[megwini]

My boss (Japanese) is very kind and always wants to buy me a drink. He was giving me all the Arizona tea and sweetened Lipton green tea he had, and it was hard for me because I didn't want to be rude and decline, but I didn't want to have to deal with 200 extra calories or so on those days. So I finally told him that I don't like drinking sweetened drinks, so no thank you. And being the absolute sweetheart that he is, he's started getting me unsweetened green tea called Oi Ocha by the company Ito En (it's not hard to find these kinds of unsweetened beverages in Hawaii, luckily!). So... this seems like a really good setup.. I get to drink something besides water a few times a week, and it's 0 calories too! (I won't drink anything with artificial sweeteners, so if I'm not having water or milk, I simply go the unsweetened route).
My only concern is the caffeine. I don't drink anything at all with caffeine... I used to drink pop but gave it up completely, I've never even TASTED an energy drink, and I've never even had more than a sip of coffee. So I consider myself NOT reliant on caffeine.
But I looked up the caffeine and I'm getting 40 mg per can from it (I drink about 3 cans a week, I'd reckon), and one can of COKE only has 34 mg... so it seems like a lot. Is 120mg of caffeine a week possibly going to negatively affect my system, or is it genuinely negligible? I haven't relied on caffeine up to now, so I see no reason to start!

[Suzanne 3FC]

I think 120 mg per week is more than fine. I'm with you on unsweetened tea, that's all I drink. I've never tried the Oi Ocha but will look for it!

[nelie]

I've had the Oi Ocha tea before and it is alright but it tastes fakey to me. Why don't you buy some herbal teas or decaf green tea, brew it, add some ice and drink? Sometimes I'll make iced tea in the morning and take it to work with me.

[JulieJ08]

I think it's an insignificant amount, unless it happens to make you sleep less well (some people metabolize it faster than others), or you have some really strong sensitivity to it.

[dangerousfish]

Holy crap, man. I'm so jealous. XD I love oi ocha (although the canned variety tastes a bit funky to me, vs the bottle) and all itoen products. Oi Ocha is the cheapest bottled tea in Japanese convenience stores (88 cents!) but my love affair continued stateside.

Anyhoo, while green tea does have its share of caffeine I don't think 3 cans a week is going to negatively effect you, or be enough to addict you to caffeine.

[kittycat40]

If you are looking for a sweet unsweetened tea--- tazo has a green tea with blueberry extract----yuuummmmmm, I use it for iced tea

[zenor77]

One 8oz cup of drip coffee can have more than 120mg of caffeine. So I wouldn't worry about it, since that's your weekly intake.

As far as caffeine addiction/reliance, a lot of that depends on your own body. Everyone is a bit different. I can stop drinking coffee without problems, but if DH doesn't have coffee before lunch he has a bad headache.