Having been a lifelong caffeine addict, just coffee not any of that “Made By the Man” fakey caffeine (Read: Redbull. Yucko), I start the day with a double espresso and go from there. So when I have recently been taking to the occasional chai as the first cup in the a.m., I was immediately thinking of the inevitable caffeine withdrawal headache that befalls us addicts a few hours after our brain receptors do not get their fix.
Chai…no coffee, a few hours pass, life progresses then BAM! …wait a tick, where’s the headache I was anticipating? Nothing!? Holy Surprise Batman! How? What? My caffeine addicted brain has received not a dram of dat sweet sweet espresso it is so programmed to imbibe at an early hour.
Color me confused. But apparently chai is its own source of caffeine that is also naturally derived, and therefore my brain was tricked! A-Ha! Entirely surprised and delighted at the lack of headache-pain that typically feels like a 1000 marmots holding icepicks running around inside my skull.
Have I been converted? Has chai usurped the sweet, delicious elixir that comes from a puck made from zen-like appropriations and techniques and then condensed into a demitasse cup?
No.
But it sure is tasty. And you can enjoy a cup (or two), and not sweat it about the onset of the familiar demon-like headache that would usually follow the morning’s deviation from the normal beverage.
Go ahead and have a cup. I won’t tell anyone.