Tea Guides

Last updated: August 2026

No. True tea (black, green, white, or oolong) will not get you high. Camellia sinensis leaves contain caffeine and L-theanine, an amino acid that leaves you calm and alert, with no euphoria and no change in perception. A few herbal drinks loosely called "tea," such as kava, kratom, and psilocybin mushrooms, do have real psychoactive effects, but they aren't tea at all.

If you want to feel that calm alertness yourself, the Tea Sampler Kit ($30 CAD) has 10 teas, black, green, white, and oolong, from farms in Ilam and Taplejung, Nepal, grown at 5,000 to 7,000 ft and naturally free of bitterness.

True tea: calm alertness, not a high

Every true tea comes from the Camellia sinensis plant and has two main active compounds.

Caffeine blocks adenosine receptors, which makes you more alert and energetic. At the amounts you get from drinking tea, the result is focus and wakefulness, without euphoria or any change in how you perceive things.

L-theanine is an amino acid that crosses the blood-brain barrier and encourages calm alpha brain wave activity. It takes the edge off caffeine, which is why tea drinkers describe the feeling as "calm clarity": alert, but not jittery. A 2008 University of Northumbria trial found that L-theanine and caffeine together measurably improved how quickly and accurately people could switch attention, compared with caffeine alone (Owen et al., 2008, Nutritional Neuroscience).

The two together put you in a state that feels quite different from coffee, which is caffeine alone. It still isn't a "high" in any recreational sense. Nothing looks or sounds different, and there's no euphoria or dissociation.

High-altitude whole-leaf teas like our Muscatel Black Tea and Floral Oolong Tea contain noticeably more L-theanine than commodity teas, so the calm clarity is stronger. Experienced tea drinkers call it "tea energy," or cha qi. It sharpens your thinking; it doesn't make you high.

Herbal infusions with psychoactive properties

Some plants brewed like tea do have documented psychoactive effects.

Kava (Piper methysticum) is a root drink from the Pacific Islands. Its kavalactones act on GABA receptors and bring on relaxation and mild sociability, and at higher doses, sedation. Kava is legal in Canada and easy to find at kava bars. It isn't a "high," but it does alter mood. Heavy or long-term use has been linked to liver toxicity, which is a serious caution.

Blue lotus (Nymphaea caerulea) was used in ancient Egypt. It contains the alkaloids aporphine and nuciferine, which are linked to mild, dreamy relaxation. Some wellness shops sell it as a tea or extract. The effects are subtle and vary a lot from person to person.

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is a Southeast Asian plant whose alkaloids bind to opioid receptors. Low doses act like a stimulant; high doses cause sedation and euphoria. It carries a significant risk of dependence and withdrawal, and of serious harm including liver damage. Many jurisdictions regulate or ban it.

Psilocybin teas are made from mushrooms that contain psilocybin, and they're fully hallucinogenic, with well-documented changes to perception and sense of time. They're controlled substances in most countries, including Canada outside approved clinical settings.

Datura, belladonna, and related plants sometimes end up in teas, and they are genuinely dangerous. They contain powerful deliriants and have caused deaths. There is no safe recreational use for them.

Why high-quality tea feels different

People who drink high-altitude single-origin tea sometimes describe a "tea feeling," a gentle, meditative clarity that seems like more than caffeine. There are plausible reasons for it: good teas carry more L-theanine, whole-leaf tea contains other bioactive compounds besides caffeine, and the ritual of brewing slows you down.

It isn't a high, but it does feel different from a caffeine pill or a standard tea bag. If you haven't noticed it before, the Nepal Hills Tea Sampler Kit is a reasonable place to start. Its 10 single-origin, high-altitude teas let you compare how each type makes you feel.

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Disclaimer: Nepal Hills Tea does not sell, promote, or endorse any psychoactive products. This article is for informational purposes only.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you get high from drinking a lot of green tea?
No. Too much caffeine from green tea can make you jittery, anxious, or nauseous, but it won't cause euphoria or change your perception. The most it can do is overstimulate you.

What does "cha qi" mean?
In Chinese tea culture, "cha qi" (tea energy) is the subtle feeling in the body that comes from drinking good whole-leaf tea. It feels different from a caffeine buzz, more like a warm, grounded clarity. It probably comes from L-theanine, GABA precursors, and the ritual of brewing and drinking tea slowly, all working together.

Is kava tea the same as regular tea?
No. Kava is made from the root of Piper methysticum, a plant unrelated to Camellia sinensis, and it has different active compounds and different effects. The two only share the word "tea" in everyday speech.

Does expensive tea produce stronger effects?
Better teas usually have more L-theanine and a better balance of caffeine to theanine, so the alertness is steadier and lasts longer. The difference is in the quality of the alertness, not how strong it is.