I can’t believe what’s happening
I have recently been experiencing something disheartening. I think I have developed a caffeine intolerance. I have a nice variety of teas from multiple categories. I enjoy drinking all of them. Here lately no matter how I brew them, I am experiencing jitters and dull headaches along with chest tightness. I’ve tried what I think is everything.
I have purchased some Rooibos to drink to take a break to see how it goes. Can someone please help with my problem? Can Rooibos be brewed like regular teas using gong fu and tea pots with loose leaf. All I have now are tea bags. Thank you.
While I don’t have a solution to your problem, have you tried brewing small amounts of tea grampa style? You can also apparently do this gongfu. This post from Tea Masters might help:
http://teamasters.blogspot.com/2020/04/helping-tea-friend-brew-gushu-puerh.html
A while ago, I was drinking tea late into the day and I was having trouble sleeping, so I investigated some non-caffeinated options. You can definitely steep rooibos Western style, and you can probably even gongfu Chinese herbal teas like chrysanthemum or Gan Zao Ye, though I’ve never tried either of them. Verdant also apparently has a variant of the tea plant that has no or little caffeine, though this claim has been questioned.
https://steepster.com/discuss/13828-is-verdants-new-tea-crassicolumna-for-real
Sadly, most of the non-caffeinated options out there are fruity blends or are heavy on the peppermint, the first of which aren’t really my thing and the second of which get boring quickly. However, you can also get herbs like lavender, lemon verbena, and chamomile, or chais without caffeine if that appeals to you.
Good luck, and I hope you can find a workaround!
You might try to just avoid caffeine for awhile and hope that sorts itself out, versus working with moderating dose instead. Some herbs like sage and rosemary can work really well as tisanes, to be brewed. As with loose tea how you prepare those is up to you.
Three tea bloggers reported having issues with developed caffeine intolerance. One had just been overdoing it, related to taking another supplement that contained caffeine, and he went back to tea again later (I think). For another it became a headache trigger, and he continued to drink moderate amounts of tea even though he felt negative health impact from it. The third stopped consuming tea and any caffeine.
You might also look into willow herb (fireweed, Ivan Chay); that seems closest to actual tea, since it can be oxidized.
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