Okay, so I know all of the health benefits of green tea and I love the stuff. I have a nice bag of sencha in my kitchen 3/4 full. It would be gone by now but when I gave up caffeine, I gave up my green tea, too.



I used to be majorly addicted to Starbucks and having a cup of coffee every morning. Time and time again I read various articles and studies on how caffeine is best avoided for a variety of reasons, especially for women. So I kicked the habit a couple of months ago.



I guess this is where I'm at a bit of an impasse. Tea had never made me feel jacked up or gave me that boost that coffee does - though supposedly, tea has more caffeine?



To those of you who drink green tea - do you believe that the benefits outweigh the negative effects of caffeine? Do you think that the caffeine is processed and felt differently in the body than that of coffee? And finally, how often do you drink it?

Yes, I believe the benefits outweigh the drawbacks of the caffeine. If you do not want the caffeine though, you can buy decaffinated green tea. Several brands make a decaffinated version, including Yogi tea, which I have right now.

I'd say I drink about 16 oz of green tea a day, on the days I work mornings. I make myself a cup before I leave the house and sip it all day. Green tea has less caffeine than regular tea, which has less caffeine per cup than coffee (its a concentration thing i believe that makes tea have more caffeine than coffee... like by volume or something, i don't remember, but cup for cup coffee has more...)

tea has more caffeine by WEIGHT, not volume. you use a far smaller amount of tea per cup (in weight) than you do coffee; therefore, a cup of tea has much less caffeine than a cup of coffee. brewed coffee typically has about 135 mg of caffeine while a cup of brewed black tea has about 50; and a cup of green tea has 30 mg of caffeine.



this is a small chart that shows you some of the foods that contain caffeine and how much.



http://www.cspinet.org/new/cafchart.htm

btw, if you can find it, i highly recommend using gen mai cha, which is a green tea that is mixed with toasted grains. the grains give the tea an amazing nutty flavour and because you're using less tea per cup you're also getting less caffeine.

Thanks Kreeli, I'll look for that. And that link was very interesting, too. Since I know now that the caffeine content is so low, I'll probably start having a small cup in the morning.



Missleigh, I like Yogi Tea. I have the detox formula, which I drink at night before bad. Good stuff! I'll look for their decaf green tea.

The green tea with grains is called Gen mai cha and can be found really cheap in asian markets. I like buying it loose, and letting the popcorn and brown rice seperate and eat them when they float to the top.

yep, i think i mentioned the name of it! it's great. our favourite around here!