I underestimated caffeine... The story of how I almost died from drinking too much tea

I believe I was 25 at the time.

Back then, I was living in Nagano Prefecture, and I decided to go to Shizuoka Prefecture for a site visit to open a Japanese tea stand.
I headed to Shizuoka for a two-day, one-night trip, driving for about four hours. I had intended to sleep in my car, but... I ended up having to turn back to Nagano in the middle of the night.

From the age of 21 to 24, I worked in a job related to Japanese tea.
Ever since then, I would sometimes feel sick whenever I tasted tea, and after a while, I finally realized, "This is because of the caffeine!"
Since then, I had been careful about consuming too much caffeine, but...

Upon arriving in Shizuoka, I first had a cup of takeout sencha.
After that, I stopped by a tea shop to buy some tea leaves, and had another cup of sencha they served me.
Furthermore, at the next tea shop I stopped at, I had a small cup for tasting.

Around this point, I started to feel gradually worse.
Thinking, "I'll stop with the sencha and go for something with less caffeine, like hojicha," I went to a cafe one train stop away and ordered a hojicha latte.

However, even after I finished drinking it and left the shop, I still felt sick.

When I got on the train, the sight of the scenery rushing past the window became strangely frightening, and I felt like I was going to have a panic attack.
Since it was only one stop, I managed to endure it, got off, ran to the restroom, and threw up.

I bought some water and drank it, which made me feel a little calmer, but I still felt sick.

I became anxious about being alone in an unfamiliar place, and even though it was evening, I decided to head back to Nagano Prefecture in a hurry.

However, the journey home was also hell.

I felt worse and worse, drinking water and throwing it up, drinking water and throwing it up... that cycle repeated.
I stopped the car many times along the way and thought about calling an ambulance, but since I felt like I was getting a little better, I managed to hold on.

I finally started to settle down, so I parked the car at a roadside station to take a nap, and the next morning, I arrived back in Nagano Prefecture safely.

Please be careful about consuming too much caffeine

Everyone, please be really careful about consuming too much caffeine.

But Japanese tea is very delicious, so I want you to drink plenty of it.

If you drink a lot of the first infusion of tea, you will end up consuming too much caffeine,
but if you drink the first, second, third, and so on infusions using the same tea leaves, you can enjoy a lot without consuming too much caffeine, so I recommend it ◎

My recent favorite tea 🍵