Jump to content

Tea: Difference between revisions

From Pharmacopedia
[unchecked revision][unchecked revision]
Create skeletal Plant Medicines page from Pendell
 
Add Pendell's corner (Dynamis)
Line 14: Line 14:
| seealso = [[Coffee]], [[Chocolate]], [[Caffeine]]
| seealso = [[Coffee]], [[Chocolate]], [[Caffeine]]
| references = <references/>
| references = <references/>
}}
{{PendellsCorner
| quote  = Tea is the slow Ally &mdash; the long brewing, the small cup, the patient afternoon. The Chinese have known her for four thousand years; the Japanese turned the brewing into a discipline; the British turned it into an empire. The polyphenols soften her caffeine; the theanine softens it more. She is the wakefulness that does not insist.
| volume = Dynamis
| voice  = curated paraphrase &mdash; replace with verbatim passage
}}
}}



Revision as of 21:43, 15 May 2026

Plant Medicine, Excitantia, Caffeine plant
Tea
Camellia sinensis (formerly Thea sinensis)
Tea is Camellia sinensis (Theaceae). Native to the borderlands of southwest China / northeast India / northern Burma. Discovered per legend by Shen-Nung in 2737 BCE, or as a gift of Bodhidharma's severed eyelids at Shao-Lin temple. Carried from China to Japan by Buddhist monks; reached Europe via Portuguese 1546, Lisbon 1580. Drove the Opium Wars when British East India Co. sought a non-silver way to pay for it.

Experience

👥 No personal reports yet
No clinical reports yet

Log in to add your own experience.

Problems

No problems yet. Be the first to suggest one.

+ Add a problem

Titration strategies

No titration strategies yet. Be the first to suggest one.

+ Add a titration strategy

Effects

No effects listed yet. Be the first to suggest one.

+ Add an effect

Relevant anecdote

No anecdotes yet. Share a relevant one.

+ Add an anecdote

Relevant Literature

No literature entries yet.

Log in to submit relevant literature.

See also

Coffee, Chocolate, Caffeine

References

Pharmacy
Starting dose
One cup (~40–60 mg caffeine; about half of brewed coffee)
Preparations
Dried leaves, infused. Six major processings: white, green, yellow, oolong, black, pu-erh
Common uses
Classification(s)
Classes
Plant Medicine, Excitantia, Caffeine plant
Pharmacology
Routes
Oral
Onset
15–30 min
Duration
3–4 h
Half-life
~5 h (caffeine)
Purported mechanism
Caffeine + theophylline + L-theanine. L-theanine (an amino acid unique to tea) modulates glutamate and produces an 'alpha-wave' calming overlay on caffeine's stimulation — hence tea's reputation as a 'cleaner' stimulant than coffee.
Pendell's corner
Tea is the slow Ally — the long brewing, the small cup, the patient afternoon. The Chinese have known her for four thousand years; the Japanese turned the brewing into a discipline; the British turned it into an empire. The polyphenols soften her caffeine; the theanine softens it more. She is the wakefulness that does not insist.
— Dale Pendell, Pharmako/Dynamis
curated paraphrase — replace with verbatim passage