herbal tea noob needs guidance....

Good idea! heh.

A habits hard to break. Maybe just drink more water? heh. Actually, most teas have plenty of caffine in them; switching to tea in the morning could be seamless...and it actually isn't the caffine that hits you immediately like most people think; it's the sugar. The caffine doesn't kick in for 2-3 hours depending on your metabolism.

Making tea from just straight herbs could be a idea...or a decaf.

Well, it depends on what you want the herbal tea for. If you want the real deal herbal tea, with actual herbs and not flavored black, I think you should pick up a small book on herbs and their medicinal properties that you should be able to get at any local book shop. As for the WWW, hit up google a bit and see what you can find. Although some of the properties for the different herbs may vary slightly. I have

bookmarked and look at it occasionally; seems to have some good info there. You really can't go wrong with the more benign herbs like Chamomile or most of the mint family (peppermint, spearmint..great for colds or sore throats) when you make teas out of them; just be sure to try not to make tea out of something like mugwart or skullcap and you'll be fine.

There are plenty of blends available in teashops that are acceptable, I'm sure. If worse comes to worse, use bagged. We mostly discuss loose leaf of various varieties here such as Chinese Wulong.

Stay with us and you'll learn alot! I sure have!!

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

Congrats!

Green and white teas are meant to consumed straight and some do taste "sweet."

A cup of tea contains approx. 1/2 the amount of caffeine of a cup of regular coffee, so switching to regular tea might be a good step for you to take in the weaning process.

Herbal teas are properly called tisanes, not teas, simply because they don't come from the tea plant, Camellia sinensis. AFAIK, herbal teas don't have caffeine except for yerba mate and guarana. Please see:

More tannins are released as the steep gets longer. Since longer brew times also makes tea bitter, it's fairly easy to avoid. This page says that green tea does not release tannins and I would assume by extension that white tea doesn't either:

OTOH, caffeine is highly water-soluble resulting in up to 80% of the caffeine in tea being released in the first 30 secs. or so. This allows you to reduce the amount of caffeine in your tea yourself, if you don't want to buy decaf tea. All you have to do is brew the tea like normal for 30 secs. and discard that water. Then, proceed to brew as usual with fresh water for a beverage w/ much less caffeine. Also, since it's common to infuse green and white teas 3x or more, the first cup will give you the caffeine and subsequent cups will have lower to negligible levels. Consuming tea gongfu style will give you similar results.

For alertness, IMO, it would be easier to stick with a true tea for the caffeine. If you buy a CO2 decaf'd tea, it will have something like 99+% of the caffeine removed compared to the up to 80% if you decaf'd it yourself.

For relaxation, I've found that the chamomile and rooibos herbs work well.

Okay, so stick with herbals, and avoid flavored teas which are real teas.

has several common, popularly infused herbs.

The misc.health.alternative ng may offer more assistance as r.f.d.t. is for the discussion of tea merely as a beverage.

Here is the r.f.d.t. FAQ which has more info including about kicking a caffeine habit:

HTH.

well you say you want "alertness" and "energy" but not caffeine. I'm afraid you can't have it both ways. Herbal 'teas' (jasmine, chamomile, not real 'tea' from the tea plant), usually do not have any caffeine, so the only 'alertness' you'll be gettting is from the taste and maybe the warm water.

Often herbal teas will be called "tisanes" .. try searching for that word.

Well, it's never bad to increase very slightly exercise, especially during the transition period. Walking often does wonders.

All the herb teas can be had without adding sweetener. You can get used to it very quickly, but if you had the habit of over-sweet soft drinks, maybe you could start with fruit tisanes (like the German red berry ones).

Roasted tea ( like Japanese Houji cha) have a reduced cafeine level, even children can have them.

After dinner, I drink : tisanes (orange tree, chamomille, linden, etc) fruit tisanes cereal decoction (mugi cha, sobacha) rooibos (African red not-a-tea) roasted tea lemonade (lemon juice + water) fresh herb water (water + my herb garden plants let together a few hours in the fridge) yuzu cha (citrus jam + hot water, that has calories, but the day you have that, don't get a dessert) water

*(secret)

None of that makes me sleep. Doing a little break gives you energy, no matter what you drink. You can also add a few yoga/strectching/relaxation/massage minutes to your break as for computer work, the tireness comes easily in the shoulder, neck, eyes.

*(any tea I feel like and even very strong coffee, the truth is I don't like sleeping at night...)

Kuri (night bird)

Well, you could try an infusion made with chicory root. It's used as a substitute for coffee and can help wean you off of the caffeine. I've never had an infusion of pure chicory root but I've had a couple blends that used large amounts of it, and I thought they tasted pretty good. They weren't bitter at all, but that could have been because of the other herbs in the blend, I'm not sure. If it is too bitter plain I figure you could have an herb shop mix a blend that is more palatable. Just some suggestions.

One other suggestion A Weak Cup of Tea taste better than A Weak Cup of Coffee. Take a tea bag, and simply dunk two or three times, or remove immediately after infusing with empty cup. I could drink any tea I make with a 10-1 dilution and still find it enjoyable.

Jim

Mydnight wrote: ...I delete you...

I like to buy my herbal (tisanes) teas from Special Teas.com.

I love the blueberry yogurt (listed under the Fruit Blends) and caramel rooibos but there are plenty of flavors from which to choose. I also drink peppermint & chamomile at night...mine is home grown but SpecialTeas sells that as well.

If you're looking for "alertness" you might want to find something with ginseng...though it may have the potential to keep you up if you drink it too late. You should be able to find that in a local health food store. (I don't like the flavor so I don't drink it.) I buy my real tea from either Special Teas or Upton Tea,

A low caffeine oolong or green in a gung fu cha method (small cup/multiple infusion) might be an option for a light pick-me-up since I find the second and third infusion very relaxing rather than "wired." You can always decaf your brew as suggested in earlier posts and dump the first thirty second steep.

All the best,

Renee

There have been studies that show mints, citrus, and jasmine scents effecting alertness--lemon is especially good at improving productivity. Certainly the scent of the tisane could help you to be more alert.