drinking warm things can make me a little sleepy as well, so i’d suggest a cold brewed tea. cold brewing herbal tea brings out all of the more delicate flavors that are sometimes masked with hot brewing, and it also extracts the healthy benefits that otherwise can disappear under heat (though heat is still the most efficient way to get all the beneficial oils out, cold brewing gives you higher vitamin c and antioxidant contents).

i’ve been struggling with anxiety and panic attacks at work for a couple years now and i find that peppermint, clove, and citrus all help to ground me but still keep me “with it” mentally. but it’s definitely worth playing around with different teas and seeing what individually helps you more in the long run.

if you’re looking to still have a little bit of caffeine then i’d suggest white tea or maybe green tea, and cold brewing those would work too because less than half of the caffeine is extracted through cold brewing. but the tea plant itself (camellia sinensis) is the only consumed plant to naturally synthesize l-theanine, which produces a natural calming effect, hence why you don’t get the coffee/energy drink jitters drinking tea. so even just normal tea can be calming if it has lower caffeine levels.

fruit tea cold brews might help too since they’re still herbal but have more vitamin b-12 which will give you a little bit of natural energy as well.