Amino Acids, Blah Blah Blah

Being a huge tea nerd I lose my listeners when I get into deep nerdy tea talk to the average non-tea-nerd types.  The minute I use the word "L-Theanine" I see a glaze come over the eyes and the person that I am excitedly talking to starts shrinking away until they have declared, "Oh I have to go check on..." and they split.  But L-Theanine is important!  Over the years and listening to scientists who have dedicated their careers to testing the benefits of L-Theanine I can't contain myself.  I've learned that it is found in tea and some varieties of mushrooms.  I've learned that it's an amino acid that can pass through or penetrate the blood-brain barrier.  That once the amino acid passed through it gives a relaxing or calming feeling.  Some claim it has all kinds of other benefits such as helping with sleep and stress.  What I heard from a few scientists from Japan is that if the amino acid is present in the body when someone has a stroke or heart attack that it lessens the severity and improves the body's response to recover better as well.  That is what I find so exciting about this aspect of tea.  There are so many of them and L-Theanine is just one.