1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, chances are you've heard about some of 3 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: the potential health benefits of green tea and its extracts, 4 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:16,680 Speaker 1: like antioxidants. Green tea comes from the leaves of the 5 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 1: Camellia synesis plants that have not undergone the same fermentation 6 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: and oxidation process used to make black tea. Green tea 7 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 1: has a higher concentration of antioxidants known as polyphenols than 8 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: other types of tea. But the pale brew hasn't always 9 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: been so hailed. Back in the Victorian era, it was 10 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: said to cause hallucinations. Rumors warned that sippers might see ghosts. 11 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: In the eighteen nineties, the land Set Medical Journal published 12 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,919 Speaker 1: a study noting the negative effects of green tea, including 13 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,280 Speaker 1: stomach problems and fluttering of the heart, citing a woman 14 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 1: profiled in Scottish Medical Journal who became hysterical after drinking 15 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: green tea on an empty stomach instant only physicians calmed 16 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: down by administering opium to further cement green tea's reputation. 17 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: Author Sheridan LeFanu, an Irish mystery writer whose eighteen seventy 18 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: two collection of Tales featured the aptly named Green Tea, 19 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:12,400 Speaker 1: latched on to this idea and used it in the 20 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 1: short story that captured the public's imagination. Lefano's Green Tea 21 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:20,399 Speaker 1: takes place in the early eighteen hundreds and recounts the 22 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: plight of one mister Jennings, a clergyman who sees the 23 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: evil spirit of a monkey and turns to his doctor 24 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 1: for help. His doctor rejects the idea that something supernatural 25 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: is happening, and after discovering that Jennings drinks green tea 26 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: before bed, the doctor claims the green tea is to blame. 27 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: The doctor contends that the green tea has built up 28 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:41,840 Speaker 1: in Jennings body and is effecting his central nervous system, 29 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:46,120 Speaker 1: causing him to hallucinate. While the story's scientific explanation that 30 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: green tea builds up in the body is false, it 31 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: didn't seem completely implausible. After all, Drinking too much of 32 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: some substances, like beer or other alcohol, can cause both 33 00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 1: temporary and permanent issues with reality perception, and there's another 34 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: crucial kernel of truth. In the seventies, green tea was 35 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:09,079 Speaker 1: an imported and expensive delicacy, so to increase its quantity 36 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 1: and its shelf life. Purveyors added a variety of other 37 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,639 Speaker 1: things to the tea leaves, ranging from iron filings to 38 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: plants like hazelwood or hawthorne. They also supplemented green tea's 39 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: color by adding dye in the form of natural additives 40 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: like sheep dung and chemical colorance like Prussian blue. In fact, 41 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 1: green tea's identity and flavor had become so muddled and 42 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: diluted that when tea merchants attempted to sell pure green 43 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: tea free from fillers, people didn't believe it was actually 44 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:41,360 Speaker 1: green tea and refused to buy it. Strange additives aside, 45 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: regular amounts of green tea do not cause hallucinations unless 46 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: you drink at an ordinate amount of it or anything 47 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: else that contains caffeine one two nine studies from Latrobe 48 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 1: University tested people drinking various doses of caffeine and measured 49 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:58,240 Speaker 1: how much it would take to actually hallucinate. Participants who 50 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:00,800 Speaker 1: drank nine cups of green tea or three cups of 51 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: coffee were three times more likely to hear voices and 52 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: see objects that were not there. So, while it's technically 53 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,399 Speaker 1: possible to hallucinate by ingesting massive amounts of caffeine via 54 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: green tea. It would require a great deal of the 55 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 1: beverage and it wouldn't build up in one system to 56 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:19,600 Speaker 1: have a cumulative effect either, So evil monkeys aside, Green 57 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:28,239 Speaker 1: tea is good for you in moderation. Today's episode was 58 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:30,760 Speaker 1: written by Laurie L. Dove and produced by Tyler Clang. 59 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: To learn more about the colorful history of green tea, 60 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: check out the episode of our compatriot podcast Stuff to 61 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 1: Blow Your Mind called the Myth of green Tea Hallucinations, 62 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: And of course, for more on this and lots of 63 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 1: other probably not hallucinatory topics, visit our home planet, how 64 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com.