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coffee vs. tea

ZendoLord84ZendoLord84 Veteran
edited July 2012 in Diet & Habits

How do you guys look at coffee and tea from a fifth precept point of view?

I consider high cafaine beverages as intoxicating for body and mind such as coffee and energy drinks.
Tea (green, black, herbal) is a lot healthier (anti-oxidants) and they contains a lot less cafaine, as I see it.

Comments

  • ozenozen
    2 cups of green tea = 1 cup of coffee, perhaps? so this really has nothing to do with coffee or tea, but with caffeine, right?
  • Steve108Steve108 Explorer
    It is tea every time, coffee now that's just vile !!!
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    Coffee (caffeine in any form) is a medicine. If used rarely, it can be used to dispel migraines.

    Decaf or non-caf tea is great. There are so many varieties out now, it's an adventure to explore them all.
  • ZendoLord84ZendoLord84 Veteran

    yeah it's about cafaine.
    and anti-oxidants..
    and taste..coffee without milk and sugar is horrible.
    tea without milk and sugar is just fine.
    also look at the density of coffee and tea.
    coffee is like tar. can't see through it.
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    Coffee (caffeine in any form) is a medicine. If used rarely, it can be used to dispel migraines.

    ...
    Hmmm...caffeine is one of my mini-migraine triggers.

  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran

    ...
    also look at the density of coffee and tea.
    coffee is like tar. can't see through it.
    I can't see through milk, either.

  • robotrobot Veteran
    edited July 2012
    I suppose I could live without coffee, but it would take some getting used to. It definitely is not intoxicating for me. That's what the precept is about isn't it? People should be able to tell if they are intoxicated. Being more alert at daybreak is important to me.
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    edited July 2012
    Hello..Reality check! Life is an intoxicant!
    Like anything, it's not the "thing" but our relationship to it that matters.
  • ZendoLord84ZendoLord84 Veteran
    @how
    I know.
    How many of the real coffeedrinkers out there are NOT able to start their day without their cafaine-shot????
    life is an intoxicant = life is suffering because intoxicants create attachment = there is a way out of suffering = the teachings of the buddha.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    Coffee (caffeine in any form) is a medicine. If used rarely, it can be used to dispel migraines.

    ...
    Hmmm...caffeine is one of my mini-migraine triggers.
    Have you ever been a coffee drinker? People who quit coffee cold turkey can get migraines. Maybe you have a sensitivity/subtle allergy to it. My doctor recommends 90% cacao as a headache remedy (chocolate has caffeine), and some aspirins/migraine remedies come with caffeine in them.

  • robotrobot Veteran
    There is suffering- the cause of suffering is no coffee- there is an end to suffering-coffee!!
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    I suppose I could live without coffee, but it would take some getting used to. It definitely is not intoxicating for me. That's what the precept is about isn't it? People should be able to tell if they are intoxicated. Being more alert at daybreak is important to me.
    I don't find that individuals can usually determine if they are intoxicated. Others can tell more accurately.

  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    @how
    I know.
    How many of the real coffeedrinkers out there are NOT able to start their day without their cafaine-shot????
    life is an intoxicant = life is suffering because intoxicants create attachment = there is a way out of suffering = the teachings of the buddha.
    I hate coffee. But for years at work I still needed my caffeine jolt...though through coke or pepsi.

  • robotrobot Veteran
    I suppose I could live without coffee, but it would take some getting used to. It definitely is not intoxicating for me. That's what the precept is about isn't it? People should be able to tell if they are intoxicated. Being more alert at daybreak is important to me.
    I don't find that individuals can usually determine if they are intoxicated. Others can tell more accurately.

    Let me rephrase that. I know if I am intoxicated.
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    Coffee (caffeine in any form) is a medicine. If used rarely, it can be used to dispel migraines.

    ...
    Hmmm...caffeine is one of my mini-migraine triggers.
    Have you ever been a coffee drinker? People who quit coffee cold turkey can get migraines. Maybe you have a sensitivity/subtle allergy to it. My doctor recommends 90% cacao as a headache remedy (chocolate has caffeine), and some aspirins/migraine remedies come with caffeine in them.

    No, never drank coffee. Hated it. But for quite a few years was a heavy-in-the-morning coke/pepsi drinker. The alternative way to get my morning jolt. Not only did I have frequent mini-migraines back then, but when I was drinking the most coke/pepsi, also got 2 kidney stones. Interestingly, I have recently had to give up chocolate (used to eat a lot of it) because it was causing heart palpitations.

    Now that you mention it, I do remember that most OTC migraine meds have caffeine in them...I was thinking I wouldn't be able to take them due to the palpitations.

  • ZendoLord84ZendoLord84 Veteran

    meditation is a great morning jolt too...
    same as yoga

    :)
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    Now that you mention it, I do remember that most OTC migraine meds have caffeine in them...I was thinking I wouldn't be able to take them due to the palpitations.
    Sounds serious. Yeah, the caffeine would stimulate the nervous system, which could cause palpitations. Take care.

  • DakiniDakini Veteran

    meditation is a great morning jolt too...
    same as yoga

    :)
    Yes, exercise is a good morning jolt. A morning walk, or even a mini-workout at home. Great point!

  • ZendoLord84ZendoLord84 Veteran
    cold shower is a good one too...
    lol
    altough not the most enyojable.
  • ozenozen

    ...
    also look at the density of coffee and tea.
    coffee is like tar. can't see through it.
    I can't see through milk, either.

    Yeah, since when is transparency a virtue.
  • ZendoLord84ZendoLord84 Veteran
    in what kind of ocean would you prefer to swim...

    grey murky water...or clear blue tropical ??
  • ozenozen
    what kind of sandwich would you prefer to eat...

    rich in color and texture... or clear blue tropical? Mind the sodium count!
  • ZendoLord84ZendoLord84 Veteran
    silly person.
  • MaryAnneMaryAnne Veteran
    edited July 2012
    Wow, I don't know how you make your coffee, but my coffee is not thick nor dark like "tar". :-/
    It's a beautiful toasted brown color and you CAN see through it to some degree. As far as the ocean and other bodies of water, some of the most dangerously polluted waters can be crystal clear, while some of the safest/cleanest can actually be the color of (weak) coffee, called "cedar water" in these parts....

    as for the original question regarding the 5th precept; I don't consider caffeine 'intoxicating' or leading to intoxication. I personally take the 5th precept to mean that I should always avoid intoxication and subsequent heedlessness. No more, no less.
  • ToshTosh Veteran
    I've never been intoxicated by coffee.
  • WilliamHobbsWilliamHobbs Explorer
    Tea! Always! It is the British way! It is much more refined, spiritual and delicate than coffee. Wouldn't you agree?
  • BeejBeej Human Being Veteran
    Tea is not inherently anything more or less than coffee. Except in terms of satisfaction, where coffee definitely and clearly has inherited more of that which satisfies. :) + :coffee: = :om:
  • MaryAnneMaryAnne Veteran
    Tea! Always! It is the British way! It is much more refined, spiritual and delicate than coffee. Wouldn't you agree?
    No, I can't agree... I've tried tea many times, many 'flavors', both hot and cold.
    When I drink coffee, I taste the beans, all toasty and roasted and flavorful. When I drink tea of any sort, I taste... well, I taste DIRT. Moist, rich-tasting, dirt.

    To me drinking coffee is drinking the juice of the 'fruit' (really beans) it bears; while drinking tea is drinking the juice of the leaves and stalk itself, instead of the fruit.
    Which kind of explains the whole 'dirt' taste, I guess...




  • BeejBeej Human Being Veteran
    edited July 2012
    @MaryAnne- I think thats a very appropriate distinction, being that people are the fruit of the earth... you are what you eat, er, drink, that is. Romantically, anyhows.
  • WilliamHobbsWilliamHobbs Explorer
    Tea! Always! It is the British way! It is much more refined, spiritual and delicate than coffee. Wouldn't you agree?
    No, I can't agree... I've tried tea many times, many 'flavors', both hot and cold.
    When I drink coffee, I taste the beans, all toasty and roasted and flavorful. When I drink tea of any sort, I taste... well, I taste DIRT. Moist, rich-tasting, dirt.

    To me drinking coffee is drinking the juice of the 'fruit' (really beans) it bears; while drinking tea is drinking the juice of the leaves and stalk itself, instead of the fruit.
    Which kind of explains the whole 'dirt' taste, I guess...




    Funnily enough, I think that coffee tastes like dirt and tea tastes quite flavourful! It's simply a matter of taste, maybe you're not used to tea and maybe I'm not used to coffee.
  • RebeccaSRebeccaS Veteran
    I used to be a serious coffee drinker, 10+ cups a day and I quit cold turkey. The migraine almost blinded me and I was violently, violently ill. Definitely taper off :)
  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    In regards to caffeine, Tibetan monks drink tea so I guess they don't consider it an intoxicant.
  • MaryAnneMaryAnne Veteran
    edited July 2012
    Funnily enough, I think that coffee tastes like dirt and tea tastes quite flavourful! It's simply a matter of taste, maybe you're not used to tea and maybe I'm not used to coffee.
    ****************************************************

    Maybe the 'problem' is I've never had really good, well-made top quality tea? And maybe you've never had really good, well-made top quality coffee? ;-)

    I've really tried to like tea, honest. Just doesn't do it for me though. But I can understand how you don't like coffee either.
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    edited July 2012
    Usually when I go to the States and ask for tea unless your careful, it comes as iced tea. Even with more specific instructions, I usually get coffee temp hot water and a liptons bag that was stale a month ago. We once tryed to no avail to find a tea pot in Hawaii. Not even Wal Mart stocked them. It think once the USA historically dumped that British tea in the harbour, it was coffee's way or the highway.
  • WilliamHobbsWilliamHobbs Explorer
    I'd bring my own tea, I can't go without it. Not having it would genuinely spoil my holiday! :coffee:
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    YES.. We now bring ours in a travelling teapot.
  • ZaylZayl Veteran
    They're both drinks typically served hot with similar amounts of caffeine. Really don't know what else to say.
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