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I'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 har

I'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 ago
Did 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 ago
  I've always had a sensitivity.
  - baby 4y ago
    So 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 ago
TIL 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
- steadicat 4y ago
  White tea is actually closer to black tea than the name implies. Because – unlike green tea – it is not steamed to stop the oxidation process, it oxides naturally as it dries. This puts it somewhere between green tea and black tea in terms of oxidation (which is also where oolong is BTW[1]). Some oolongs and white teas – if brewed similarly – are very very close to black tea in terms of flavor. [1] The technical difference between oolong and white is simply that white is processed naturally, whereas oolong has more “steps” (oxidation, drying, steaming, etc.). The steps can be manipulated to give the tea a different character. Oolongs are often roasted, for example.
  - chasil 4y ago
    I have read that white tea has the highest amount of antioxidants as any other variety, triple the amount of green. I regularly drink shoumei and white peony; I should really try silver needle. https://www.budwhitetea.com/whitetea https://www.budwhitetea.com/whitetea
    - Eupraxias 4y ago
      Silver needle is a wonder, when the preparer has decades of experience. A good friend was such a master, and I had the joy of learning how to prepare Silver Needle with mastery. I had brewed it hundreds of times, but when he did it, it was inexplicably different. Same leaves, same water, same vessel. White tea is a portal to a world of subtlety that I had never experienced previously, and have rarely encountered since. I helped open Tao of Tea in Portland in the late 90s. We had over 250 fresh loose-leaf teas with which to experiment. Paradise!
      - chasil 4y ago
        Alas, I doubt that I will ever meet a brewer of such skill.
        Eupraxias 4y ago
cercatrova 4y ago
Unfortunately even tea is too caffeine intense for me so I've been sticking to decaffeinated coffee. A factoid, the color of a tea does not relate to its caffeine content.
- Entinel 4y ago
  There is still a world of tea for people that are caffeine sensitive. I find a lot of jasmine teas are light on caffeine, cha hua is tea made from the flowers of the tea plant and that is barely caffeinated and if that is still too much there is always rooibos, honeybush, and other herbals.
  - sammalloy 4y ago
    Came here to put in a good word for rooibos. When I went through a caffeine-free phase for several years, it was my go to drink. It also makes fantastic iced tea.
    - hinoki 4y ago
      Rooibos is delicious plain (black? neat?), and also with honey+milk or honey+lemon. You can also pull it like espresso and make great caffeine free lattes.
  - cercatrova 4y ago
    Yes tisanes are a good option. However all teas of the camellia sinensis plant have caffeine.
  - wawjgreen 4y ago
    rooibus is not just a tea alternative--it is a tea in itself--and very healthy and beneficial one at that.
- triyambakam 4y ago
  You can buy loose leaf tea and brew your own concentration. I brew about 1/4th of a gram per liter which is... probably imperceptible to most (which probably brew about 4 grams per liter)
PuppyTailWags 4y ago
If you enjoy white tea in cakes you may consider aging your white tea cakes in humidified bins. They get deeper and richer in flavor as they age that way, but the humidity is important.

leetrout 4y ago

Did 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 ago
I've always had a sensitivity.
- baby 4y ago
  So 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 ago

TIL 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

steadicat 4y ago
White tea is actually closer to black tea than the name implies. Because – unlike green tea – it is not steamed to stop the oxidation process, it oxides naturally as it dries. This puts it somewhere between green tea and black tea in terms of oxidation (which is also where oolong is BTW[1]). Some oolongs and white teas – if brewed similarly – are very very close to black tea in terms of flavor. [1] The technical difference between oolong and white is simply that white is processed naturally, whereas oolong has more “steps” (oxidation, drying, steaming, etc.). The steps can be manipulated to give the tea a different character. Oolongs are often roasted, for example.
- chasil 4y ago
  I have read that white tea has the highest amount of antioxidants as any other variety, triple the amount of green. I regularly drink shoumei and white peony; I should really try silver needle. https://www.budwhitetea.com/whitetea https://www.budwhitetea.com/whitetea
  - Eupraxias 4y ago
    Silver needle is a wonder, when the preparer has decades of experience. A good friend was such a master, and I had the joy of learning how to prepare Silver Needle with mastery. I had brewed it hundreds of times, but when he did it, it was inexplicably different. Same leaves, same water, same vessel. White tea is a portal to a world of subtlety that I had never experienced previously, and have rarely encountered since. I helped open Tao of Tea in Portland in the late 90s. We had over 250 fresh loose-leaf teas with which to experiment. Paradise!
    - chasil 4y ago
      Alas, I doubt that I will ever meet a brewer of such skill.
      - Eupraxias 4y ago

cercatrova 4y ago

Unfortunately even tea is too caffeine intense for me so I've been sticking to decaffeinated coffee. A factoid, the color of a tea does not relate to its caffeine content.

Entinel 4y ago
There is still a world of tea for people that are caffeine sensitive. I find a lot of jasmine teas are light on caffeine, cha hua is tea made from the flowers of the tea plant and that is barely caffeinated and if that is still too much there is always rooibos, honeybush, and other herbals.
- sammalloy 4y ago
  Came here to put in a good word for rooibos. When I went through a caffeine-free phase for several years, it was my go to drink. It also makes fantastic iced tea.
  - hinoki 4y ago
    Rooibos is delicious plain (black? neat?), and also with honey+milk or honey+lemon. You can also pull it like espresso and make great caffeine free lattes.
- cercatrova 4y ago
  Yes tisanes are a good option. However all teas of the camellia sinensis plant have caffeine.
- wawjgreen 4y ago
  rooibus is not just a tea alternative--it is a tea in itself--and very healthy and beneficial one at that.
triyambakam 4y ago
You can buy loose leaf tea and brew your own concentration. I brew about 1/4th of a gram per liter which is... probably imperceptible to most (which probably brew about 4 grams per liter)

PuppyTailWags 4y ago

If you enjoy white tea in cakes you may consider aging your white tea cakes in humidified bins. They get deeper and richer in flavor as they age that way, but the humidity is important.