it's not the negation of work. it's the affirmation of nothingness.
- adrianN 4y agoPersonally I take breaks from drinking tea to work.
- blaze33 4y agoIn "Action and Contemplation", Aldous Huxley wrote the following: "Pragmatism regards action as the end and thought as the means to that end; and contemporary popular philosophy accepts the pragmatist position. In the philosophy underlying Eastern and Western spiritual religion this position is reversed. Here, contemplation is the end, action (in which is included discursive thought) is valuable only as a means to the beatific vision of reality." So you can take a break from work to improve your overall productivity and that's okay. But you could as well consider work as a necessity of our material lives while the peaceful moment where you can make and drink tea is in itself the real deal.
- nicbou 4y agoI fit that pattern, but I am self-employed. These breaks are required for sustained productivity. They let me ponder, zoom out, reconsider. It shakes better ideas loose.
- balentio 4y agoThere are whole parties just for tea...
- arrosenberg 4y agoMy man has never had Scottish Breakfast tea. I have never been more jittery than after a cup of that stuff.
- barrucadu 4y agoEr, what? This article seems to be starting from a weird premise. Even the very first sentence, "It is a rare person who can do nothing- purely and without guilt- especially in our current culture of busywork." I can't relate to. Is it really so uncommon for someone to just do nothing... or does the author just surround themselves with such people? Also, this: > I suspect this is why from China and Japan to here in the UK, slow and elaborate practises have formed over centuries around the proper way to drink tea. Rituals that the takeaway cup and drink-at-the-desk culture have been unable to entirely erase. Is comparing apples to oranges. You could easily flip the drinks, and make a point about how the ritual of brewing coffee, taking a cup out to your garden, and drinking it in the sun, is more relaxing than the UK office culture of making (and offering to make) cups of tea which are then consumed at your desk.
- davzie 4y agoYou sound awfully offended at not agreeing with someone on the internet. I assume you must be in your early twenties because to be able to sustain such an attitude would likely lead to an extraordinarily high blood pressure that could send you to an early grave. Have a bath and relax.
- barrucadu 4y agoThe internet must seem a very hostile place if you so easily misinterpret confusion as offense.
- ungamedplayer 4y agoTo be fair, the internet can be quite hostile.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- sdwr 4y agoI've started to read all those sweeping statements as projection, the author sharing personal feelings in a way that's a little safer and more "professional".
- wwilim 4y agoTea is better for planning and thinking alone, coffee is better for repetitive work once you've planned it out with tea, and for discussing things with others. That being said, coffee is essential in the morning for low blood pressure people. Tea doesn't quite start the engine up the same way - clearing and waking up the brain is no use if the heart is still at 50 bpm and the eyelids are as heavy as the Iron Curtain.
- fufudgesyxud 4y agoI think when most people opine on tea there's an unspoken, and often unrealized, assumption that it's uncaffeinated tea. Because often when people discuss the relaxing aspects of tea or making tea what's really being described just seems like a purposefully self-occupying nothing action that offers little in the way of chemical stimulation. Which is fine, I'd agree such things can be both relaxing and good for giving ourselves time for certain kinds of reflection, but try it with a competitively caffeinated tea and I suspect the reality would be much less relaxing than the hypothetical.
- n4r9 4y agoI disagree. The kind of wakefulness you get from a strong caffeinated tea is very different to the kind you get from coffeee. It's like a relaxed glow whereas coffee is an animated buzz.
- diffeomorphism 4y ago> uncaffeinated tea. Does such a thing exist? Usually "tea" is made from tea leaves and other similar drinks are called "infusions" or "herbal tea" instead. I have never heard of decaff tea, but maybe it is common in other places?
- n4r9 4y agoMost tea brands in the UK have a decaf version e.g. https://www.pgtips.co.uk/our-teas/tastydecaf https://www.pgtips.co.uk/our-teas/tastydecaf . It tastes almost the same as black tea although I think I can detect a slight difference. My understanding is that there's a post-process treatment of the leaves to remove the caffeine. You're right that drinks not brewed from camelia sinensis leaves should technically be called an infusion or tisane. That includes fruit "tea" and infusions like rooibos, chamomile, nettle, or maté. However it's very common even in the UK to say "fruit tea" or "chamomile tea".
- aaaaaaaaaaab 4y ago>Paul Erdos once famously said that ‘a mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems’. Wrong. It was Alfred Renyi.
- lawrenceyan 4y agoHas anyone done work on genetically engineering tea for higher caffeine content? I imagine there'd be a decent business for tea with coffee-bean caffeine level parity.
- pipeline_peak 4y agoA lot of tea drinkers are very health nutty though. There’s nothing that crowd hates more than gmo’s.
- JustLetMeInMate 4y ago> A lot of tea drinkers are very health nutty though. The entire population of Great Britain has just raised a collective eyebrow.
- wyre 4y agoIt’s called Yerba Mate, not GME, nor is it c. Sinesis, but it’s caffeine is naturally very close to coffee.
- martinflack 4y agoThere's a brand called Zest tea which specializes in this. Some flavors are tasty. They have a sampler pack.
- Gatsky 4y agoThere is some great content on substack, but it is invariably too verbose. As much as I’m glad anyone can now indulge themselves in unrestrained quill scratching, 95% of substack content needs to be edited for length. Surely there is an NLP solution for this.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- swatcoder 4y ago> too verbose [for my tastes]. You put a very subjective opinion in very objective language. Some people prefer lingering in an essay, or meandering through musings, to reading executive summaries or condensed arguments or whatever. It's just a style. Sounds like it's not yours.
- Gatsky 4y agoYes it is my opinion of course, what else could I provide? But let's be pragmatic - there is an astounding amount of content in the world. I am not asking for a dot point summary as you seem to suggest, I am asking for cogency and well-styled economy of phrase. I mean the author of this post even says "But anyway, I’m getting off track here." in the 3rd paragraph. There are other easy to fix problems like run-on sentences, spamming adverbs, clunky use of cliches as concatenated adjectives ("can’t-see-the-wood-for-the-trees pursuit")... are you saying that you enjoy meandering through this 'style' of writing as you put it?
- doctorhandshake 4y agoOT but anyone know how the author made that floating subscribe button happen? I inspected the code but I'm not a web dev and can't entirely tell how that was done. AFAIK this is not a native Substack thing, and also AFAIK Substack doesn't allow CSS modification or injection of code.
- HWR_14 4y agoCheck out the .subscribe-dialog-pill CSS style. It's a combination of the z-index: 1 and position: fixed (I believe). I know nothing about Substack's CSS/JS rules. But I do believe that the behavior is controlled in the CSS style I mentioned.
- bergenty 4y agoI can do nothing and feel great.
- PostOnce 4y agoI didn't read the article. I went there to read the article, but the first thing I saw was a big thing telling me to subscribe to something, before I even know what the something is, because I've never seen the site before. So I closed it. I do that a lot. I'll keep doing it. We don't have that many hours on earth to waste on such things. This one even has a "Hurry! Spots are Limited!!!" infomercial type bullshit call to action. Good grief.
- madmax108 4y agoI loved reading this. I'm someone who actually enjoys going in to office and working with really smart folks on technically challenging problems, but once I come back home, I used to always end up bringing the "baggage" of work back home with me (Anyone who enjoys the world of tech would relate I'm sure). Until, that is, I started making tea as a buffer between work and the rest of my life. Making tea is something that's nearly mechanical process for me now, but gives me that much needed 20-30 mins where I'm physically doing something, but my mind is allowed to just wander around a bit, settle down, "suspend all the work-related tabs" in my brain, and refresh information for the rest of the day. An added bonus is that I always start my evenings with brownie points, earlier with my roommates, and now with my wife, since they know that me getting home means in a few mins, a nice hot cup of tea will be served to them ;)
- nicbou 4y agoDuring the heat wave I was going crazy because this little ritual was missing when I took a break. Tea is a really nice break.
- boredemployee 4y agoFor those sensitive to caffeine, avoid brewed coffee, it worked for me.