How much tea is too much tea?

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Bok
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Sun Jul 21, 2019 10:50 pm

As we were recently brushing on negative side effects of tea consumption this (admittedly extreme) case might be of interest:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/arch ... nLbVh2p410

I wonder if the quality of tea payed a role as well? How much different it would make if the large amount of tea consumed were high quality leaf instead of generic black tea?
From personal experience I know that tea bag black tea in general, gives me an instant unpleasant reaction in the stomach (if unsweetened and without milk).
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There is no self
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Mon Jul 22, 2019 5:15 am

Assuming by cup they mean 240 ml, the man would've been drinking 3,8 l of tea daily. Now that's definitely too much tea.
Whether quality matters or not is uncertain. The article says oxalate is found in black tea, meaning it's not naturally present in C. Sinensis leaves (as it is in spinach and berries) but it's the result of processing the leaves as black tea. Perhaps different processing methods result in different amounts of oxalate? This assuming the writer isn't missing some information and oxalate is actually found in every kind of tea.
Noonie
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Mon Jul 22, 2019 8:48 am

I’ve always wondered about this:

If I use 5 grams of semi-aged Sheng, 100 ml of water (flash brew or less than 10 seconds), what is the difference in having one steep of this vs 10 vs 20. If I compare 10 (1 litre) to 20 (2 litre), that additional litre would not be as potent, in fact it’s diminishing each time...so if I simply add up volume of tea drink consumed in a day, what does that tell me?
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debunix
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Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:05 am

The harmful effects of extreme consumption really relate to the quantity of leaf steeped throughout the day.....so that on a day when I may drink over two liters of water that has met a tea leaf, but the total weight of leaf used is maybe 5 or 10 grams (because long and repeated steepings until the last of it is very very dilute and really not much more than plain water; or a tiny bit of leaf into a large volume of water in a thermos, I'm not worried about overdoing effects; I might be getting no more tea leaf extraction than someone drinking 2-4 cups of western-style tea bags.
Noonie
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Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:57 pm

debunix wrote:
Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:05 am
The harmful effects of extreme consumption really relate to the quantity of leaf steeped throughout the day.....so that on a day when I may drink over two liters of water that has met a tea leaf, but the total weight of leaf used is maybe 5 or 10 grams (because long and repeated steepings until the last of it is very very dilute and really not much more than plain water; or a tiny bit of leaf into a large volume of water in a thermos, I'm not worried about overdoing effects; I might be getting no more tea leaf extraction than someone drinking 2-4 cups of western-style tea bags.
Thanks, I feel that way as well.

I’m usually having 3 or 4 “sessions” in a day, ranging from 12-20 grams of dry leaf. I start every day with Sencha or Matcha. If at work, I’ll have 1-2 sessions (another Sencha, and I may add a Dan Cong). Around dinner I’ll have a Pu’erh or Long Jing or something opened.
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pizzapotamus
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Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:22 pm

There is no self wrote:
Mon Jul 22, 2019 5:15 am
Assuming by cup they mean 240 ml, the man would've been drinking 3,8 l of tea daily. Now that's definitely too much tea.
Whether quality matters or not is uncertain. The article says oxalate is found in black tea, meaning it's not naturally present in C. Sinensis leaves (as it is in spinach and berries) but it's the result of processing the leaves as black tea. Perhaps different processing methods result in different amounts of oxalate? This assuming the writer isn't missing some information and oxalate is actually found in every kind of tea.

Seems like it really is varying levels.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12495262
"The mean soluble oxalate contents of black tea in tea bags and loose tea leaves were 4.68 and 5.11 mg/g tea, respectively, while green teas and oolong tea had lower oxalate contents, ranging from 0.23 to 1.15 mg/g tea."

Beyond just sheer volume of tea being consumed all of the previous stories I've seen of someone in the US or UK poisoning themselves this way also ended up being that they were brewing the tea in an unusual fashion as well, using multiple bags per cup(and probably enough sugar it's surprising that didn't do them in first). One memorably lady was allegedly using 100bags per day, ~200g of raw leaf :shock: :? :o
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Fri Aug 02, 2019 3:51 am

pizzapotamus wrote:
Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:22 pm
Beyond just sheer volume of tea being consumed all of the previous stories I've seen of someone in the US or UK poisoning themselves this way also ended up being that they were brewing the tea in an unusual fashion as well, using multiple bags per cup(and probably enough sugar it's surprising that didn't do them in first). One memorably lady was allegedly using 100bags per day, ~200g of raw leaf :shock: :? :o
I remember a story like that. A lady was advised by her doctor to add green tea to her diet, brewed 50 (perhaps more) bags of green tea in a two-litre pitcher for months, and ended up developing skeletal fluorosis.
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Baisao
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Sat Aug 03, 2019 1:01 am

This reminds me of the green tea extract fad about 15 years ago. Rather than drink green tea, people would consume a highly concentrated extract (it’s anyone’s guess whether it really came from green tea). Consuming a concentrated extract of tea is as immoderate as consuming 4 liters of iced tea a day.

I’ve met 3 people who sustained permanent liver damage from taking green tea extract in the chase for increased health.
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Baisao
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Sat Aug 03, 2019 1:23 am

I’d also like to suggest that the gentleman who was consuming 16 eight ounce glasses of iced tea a day may have gotten to that point much like boiling a frog. It happened to me.

I was developer for a Fortune 50 company that has a reputation for being a real grind house, but they had a Starbucks on-sight which was convenient. I started off getting a double-shot americano in the morning and another at midday. After a couple of years of obliviously drinking americanos all day I tallied that I was up to 7 douple-shot americanos a day and then going home and having multiple rounds of tea!

That’s approximately 1200 mg of caffeine a day from coffee alone!

Shocked by the tally I cut out coffee entirely. I didn’t have negative health effects that I was aware of when I was drinking so much coffee but it was clearly a habit that was out of balance. Perhaps just as surprising: I didn’t have withdrawals.

It sneaked up on me in a job that required a lot of mental focus on things other than myself. I think we can find ourselves at extremes by the long, slow addition of small measures.
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debunix
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Sat Aug 03, 2019 9:55 am

Baisao wrote:
Sat Aug 03, 2019 1:23 am
I think we can find ourselves at extremes by the long, slow addition of small measures.
Yes.
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Sat Aug 03, 2019 11:53 am

Baisao wrote:
Sat Aug 03, 2019 1:23 am
...started off getting a double-shot americano in the morning and another at midday. After a couple of years of obliviously drinking americanos all day I tallied that I was up to 7 douple-shot americanos a day and then going home and having multiple rounds of tea!.
In Europe there are a lot of cafes that will not allow a customer to buy so many rounds of drinks containing espresso, especially in one sitting. The limit is 2 shots of espresso at a time at some places, 4 at others. In Sicily the owners of a small place, would cut off my sister after 2 capucinos. They wanted her to wait a couple of hours or at least eat before having more. One time they had her join them in the kitchen to share their brunch then sold her another capucino.

Congratulations on stopping the habit before physical problems developed.
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Baisao
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Sun Aug 04, 2019 4:42 pm

Ethan Kurland wrote:
Sat Aug 03, 2019 11:53 am
Baisao wrote:
Sat Aug 03, 2019 1:23 am
...started off getting a double-shot americano in the morning and another at midday. After a couple of years of obliviously drinking americanos all day I tallied that I was up to 7 douple-shot americanos a day and then going home and having multiple rounds of tea!.
In Europe there are a lot of cafes that will not allow a customer to buy so many rounds of drinks containing espresso, especially in one sitting. The limit is 2 shots of espresso at a time at some places, 4 at others. In Sicily the owners of a small place, would cut off my sister after 2 capucinos. They wanted her to wait a couple of hours or at least eat before having more. One time they had her join them in the kitchen to share their brunch then sold her another capucino.

Congratulations on stopping the habit before physical problems developed.
Thank you, @Ethan Kurland.

I didn’t know that these rules existed in Europe. They’re very sensible. The story of your sister being invited to brunch before serving her more coffee has such a loving feel to it. I wish more people were like this.
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Thu Sep 26, 2019 2:21 pm

Ethan Kurland wrote:
Sat Aug 03, 2019 11:53 am
In Europe there are a lot of cafes that will not allow a customer to buy so many rounds of drinks containing espresso, especially in one sitting. The limit is 2 shots of espresso at a time at some places, 4 at others. In Sicily the owners of a small place, would cut off my sister after 2 capucinos. They wanted her to wait a couple of hours or at least eat before having more. One time they had her join them in the kitchen to share their brunch then sold her another capucino.
A common theme around Italy: eat something before the next coffee, so you'll neutralise its effects. Little more than an excuse to drink more coffee, actualy, since even a light snack would qualify as "carpet for the stomach". :mrgreen:
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d.manuk
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Fri Sep 27, 2019 6:48 pm

My friend has been getting acid reflux from drinking too much tea, so she's taking a tea tolerance break.

I know that I myself also experience negative side effects from too much tea. I prefer not to drink more than 2 sessions a day now..... if I go to a meetup where a lot of tea is drunk for a longer period of time, my stomach often protests. Especially if its a session with many different kinds of puers. If I know one of these meetups is going to occur, I try my best to eat a very big meal beforehand.
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Sat Sep 28, 2019 1:24 am

Yesterday I had my first bad reaction to tea. A session with tea friends, where we had at least a dozen of teas, ranging from Tieguanyin, Yancha, aged Dancong, fresh Dancong, Baozhong, hongcha, bug-bitten Hybrid Oolongs, oriental beauty fresh and aged to Puerh fresh and aged.

What killed me and provoked an immediate sensation of feeling unwell was the fresh Puerh. One guy had brought tiny coin sized cakes from big trees. While the taste was ok, the reaction was not. Weirdly the first thing I noticed was the urge to burp !? Then I got the feeling I normally only get when drinking a teabag of Assam, say TG Tipps on an empty stomach... yet in this case my stomach was well prepared.
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