Tea Minded

The common warm up ritual for Indians starts with a cup of tea. Just put the water in a kettle to boil, sprinkle in some black tea, pour milk, add sugar (and perhaps some ginger or cardamom for extra flavour) and let the day begin with a cup of tea.
Most of the Indian households have typical morning with varying breakfast and a cup of tea. The people in India cannot imagine starting a day without having a cup of tea. They would surely compromise on the breakfast but moving out of the house without a cup of tea is sure no!!!
Moving on to the larger picture, when we talk about the global scenario of tea, it still tops the chart. With the exception of water, more people in the world consume tea than any other beverage. Tea is said to be the second highest consumed beverage (after water) on planet earth. The reason for this is because of the awesome taste and numerous health benefits which tea offers to its consumers.

The caffeine present in the tea has many positive effects, such as helping you feel more alert or giving you increased energy. This is the reason tea is said to be the “morning energy drink” because it boosts up the sleepy mind.

Caffeine in Tea

Caffeine is used by millions of people every day to increase wakefulness, alleviate fatigue, and improve concentration and focus. Up to 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine a day appears to be safe for most healthy adults. That’s roughly the amount of caffeine in four cups of brewed coffee, 10 cans of cola or two “energy shot” drinks.
Although caffeine use may be safe for adults, it’s not a good idea for children. And adolescents should limit themselves to no more than 100 mg of caffeine a day. Even among adults, heavy caffeine use can cause unpleasant side effects. And caffeine may not be a good choice for people who are highly sensitive to its effects or who take certain medications.
The amount of caffeine in an average 8-oz. cup varies from 40 to 120 mg. The white, oolong and green tea may contain less caffeine than black tea. The amount of caffeine found in tea is less than coffee, energy drinks or caffeine pills. Hence, caffeine addiction for tea is always less than for coffee.

Caffeine Addiction

Like any addiction, addiction to caffeine is also slow and gradual. Although, it depends upon person to person because many people feel the effects of caffeine most strongly when they first begin consuming the drug while for others it may take some time.
Addiction can happen both with tea and coffee drinkers. The ‘wake-me-up’ properties of tea and coffee can become addictive. Although, the addiction is more pronounced in the coffee drinkers due to the “coffee jitters” experienced by the coffee addicts (the reason behind this is the high amounts of caffeine present in the coffee). Tea is said to have no jittery effects because the chemicals present in the tea allow slow release of caffeine in body as compared to fast release of caffeine in coffee.
The common effects of caffeine include increased alertness or energy, nervousness and difficulty sleeping. Once caffeine is absorbed into the blood stream, it can reach all parts of the body, and causes a variety of effects.
It makes the heart pump more blood, but it decreases the blood flow to the brain by constricting blood vessels there. Perhaps it compensates for this by stimulating the cerebral cortex, to give us a more alert feeling! Too much caffeine can cause irritability, nervousness, jumpiness, irregular heartbeat, headaches, insomnia and other unpleasant symptoms.
One prominent thing to note is that as a person becomes physically dependent on caffeine, he or she may notice that the effects of caffeine are not as pronounced. This is because your body has adjusted to having caffeine present in your system. You begin to need more of the drug in order to have the effect you used to experience. This increased tolerance to caffeine is the biggest sign of caffeine addiction.

How tea addicts are connected???

The world of tea addicts is entirely different and each of them is connected to each other in one way or the other. The common thing among them is…

“Its damn near impossible for you to start your day without a cup of tea. For tea addicts no other beverage gives that warm, safe feeling inside like tea does. They feel un-lively without a cup of tea.”

If you are a tea addict you would probably know how it feels to be the same. Here are a few things that only a tea addict would truly understand and this is how tea minded people are connected to each other.
1. “Tea addicts cannot physically start a day without a cup of tea. It is nearly impossible for them to do that and in case they do start it without tea, that day would be a disaster.”

There are numerous instances when tea addicts around the world have ruined their early morning meetings just due to the fact that they didn’t consume their early cup of tea. Only a true tea lover would understand this, while others may simply pass this statement as a joke.

2. “Tea addicts always make time for a tea.”

This stands true for every tea lover in the world. You could wake up with not even ten minutes to spare, but you can bet you will still make and chug that tea down before you do anything else.

3. “After any form of physical activity you are left absolutely gasping for one.”
When you are completely exhausted by work in office or home and you need to keep going in order to finish the work or you just need to relax, you surely need to have a cup of tea. This is for all the tea addicts and they would surely agree to it.
4. “You drink every type of tea there is. Herbal, black, iced, hell you’re even known to dabble in the loose-leaf variety.”

This one is pretty hard to digest actually but is true for the tea lovers. They can have any kind of tea and like to experiment with different types of teas. They don’t care whether it is green tea or black tea or any other variety; they simply need to gulp tea down their throat.

5. “Often you need to double up the tea dose.”

This is the most common experience among the tea lovers. Sometimes when you are having such a good tea that when you finish it you quickly rush to the kettle to make one more because you just enjoyed it so much.

6. “A special tea cup which is only for you”

Tea minded people are crazy about their mugs in which they drink tea. Either they keep it safe or they may carry it with them in office or to their work place to have tea. The reason can be any, probably the sentiments attached with the tea and the mug, who knows!!!

7. “Caramel tea or Brown tea or any other variety…Tea lovers are all ready.”

Tea minded people are crazy about teas and always try new varieties of tea all the time. Their minds are different from that of a normal person when it comes to tea and they could go anywhere to have that crazy new cup of tea.

8. “Big decisions are often made over a cup of tea.”

Whether it’s a business meeting or a job interview or some family event, tea minded people always take decision over a cup of tea.

9. “You have a specific tea routine which cannot be broken.”

Tea minded people have a tea routine which cannot be broken and their drink specific type depends on time of day and mood. .For e.g. An English breakfast tea in the morning, green for a caffeine kick, an afternoon blend for tea at 3pm, peppermint after food, ginger when you’re stressed and camomile before bed.

10. “When people say you have too much caffeine…You’re like ‘What, it’s just tea?’

11. “Some tea lovers hate coffee and avoid them completely.”

If they have a meeting with friends over a cup of coffee, they would probably skip the meeting or demand tea during the meeting. Having coffee is probably one of the most difficult tasks for tea minded individuals.

12. “Whether it’s hot or cold, rainy or sunny, a tea lover will have tea all the time and cannot compromise at any cost.”

Some tend to have fruit drinks during summers but a real tea lover would have a hot cup of tea in the extreme summer also. Even in the hottest weather they crave for tea as they do in winters.

13. “Yes, tea lovers do pack their own tea in their suitcase on holiday.”

When it comes to the tea provided by the hotel, they simply take out their own tea and say bye to the waiter to make their own tea. No shame!!!

14. “The habits of tea lovers evolve over time.”

For e.g. when it comes to sugar, during younger age more sugar is preferred in tea but with age they learn the wonders of the sugarless tea. Some prefer no milk in tea after years of drinking tea with milk.

15. “You use tea as a cure for absolutely everything.”

Sore throat? Tea. Been dumped? Tea. So hung over you might die?? Have a tea. See, it’s there for you through all shitty situations. Kind of like a boyfriend. Except much, much better.

16. “Tea lovers don’t forgive the person who makes a bad cup of tea. Infact, they cannot abide a lazy or incorrect cup of tea. Brewed, but not stewed please.”

17. “Have you ever been to a tea lover’s bedroom???”

If not then it’s time to visit them as soon as possible as it would more of a museum which you have never seen before. A tea lover’s bedroom looks like a gift shop- with empty cups and flasks. If you ask about any of the cups, they would probably have a story attached with it.

18. “Tea minded individuals never say no to a cup of tea.”

Even if they have finished a cup or two, but they cannot say a “no” to the third cup. But it’s a blessing and a curse, because…that means you literally pee all day, every day. Alas, what goes in must come out.

19. “Tea lovers gel well with tea lovers.”

When there is a man they know that loves tea-they think he must be a perfect husband/father/companion. Two tea lovers are going to be friends forever just because both of them love to have tea. That’s the fineness of being a tea lover.

20. “Returning back from the work, tired and too desperate to have tea, and you find that you ran out of tea bags. That is the end of life for tea minded people.”

21. “A tea minded individual can never understand that why café coffee day or starbucks is so popular?”

22. “A tea lover can never waste a cup of tea and if at all he/she does then the feeling of sadness would prevail until they would have a new cup of tea.”

23. Often tea lovers feel this – “When you forget about a cup of tea & it goes cold you feel like you have murdered one of your children…RIP”

Withdrawal

If you become addicted to caffeine, you likely will experience unpleasant withdrawal symptoms whenever you do not have the usual amount of caffeine in your system. These effects may include headaches, tiredness, irritability or muscle aches. Withdrawal symptoms usually go away almost immediately after resuming your caffeine consumption.

Prevention

To prevent yourself from being physically dependent on caffeine, limit the amount of caffeine you consume. You can lower the amount of caffeine in your tea by using one tea bag for multiple servings of tea, by shortening the length of time you brew the tea or by lowering the temperature of the water of your tea. Switching from black tea to green, white, oolong or herbal tea also may help you limit your overall caffeine consumption. Try to replace caffeinated beverages with decaffeinated or caffeine-free options whenever possible, and avoid consuming highly caffeinated beverages regularly. To prevent caffeine withdrawal symptoms, slowly decrease your caffeine consumption rather than stopping it abruptly.