L-Theanine and Caffeine: The Reason For Your Clari-Tea

Have you ever wondered why you get that perfect feeling when you’re drinking tea?

That feeling that drives us to write and draw and talk and just dream? There is alertness and calmness and the feeling that in that moment , in the words of Stephen Chbosky in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, “we were infinite”.  This sensation can be blamed on the combination of L-Theanine and Caffiene in tea. This winning combo

• Promotes a mindful state of relaxation
• Increases our ability to multi-task, and multi-task well
• Increases speed of perception
• Increases performance under stress
• Improves learning ability and concentration
• Decreases anxiety
• Reduces task-induced fatigue

Tea does this because L-theanine is responsible for increasing alpha brain wave activity, which promotes relaxation. Working together with the stimulant caffeine, this allows tea to induce a feeling of increased concentration over a longer period of time, compared to caffeine alone.  Recent studies have shown that tea

“. . . taken throughout the day can significantly benefit speed of perception and more consistent levels of simple task performance. L-theanine appears to antagonize the stimulatory effects of caffeine by decreasing seratonin levels that have been artifically elevated by caffeine”

Studies have also shown that there are added benefits to tea, besides alertness. In a paper by Eschenauer and Sweet, it was concluded that

“increased alpha activity in the brain induced by L-theanine has been associated with increased creativity, increased performance under stress, and improved learning and concentration as well as decreased anxiety.”

A 2001 study suggests that the combination of L-theanine and caffeine

“improves the ability to multi-task and reduces task-induced fatigue,”

Ultimately what all of these studies mean is that Tea gives energy in a way that beverages, like coffee or soda, cannot replicate. It also helps inspire creativity and helps you keep being creative and alert and calm – it really is no wonder so many artists and writers have drunk it while creating all these years. Whether you’re writing the great work of our time or just chilling out in your living room – grab a cup of the good stuff, you never know what you might create.