A tea substitute for coffee?

brothers · Post by **brothers** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 8:18 pm

I'm wondering if there's a tea that would be the caffeilne equivalent or even stronger than coffee. I love my coffee, and if I found a tea that I could drink and receive the same or better caffeine, maybe with cream, but never any sugar, then maybe I could do that. I just think I might be missing out on something good here. No reason to stick to coffee only, if there's a tea just as good or better. Any suggestions? We've got a few good retailers that probably handle at least a few of the better teas, Whole Foods, maybe?

ShadowsDad · Post by **ShadowsDad** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 3:57 pm

I don't know about caffeine content, but you can always drink more to get the kick.

It's been years since I drank coffee. I love the aroma, but the flavor always never matched the smell.

Breakfast tea is fine "ground" to brew faster and I would assume it's high caffeine.

Today I drink a lot of Chai Tea (homemade) when I need a pickup. That can be made quite strong, but it's a sweet tea. It's delicious IMO.

I don't need an answer to the next. Is it sugar you don't want, or sweetness? Chai could work with Stevia and if it's for health that you can't have sugar, Stevia has no health effects the way sugar does. I buy mine from an herbal supplier, AmeriHerb. They sell the pure powder by the pound, the stuff in the supermarket is laced with crap. The real stuff is 300x sweeter than sugar, so I mix it with vodka to make a liquid and use it out of a eyedropper bottle.

Pure stevia also has no sugar taste. Yes, sugar has a flavor, though most people associate the flavor with sweetness and no longer taste the sugar as a flavor. So initially stevia may not "taste" sweet even though it's cloyingly sweet.

Gary, if you need a recipe for Chai I can post one. If you want the pure stevia powder I'd go online to find it. I wouldn't buy the stuff in the supermarket, IMO it's junk. If I can help further get back to me.

Oh, I forgot! 30% of the population gets a bitter taste when they taste stevia instead of the sweet. If you go that route I hope you're not in the 30%. If you trust me I can send you some to try before you buy. Or just Google it and buy a small quantity of the pure stuff commercially, or go to a health food or natrual food store- they'll have it in a small bottle guaranteed.

I hope that helps.

Post by **Sam** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 4:07 pm

I tried and want to get off sugar and sweet and low. I can't abide the Nutra or yellow or blue packets. I tried some simple syrup last month in a mexican restaurant and it was sweet enough. I do have the Stevia from Walmart, and wow, I think I use more of that in a cup than the sweet and low (pink) but it may be better for you. Sad to think it has crap in it.

brothers · Post by **brothers** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 4:14 pm

Thanks for the information. I don't care much for the taste of sweetened coffee or iced tea, when I drink iced tea, which is a rare occasion indeed. I don't have any health related issues with sugar, but I just don't normally consume much sweet food or drink. I am thinking maybe there are some varieties of tea that are known to have stronger caffeine content than some others. Maybe I need to try to read up on teas, and/or find a local retailer who can give me some pointers.

churchilllafemme · Post by **churchilllafemme** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 5:03 pm

I'm not at all an expert, but I don't believe there are any teas that have more than about half the caffeine concentration of coffee.

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 6:19 pm

Agree with John, some black teas may approach 50% of the caffeine strength of coffee but usually 20% is closer to the mark.

ShadowsDad · Post by **ShadowsDad** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 6:26 pm

Sam, yeah the sweet equivalent of a teaspoon of sugar in Stevia is quite literally just a tiny pinch. Of course you won't get the sugar taste, but it'll be just as sweet.

Read the label, it should tell you what the other ingredients are that make it teaspoon for teaspoon equivalent. It's been awhile since I read the labels so I can't quote it, and "crap" is a relative thing. It isn't pure though. In it's pure form it's a light white powder. Much lighter than flour or talcum.

It could be that they're using another form of sugar to get the synergistic effect of blending the 2 and to bulk up the stevia for measuring. Again, I don't remember, but something is certainly added. But if that's it, you can do it much less expensively at home. I just checked... a pound of stevia is $24 and to give an idea of the volume, think just under a gallon. Then consider the price of store bought stevia. Even if you mix 5 pounds of sugar to bulk up the stevia, you'll have sweetening for a very long time, and it stores great. The sugar may clump, but the stevia won't unless you put water in it. You won't use it teaspoon for teaspoon though, you'll still use much less.

As I wrote, I liquify it- much easier to use and no sugar. I was mixing it 50/50 stevia/vodka, but that's too close to a saturated solution. Next time I'll use less stevia powder.

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 6:55 pm

I use raw brown sugar from Louisiana.

m3m0ryleak · Post by **m3m0ryleak** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 8:49 pm

ShadowsDad wrote: and "crap" is a relative thing

Really not trying to draw your ire but would it be more apropos for you to say "In my opinion" ?. Walking down a city street and breathing the air is equally "full of crap" relative to a hike down a country lane (unless you're down wind of the methane digester).

One man's meat is another man's poison or something like that.

ShadowsDad · Post by **ShadowsDad** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 9:04 pm

No ire seen or taken.

I did say it. I said it's a relative thing.

merkri · Post by **merkri** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 10:32 am

I doubt you'd find teas that have the caffeine content of coffee--as others are saying, it's probably 50% max.

In terms of depth of flavor, that's a different matter.

Having said all of that, there are starting to be some mate-tea blends showing up that might have more caffeine in them. Mate is a South American beverage similar to tea that has caffeine in it as well--I wouldn't be surprised if some of those mate-tea blends have more caffeine than straight tea (although I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't, too).

I remember a blend I really liked that had mate, tea, and cocoa nibs in it, with various flower blossoms just for color. I think I found it in a couple of places under different names, but can't remember exactly where.

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 10:52 am

I've tried some mate blends that were very nice but the online prices seem outrageous.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 11:33 am

As far as caffeine content goes, it would appear black teas have the highest concentration of it. Green tea normally has low content.

This might give you a starting point: http://www.theteafarm.com/category.asp?cat=11

OtherMoe · Post by **OtherMoe** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 1:27 pm

You might look at Yerba Mate. It's herbal tea that is supposed to have the same caffeine content as coffee, but not make you as jittery.

I'm not advoating Teavana, but here is what i'm refering to:

http://www.teavana.com/the-teas/mate-te ... QAodiA1G6w

brothers · Post by **brothers** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 3:15 pm

Great links guys, thanks. I've found out there's a tea store in the mall, and my daughter's been there. I'll go with her next time and see what they've got.

mikeny278 · Post by **mikeny278** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 5:44 pm

I thought mate was an Argentina thing, not a LatAm/South America thing? I have had mate when I was out in Buenos Aires, but I still also had American coffee, so I don't know if mate is a worthy substitute, but I would be very interested in trying this now. I certainly was not bouncing off the walls drinking the mate and coffee together, but American coffee in Argentina was probably made with a weak tea bag anyway.

I am also looking to drink less diet soda and coffee with artificial sweetener. I drink about 1 large Dunkin' Donuts coffee and several smaller cups of coffee at work throughout the day, along with 2-4 cans of Coke Zero with meals/snacks daily. I have always liked the taste of tea without cream and sweetener, but not enough to want to replace my other options. Maybe it is just the quality of tea I am drinking though. Trying to decide for a beginner the best infuser and place to get loose tea...the Nancy Boy infuser seems nice because you can heat the water in there too and do not need a tea kettle. Also, need to make a decision with my wife on flavors...what is the closest to Lipton's regular tea? I would like to try the champagne of tea! Would also like to get an herbal tea that would be a sweet alternative...there are so many options I will be researching this for weeks!

bbqncigars · Post by **bbqncigars** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 6:07 am

I don't know about Argentina, but mate was available and consumed in Montevideo back in the sixties, and not just by gauchos.

Wayne

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 9:07 am

The Mate I first tried was labeled a product of Argentina but I believe it's become one of those can be from anywhere names.

brothers · Post by **brothers** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:30 pm

It turns out that the store in our local mall is Teavana! I still haven't been there yet.

Dapper Dad · Post by **Dapper Dad** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 2:38 pm

More tea talk! Glad to help out with something that I have a little knowledge on (a little payback for everyone always helping me). Tea contains between 40-70mg of caffeine per cup, compared to about 100mg for a cup of joe.

In general, black tees with smaller leaves will have more caffeine. There are many good options out there to experiment with. I would like to suggest Lapsang Souchong as a possibility.

I will warn you that Lapsang Souchong is the TABAC of tea. You either love it or hate it. The tea has a distinctive smokiness to it that I enjoy very much. It is not for the faint of heart, but you strike me as someone who doesn't back down from a new adventure.