Camellia assamica var. kucha

If it is a type of tea it will also have caffeine. There is unfortunately no such thing as tea without caffeine. Some teas such as hojicha have less caffeine but all varieties of tea will have caffeine. So if this is a variety of tea it will also have caffeine in addition to this other ingredient. I wish there was a type of real tea naturally without caffeine. If such a thing existed it would be all over the place.

I’ve read about one type of tea without caffeine called Camellia irrawadiensis, although the final tea produced is not supposed to be very good. I haven’t tried it, so I can’t give an opinion.

Looking now at the Wikipedia article it makes no sense. It refers to the tea as Kudingcha and Camellia Assamica var Kucha at the same time. This makes no sense as Kuding Cha is an herbal tea that has two forms, one with caffeine, one without. But if it is Camellia Assamica var Kucha, a sub type of real tea it can’t be Kuding Cha.

Yeah, that’s what confused me AllanK. I think the wiki is just off on the naming.

My point was you would get the caffeine too unless you buy their supplement. I have never heard of this sub variety of Assamica before. Do you know where it is grown. If you want to track down tea made with it you might start with it’s specific origin. If you were able to determine for instance that it was from Yunnan you could then contact someone like Scott at Yunnan Sourcing. If it’s grown in Yunnan he would know about it in all probability. Or he would have the contacts to find out. If it is grown in Nepal you would need to contact someone else, etc. Start by finding out where it is grown. In my understanding the Assamica bush is found in Yunnan, China and India as well. Most of the rest of China produces tea with the Camellia Sinensis var Sinensis bush.

Now that I think of it the other compound in tea is called Theanine. It does have some of the properties described in this supplement of theirs. I don’t think it had all the properties.

If it is grown in the Meng Song area of Bulang I would send an email to Scott at Yunnan Sourcing. He may have either heard about the varietal or have contacts that know about it. This does not mean he would carry tea made from this but it is a starting point if it is grown in Yunnan. He is an expert in tea from Yunnan.

I will do that. Thanks!

I notice the Teachat thread mentions Meng Song and Lao Man E tea. If it is naturally found in tea from one of these specific regions it is possible to locate puerh from those regions. Puerh from Lao Man E though is often faked because it is an expensive region. Meng Song in another specific region where it will be possible to find puerh tea from.

If you like in San Francisco there is a very good local puerh seller called purepuer at www.purepuer.com. I don’t believe that they have a store but I know they sell at farmers markets in San Francisco. They have some excellent tea. The owner, whose name escapes me now is also an expert on tea from Yunnan. You might email him as well.

Thanks!

That site purepuer.com is selling a cake with leaves from 1000 year old trees for $138. based on other posts about the ambiguity of such claims, do you think this vendor is legit?
http://purepuer.com/puer_tea/do/product/green_puer_tea_cake/2007_Thousand_Year_Wild_Tree_Green_Puer_Tea_Cake

@andresito No. ;-)

That is not a variety of tea but an herbal. The OP was looking for a variety of tea. It does have caffeine though.

Really? At first I wasn’t certain myself, but it is the same tea that is referenced in the Wikipedia article above. Maybe someone more knowledgeable like Scott will clarify. You are right that the tea I quoted is not really tea in the technical sense, just in the colloquial one. I suspect this is the tea that the OP is looking for, despite it’s confusing name which makes it sound like it should be “real tea”, even though it’s not. Quite confusing.

I was confused at first, but kuding cha and ku cha appear to be two different things entirely. I have kuding cha, which I bought on Hainan Island, and it is BITTER. It also gives me heart palpitations. :o

Thanks for helping clarify JayinHK, looks like I was wrong. I guess that’s what I get for putting to much trust in Wikipedia :)

I was a little lost at first since I’d never heard of ku cha (literally ‘bitter tea’), but now I want to try some! Sounds like it might make a good revenue earner for one of the vendors in Yunnan.

I’m curious about trying some to. I already have some kuding cha en route.

Kuding Cha is extremely bitter, more bitter than the most bitter sheng.

High fired oolongs might fit the bill too—dark roast and punchy with strong flavor.

something like a tie lou han ‘iron arhat’

I think matcha is a great way to forget coffee. Yes, coffee, I miss you no more.

I get that from the ’09 gong ting. it isnt as good as my fading memory of what coffee used to be like, but it makes me go to places coffee took me in terms of mental warmth & other such yummy things

Gongting has tons of caffeine. I got a caffeine headache when drinking gongting shu in Phnom Penh earlier this year!

hahaahaaa maybe thats part of why it does the coffee thing to me!

it is nowhere near coffee levels though, my one at least. Im doing gongfu which helps, but coffee gives me instant jitters & this doesnt

Thanks Rasseru. I think I’ve definitely honed in on Puerh tea as being something great for the morning. I’ll look more into what you suggested. MrQuacker, yes, I’m also a matcha drinker and love that as well. In fact, I’m having some now!

are you UK based?

this is how I got on the tea train. Too much coffee = me not sleeping & the jitters.

Now i have so much nice tea to drink i end up not sleeping still lol

No, I’m actually in San Francisco so, naturally, there’s a lot of tea here and I’ve been out to dim sum a lot with my family (my wife is Chinese) so I’ve always liked tea. I’ve done a lot of research on coffee because I’ve come to the conclusion it’s bad for people like me with psoriasis. There’s something with coffee and not tea that destroys a naturally occurring compound called inositol that is vital for skin health. Anyways, yes, there is a reason why you were jittery on coffee. Tea contains, in addition to caffeine, something called theanine that calms you which is why tea is much more associated with relaxation. The caffeine in coffee has no buffer. That said, if you are particularly sensitive to caffeine to the point it affects your sleep than you should consider not drinking tea it in the evening. Some say the magic hour is 4 PM but it’s all based on your own body.

Yeah, we have had the L-Theanine discussion here. Also GABA can counteract the caffeine as well, me & another member rushed to buy some capsules only to find out it doesnt cross the blood-brain barrier so it was a $10 fail..

But yeah, five or so is the best time.

BUT IVE JUST GOT A NEW TEA PACKAGE WITH MY CURRENT FAVE DONG DING IN IT WHAT TO DOOOOO (Liquid prousts 2012)

yeah, so teadrunk and its eight already. But the dongding is stellar

Yeah, I bought GABA to try for sleep/mood and have no evidence that it does much of anything. You might try 5-htp which I’m also trying and I would say the effects on me are minimal but some people have claimed it’s helped them quite a bit. I haven’t read much on anything really neutralizing caffeine and you, more or less, need to wait it out. There’s always taking depressants like alcohol or benzodiazepines which isn’t ideal long term. Yeah, there’s soooo much information out there about tea. It’s pretty overwhelming. I guess I just need to start trying these puerehs to see what i like.

I find GABA tea to be hit or miss. Sometimes I feel the effect of the GABA, sometimes I don’t. I wouldn’t use it as a sleep aid because no matter how much GABA is in it it still has caffeine. I find I have to drink my tea early to not be effected by caffeine. At one point I bought GABA as a supplement which should have in theory done something but it did not work. Apparently, at least in supplement form, GABA doesn’t penetrate the blood/brain barrier. It seems to in tea form because I have felt an effect from GABA tea at times.

Yeah, I’ve tried a lot of relaxation supplements (GABA, 5-HTP, Melatonin, etc.)/herbs (Valerian, Skullcap, Lemon Balm) and I would say, for me, they are all extremely mild, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I was taking diphenhydramine, aka Benadryl, every night for a very long time and was able to ween myself off of that which after a while I didn’t even know if it was working anymore but I felt very groggy the next day. Frankly, nothing really makes me as tired as a few strong drinks but that’s not really sustainable.

im the same, tried all the above. 5htp is good as a mood stabiliser for depression I find. And benzos are too strong for me unless I plan on not operating anything the next day. Same with too much valerian, although I like thr mellow psychoactive effect it has on music. but it makes me groggy the next day too (not as much as benzos though)

GABA tea is awesome though because the two ive had that were nice taste like burnt sugar/caramel/honey. Noms

I’m just reading about GABA tea now. Sounds interesting! I think I’ve dropped the Kucha/theacrine idea because there’s no way to ingest enough of it through tea infusion to make a difference. I have theacrine supplement arriving on Friday that I’m looking forward to. Definitely going to give GABA tea a try.

You will probably find like me that sometimes you feel an effect from the GABA and sometimes you don’t with no explanation as to why. When you do actually feel it it is very relaxing. I find more of the time I don’t feel an effect from the GABA in GABA tea.

Im UK based so I only know the ones from imperial teas of lincoln (sold out) and the what-cha one, but they are both lurrrrrvly

I cut the coffee out of my life after damaging my heart on coffee + gym. Some very strong liberica coffee, coupled with 90 minutes of intense weightlifting and cardio, and then climbing an incredibly steep hill home was all it took. I had palpitations for over a year; they went from every few minutes down to barely any at all now. I am definitely caffeine sensitive. Tea never gets me to the state coffee does, no matter how much tea I drink, and it doesn’t bring on the palpitations. I can drink tea and go right to the gym (although I prefer a buffer period now after my coffee incident).

I’m very sensitive to substances in general. I have to be careful with powdered GABA as it makes me sleepy as heck, so I don’t take it in the morning anymore. Sublingual melatonin can put me out for 14 hours!

Ironically alcohol doesn’t put me to sleep. I do some of my best work after a few strong drinks. Go figure…

Dan Braunstein: you definitely should give high roast oolongs a shot too. Way closer to coffee as far as flavor profile goes. I’m not just saying that because I drink and sell them. :D

@JayinHK, it’s interesting that powdered GABA had any effect on you. I tried GABA capsules and they had no effect what so ever.

Allan, how much were you taking?

http://www.ergo-log.com/caffeine-making-you-sleep-badly-gaba-helps.html

Mind you, I’m no tea connoisseur and generally want to pay the lowest I possibly can so I bought 1/2 pound from www.nuts.com a while ago, https://nuts.com/cookingbaking/powders/green-tea/100-pct-matcha.html. I’m actually right now drinking a matcha blend we have at work from Good Earth called Matcha Maker, https://www.amazon.com/Good-Earth-Matcha-Maker-Green/dp/B00113HA3A, which is actually pretty tasty.