Tea in a Pill

A pill.  To substitute for a cuppa tea.  Well, it's an interesting idea, and I applaud the folks at Tocklai Experimental Station for thinking about the poor rushed working person who hasn't time to stop and boil water. Very considerate.

But I don't think it's going to fly, personally.  A big part of the joy of tea for me is the ritual.  The preparation.  The feel of the china cup, the aroma, and of course the taste.  And according to Peter Foster of TheAge.com.au, who got a chance to taste the pill, it's bitter.

The bitterness was extraordinary, followed by an intense after-burn of heavily stewed black tea. Swallowing the pill seemed the politest way of ending the agony.

So, maybe they need to coat it with chocolate, or sugar, something like an M&M.  The Mary Poppin's song comes to mind... "Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down..."

Now don't get me wrong.  I also drink tea and coffee for the caffeine.  I do love my caffeine buzz.  But I don't think I would go for it in the form of a pill, even if it was sugar coated.  If I needed a quick caffeine boost and didn't have time to boil water for tea, or stop for coffee at the quicky mart, I'd probably grab something chocolate.  But then again, when I'm THAT rushed, I'm usually buzzing pretty high on the adrenalin of trying to get where I'm going on time and in one piece. 

Now, put that kind of high in a pill and maybe I'll try it.

Comments

[Chuck Lawson]

I'm with you -- for me a substantial part of tea is the ritual -- choosing the blend, steeping it, enjoying the aroma...

This seems like a rather odd product; I know that green tea catechin extracts (with and without the caffeine) have been around in health food stores for years, ever since the idea that the catechins in green tea were supposed to be good for you caught on, but those are always in "meant to be swallowed" gel cap.

This sounds a lot more like eating instant iced tea mix out of the jar... yuck...