Science in a Tea Cup

Why does tea calm our nerves?

Brandy L Schillace
Elemental
Published in
3 min readMay 25, 2021

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Photo: Loverna Journey/Unsplash

You’ve had a terrible day. The car wouldn’t start and you walked to the bus stop in pouring rain; you spilled coffee on your trousers; your boss was a pain; your deadline is late. You’ve finally dragged yourself home, damp and deflated, and all you want is a cup of tea to calm your nerves and soothe the day away. It works! But — why does it?

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Brandy L Schillace
Elemental

(skil-AH-chay) Author in #history, #science, & #medicine. Bylines: SciAm, Globe&Mail, WIRED, WSJ. EIC Medical Humanities. Host of Peculiar Book Club. she/her