Caffeine In Tea (and) I Must Be Getting Old

[Oliveloaf]

Two things, pretty closely related.

Anyone know how much caffeine the black tea at Starbucks packs?

I am an iced tea hound, and consume a lot of it daily--usually with no ill effect.

BUT, a couple of vente teas fron SB and my head feels like it's going to
explode and I swear I can hear my heart pounding.

Secondly...

Might anyone know if, as we age, we tend to tolerate caffeine less well?

It seems odd to me that I get the shakes now, drinking less of the juice, than I did when in my twenties, pounding stuff with caffeine.

[What Exit?]

It varies Oliveloaf. It does affect me more as I age, but my wife and MIL it still barely affects at all and they can still drink cups of coffee at night.

[Exy]

Okay this is not really much help since I don't know any specific answers, but black tea typically has about half the caffeine of the same amount of black coffee. Some googling is giving me figures in the range of 40-100 milligrams in a cup. (For context, you'd expect maybe 100-200 mg for a cup of coffee, or 40 or so per can of caffeinated soda.) I assume that means a 6 oz. tea cup, so double or triple that for typical Starbucks drink sizes. Two venti teas, depending how long you steep them, would definitely be enough caffeine to make a lot of people uncomfortable.

Anecdotally, I think my caffeine tolerance may have fallen some and I'm only in my mid twenties. My parents both have to be really careful with the amount of coffee they drink, and I think they used to suck it down pretty freely like I do.

Also, I read that one's caffeine tolerance drops after quitting smoking because the nicotine stimulates your body to clear the caffeine out. I know that when I first quit, and unthinkingly kept drinking the same amount of coffee and drinking it into the afternoon, I had some trouble sleeping for a few days.

[Oliveloaf]

Okay this is not really much help since I don't know any specific answers, but black tea typically has about half the caffeine of the same amount of black coffee. Some googling is giving me figures in the range of 40-100 milligrams in a cup. (For context, you'd expect maybe 100-200 mg for a cup of coffee, or 40 or so per can of caffeinated soda.) I assume that means a 6 oz. tea cup, so double or triple that for typical Starbucks drink sizes. Two venti teas, depending how long you steep them, would definitely be enough caffeine to make a lot of people uncomfortable.

Anecdotally, I think my caffeine tolerance may have fallen some and I'm only in my mid twenties. My parents both have to be really careful with the amount of coffee they drink, and I think they used to suck it down pretty freely like I do.

Also, I read that one's caffeine tolerance drops after quitting smoking because the nicotine stimulates your body to clear the caffeine out. I know that when I first quit, and unthinkingly kept drinking the same amount of coffee and drinking it into the afternoon, I had some trouble sleeping for a few days.

I am a lousy sleeper.

Which is really the caffeine paradox. Drink too much, can't sleep, drink more to stay away. Rinse and repeat.

[Exy]

Which is really the caffeine paradox. Drink too much, can't sleep, drink more to stay away. Rinse and repeat.

That's exactly what happened to me when I quit smoking. Couldn't sleep, had to chug a lot of coffee to get through the day, then more trouble sleeping.

[Taumpy]

http://www.energyfiend.com/2007/10/t...bucks-caffeine

That website is a pretty good resource for caffeine content in general.

[Zuul]

Fantastic link, Taumpy!

[Taumpy]

I love the "Death by Caffeine" section. 287 cans of Mountain Dew = dead Taumpy.