Tea For Two?

I thought I'd better do a quick update in case anyone's worried that my caffeine abstinence has killed me, or in in case anyone's actually reading. I'm now onto day five of my caffeine seige, and I must admit I feel pretty good. I think I'm over the lack of caffeine now, although it's still taking me a good while longer to properly wake up in the mornings. The thing I miss the most is a nice hot drink to warm me up, so I have been experimenting with alternatives. As I mentioned in an earlier post (I think), I tried some Rooibos tea which isn't too pleasant, but I'm starting to warm to it. It looks like tea, it's warm, it just doesn't quite have that lovely tea taste but it will do until Monday. I also tried some lemon and ginger tea which I found somewhat deceptive, it smelt like Lemsip (other hot lemon drinks are available), it looked like Lemsip, but it tasted like a squirt of lemon juice in hot water. I concluded that they must put a lot of sugar in Lemsip, which is probably half the reason it makes you feel good. Hot chocolate is my other hot beverage of choice, but if I drank it with the enthusiasm that I embrace tea with I'd be dead and thirsty. I find it's a bit like eating a chocolate bar, and when I'm trying to wash down a chocolate bar, it really isn't pleasant. So the winner is Rooibos tea, which was a phrase I thought I'd never use.

All in all, I actually feel healthier, and surprisingly, more awake without caffeine. This must have something to do with caffeine perking you up for a limited amount of time, so if you neglect to top up your levels you ultimately crash and feel exhausted. Another habit I've had to get out of this week is eating bananas after lunch. I found out that when you eat a banana with any milk product, the tryptophan in the banana mixes with something in the milk (some sort of protein no doubt), and forms melatonin, which makes you sleepy. So for the past few years I've been having a banana after lunch with a cup of tea, and then wondering why I end up having an afternoon nap. Well now you know.

Boston Tea Party

Just to clarify, I'm not technically giving up tea for the week, but rather caffeine. Thus I am allowing myself to sample some of the alternative teas out there, provided they are caffeine free. So yesterday I tucked into Rooibos tea, which admittedly I only bought because the packaging was excellent. It's pretty disgusting, it promises all the sweet tastes and smells of "ordinary" tea, but in fact packs a floral punch. This is a lie actually, as it packs no punch whatsoever, being caffeine free and all. In all fairness it tastes okay, there's just no sudden alertness once the last drop is hungrily slurped from the bottom of the mug. But for a week I suppose it will do as an alternative. Worryingly I still have a slight headache, but I'm thinking now this is more to do with the plethora of colds that seem to pass my way these days as opposed to caffeine withdrawal. Right, back to my water...

All Work and No Tea Makes Joe a Dull Boy

Today my girlfriend and I have decided to give up caffeine for a week. To us this is quite a big deal, being devout tea worshippers ourselves. But we thought it would be interesting to “kick the habit” for a week, mostly just to see if we could. Today is day one, and so far it has been hard work. To put it in perspective, I drink a lot of tea, at least 10 cups a day minimum. I can’t remember ever not having one in the morning to wake me up, so today was a real shock to the system. The train journey into university this morning involved a lot of daydreaming and stumbling around, and I am genuinely struggling to concentrate. In fact right at this minute I should be chipping away at a rather large project which needs to be completed by the end of next month, but I keep writing a sentence and then finding something else to do, my attention span has definitely waned. My usual solution when I’m struggling to concentrate is to go and make a cup of tea. It’s quite bizarre, as I’m well aware that I drink too much tea and I am addicted to the caffeine within, but to suddenly give it up does make me feel different, less composed, less ready to take on the world. This isn’t me moaning by the way, merely a way of me documenting the week so I’ll have something to remember it by when I binge myself to bits on caffeine next Monday…