1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:10,879 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogel bam here with another classic episode from the archives. 3 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: Every season brings a new food trend and a new 4 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 1: food demon, some dish or drink or ingredient that suddenly 5 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 1: everyone swears will cause some specific and terrible damage. Today's 6 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:27,840 Speaker 1: episode is about how, for a while, during the Victorian era, 7 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:34,480 Speaker 1: that demon was green tea. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel 8 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:37,159 Speaker 1: bomb here. Chances are you've heard about some of the 9 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:41,480 Speaker 1: potential health benefits of green tea and it's extracts like antioxidants. 10 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: Green tea comes from the leaves of the Camellia synesis 11 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: plant that have not undergone the same fermentation and oxidation 12 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 1: process used to make black tea. Green tea has a 13 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: higher concentration of antioxidants known as polyphenols than other types 14 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: of tea. But the pale brew hasn't always been so hailed. 15 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: Back in the Victorian era, it was said to cause hallucinations. 16 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: Rumors warned that sippers might see ghosts. In the eighteen nineties, 17 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: the Landcet Medical Journal published a study noting the negative 18 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: effects of green tea, including stomach problems and fluttering of 19 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:18,919 Speaker 1: the heart, citing a woman profiled in Scottish Medical Journal 20 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: who became hysterical after drinking green tea on an empty stomach. 21 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:27,679 Speaker 1: Instant only physicians calmed down by administering opium. To further 22 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:31,839 Speaker 1: cement green Tea's reputation. Author Sheridan LeFanu, an Irish mystery 23 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:34,959 Speaker 1: writer whose eighteen seventy two collection of tales featured the 24 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: aptly named Green Tea, latched onto this idea and used 25 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: it in the short story that captured the public's imagination. 26 00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:46,320 Speaker 1: Lefano's Green Tea takes place in the early eighteen hundreds 27 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: and recounts the plight of one Mr Jennings, a clergyman 28 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: who sees the evil spirit of a monkey and turns 29 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: to his doctor for help. His doctor rejects the idea 30 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: that something supernatural is happening, and after discovering that Jennings 31 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: drinks green tea before bed, the doctor claims the green 32 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: tea is to blame. The doctor contends that the green 33 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: tea has built up in Jenning's body and is affecting 34 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:11,239 Speaker 1: his central nervous system, causing him to hallucinate. While the 35 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: story scientific explanation that green tea builds up in the 36 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: body is false. It didn't seem completely implausible. After all, 37 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:21,919 Speaker 1: Drinking too much of some substances, like beer or other alcohol, 38 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:25,920 Speaker 1: can cause both temporary and permanent issues with reality perception, 39 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:30,920 Speaker 1: and there's another crucial kernel of truth. In the seventies, 40 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: green tea was an imported and expensive delicacy, so to 41 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:37,959 Speaker 1: increase its quantity and its shelf life, purveyors added a 42 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: variety of other things to the tea leaves, ranging from 43 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: iron filings to plants like hazelwood or hawthorne. They also 44 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:48,359 Speaker 1: supplemented green tea's color by adding dye in the form 45 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,880 Speaker 1: of natural additives like sheep dung and chemical colorance like 46 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: Prussian blue. In fact, green tea's identity and flavor had 47 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: become so muddled and diluted that when tea merchants attempted 48 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: to sell pure green tea free from fillers, people didn't 49 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:05,639 Speaker 1: believe it was actually green tea and refused to buy it. 50 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: Strange additives aside, regular amounts of green tea do not 51 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: cause hallucinations unless you drink at an ordinate amount of 52 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: it or anything else that contains caffeine one two. Nine 53 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: studies from Latrobe University tested people drinking various doses of 54 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: caffeine and measured how much it would take to actually hallucinate. 55 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: Participants who drank nine cups of green tea or three 56 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 1: cups of coffee were three times more likely to hear 57 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,079 Speaker 1: voices and see objects that were not there. So while 58 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: it's technically possible to hallucinate by ingesting massive amounts of 59 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: caffeine via green tea, it would require a great deal 60 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 1: of the beverage and it wouldn't build up in one 61 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: system to have a cumulative effect either. So evil monkeys aside, 62 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 1: Green tea is good for you in moderation. Today's episode 63 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: is based on the article why the Victorians thought green 64 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: tea caused hallucination its own how stuff works dot com 65 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: written by Laurie L. Dove. Brain Stuff is production of 66 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:06,640 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com, 67 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: and it's produced by Tyler Clain. For more podcasts from 68 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 69 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:14,640 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.