Tea Drinking Attitude and Tea Addiction Symptoms among Kenyans

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue V, May 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186

Tea Drinking Attitude and Tea Addiction Symptoms among Kenyans

Joyzy Pius Egunjobi, Ph.D., Dr.AD¹, Stephen Asatsa, Ph.D².
¹Psycho-Spiritual Institute (an affiliate of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa)
²Department of Counseling Psychology, Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Kenya

Abstract: Kenyans are known to consume lots of tea. This study investigated Kenyans’ tea drinking attitude and the possible traces of tea addiction. A correlation design was employed by using an online questionnaire to obtain information from 335 respondents who participated through voluntary sampling. The data were analyzed using descriptive inferential statistics. It was found that majority of Kenyans (95.3%) are tea drinkers with about 76.4% moderately consuming 1 to 3 cups of tea daily in the morning hours. There was no gender disparity in tea consumption. Addiction symptoms were experienced by 41% of Kenyan tea drinkers who experienced withdrawal symptoms such headache, tiredness, and disorientation, 49.1% craving for tea, 16.5% unable to stop drinking tea, and 36.9% feel stimulated by drinking tea. There was a significant positive correlation between the number of teacups consumed per day and addiction symptoms at Pearson correlation coefficient r (335) = .355, p < .001. It is recommended that while tea drinking is legal, those who experience loss of control over tea drinking and withdrawal symptoms should seek professional help.
Keywords: Tea, Tea drinking habit, Tea Addiction, Tea Consumption, Chai
Tea addiction is not a common topic of discussion or a problem that raises serious concern. The reason is not far-fetched; tea is one of the commonest available low-cost beverages apart from water. Tea is consumed almost by everyone, and it is legal despite the psychoactive substance (caffeine) in it. Due to its high demand, it is one of the major components of world beverage market. Called Chai (Swahili Language) in Kenya, tea as a cash crop is one of Kenya’s main exports more than Sri Lanka, India, and China (All Things Kenyan, n.d). Kenya produces black tea, green tea, yellow tea, and white tea. Apart from its economic value, tea is very present in many Kenyan homes and is readily consumed by most Kenyans. As a beverage choice of Kenyans, it is served throughout the day; at breakfast, morning break, after lunch, afternoon tea, after dinner, not just as part of meal accompaniment but also for recreation and socialization.
The tea consumed locally in Kenya amounted to about 11.3 million kilograms from January to April 2021 (Faria, 2021). Faria continue to note that in 2020 alone, a total of 40 million kilograms were sold domestically. This is because Kenya is one of the largest tea producers in the world. Although, according to Mr Muita, as cited by Wainainah (2017), Kenyans are not consuming as much tea as the country exports, that has not hindered the steady growth in consumption over the years. The increase in consumption is in

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