Energy or Caffeine?— How to choose the right tea using Yin and Yang

As you may have read in my article on GABA tea, I'm quite sensitive to caffeine — in coffee, at least. Over the years, though, I've noticed I can drink almost any tea in the evening without lying awake afterward.

It's often said that aged or fermented tea has a gentler caffeine effect - it doesn't lose caffeine, but the effect feels softer. The teas I drink are also mostly from wild, relatively old tea trees, which carry a different kind of energy because of their age and minimal human interference.

So for me, it's not caffeine content that decides which tea to drink - it's whether a tea is Yin or Yang dominant.

Yin vs. Yang Teas: What's the Difference?

Yin-dominant teas include: green, white, yellow, and sheng puerh.

Yang-dominant teas include: oolong, red (called black tea in Europe), and dark, fermented teas like shou puerh.

Yin-dominant teas have a cooling effect on the body, support clarity and focus, and turn the attention inward.

Yang-dominant teas have a warming effect on the body, stir creativity and passion, and are grounding and expansive at the same time.

Which Tea for Which Mood

When I need clarity and focus - for work, or meditating on hot days - I usually reach for white or green tea. When I need grounding, or want to observe or invite certain processes, I turn to older sheng or shou puerh. Young sheng puerh often tastes almost like green tea, so I'd class it more as a Yin tea - it tends to speak to what's unseen or unfelt in me and pulls me deeper into inner reflection.

There are, of course, other factors - time of day, season, but mostly I go by how I'm feeling and what I need in the moment.

I hope this helps you understand tea's depths a little better. Feel free to reach out with questions — by e-mail or on Instagram