To Tea Or Not To Tea
Posted on 21st February, 2008 by Albert T.Category: Morning science
If you ask somebody what people drink in the morning, the answer is coffee. Other choices like juice, milk and tea will come after that. Why is tea so underestimated as a morning drink?
Maybe people like the bigger kick coffee gives them. Coffee has more caffeine in it than tea and therefore it reveals its effect faster. Up to this point, if we put the taste aside, coffee seems to be better as a wakener. But the truth is that caffeine just ain’t all.
Tea contains also theanine, an amino acid that has been shown to reduce mental and physical stress and may produce feelings of relaxation. The result of theanine combined with caffeine is that the stimulative effect of tea is more smooth and lasts longer than coffee’s. Even more – coffee affects mainly heart and blood pressure while tea has an effect on central nervous system.
If you like slower mornings, tea may be just for you. But there’s a difference between a tea and a tea. Black tea has the best wakening effect. On the other hand fruit and herb teas have no caffeine at all and that is why they are relaxing. And if you don’t know which sort to pick, a good choice is some tea that has “breakfast” in its name 
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February 25th, 2008
Tea is more popular in Morocco than coffee. I might even add that it’s the morning drink for most Moroccans.
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February 29th, 2008
It depends on the type of tea actually. For example, chamomile tea has good benefits…
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March 4th, 2008
I like green tea. I have 1-2 cups of plain green tea each day. Green tea has been shown to contain some great antioxidants and may even help prevent diabetes.
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March 17th, 2008
Actually, Tea majority morning drink in the UK too.
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March 19th, 2008
I think it depends where you are in the world but (the usa seems to have higher levels of caffeine)but I always been led to believe that tea has the same if not more caffeine then coffee,
but i guess it depends how you drink you tea / coffee
also coffee has a stronger taste that gives the kick with the caffeine
saying that I can’t drink coffee so its something I’ve never tasted
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March 20th, 2008
It is caffeine in tea too, but only about the half as in coffee though. I usually drink coffee for breakfast, but I guess I drink tea sometimes too.
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March 21st, 2008
I am a big fan of the lighter teas like the green tea.I’ll even drink it cold.No sugar,if I want it a little sweet I use honey.Natural sweeteners are much better for you.
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March 22nd, 2008
I, and I think most of the UK, has a cup of breakfast tea as a awakener. I also have one when I come home to refresh and relax myself. Coffee is too bitter, but I probably wouldn’t drink it in the mornings, even if I liked it.
As for the tea vs coffee debate: pound for pound, tea actually contains more caffeine than coffee. However, since you use a significantly smaller amount of tea in your average teabag than you would coffee; a cup of tea has less caffeine that coffee.
Tea is better for you without milk than with - particularly for your heart and cholesterol levels - due to a protein found in milk that blocks the benefits from tea.
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March 28th, 2008
Rarara is totally right on that info about comparing caffeine levels. I also want to add that polyphenols also affect the way that the caffeine in tea is absorbed by the body so the caffeine is released into your system more gradually. You won’t get that “jolt” you get with coffee but you make feel the awakening effects for a longer period of time.
Katrina
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April 13th, 2008
I love my morning green tea and ginseng, a taste of honey to round it off. Coffee is far to wired and wide for me, even though I quite like it I only have it when I want to lose weight and then only for a couple of daze in a row other wise I feel rung out.
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