Is caffeine BAD? (Part 2)


To answer Wei Luen's question, the answer is: tea is much milder and safer as compared to coffee, depending on what type of tea, as well.

5 oz or 150ml (coffee cup size) of coffee normally contains 65 to 120 mg of caffeine while the same amount of tea only contains 12 to 56 mg of caffeine.

The strongest tea is BLACK TEA, e.g. English Breakfast, Chai Spice, Earl Grey

The next strongest tea, but weaker than black tea, is OOLONG TEA, e.g. China Oolong, Formosa Oolong Bay Jong, Ti Kuan Yin

The next strongest tea, but weaker than Oolong tea, is GREEN TEA, e.g. Premium Green, Kangra Green Gunpowder, Darjeeling Green

The next strongest tea, but weaker than green tea, is WHITE TEA, e.g. Mutan White, Flowery Pekoe White, White Pearls

The next strongest tea, but weaker than white tea, is DECAFFEINATED TEA, e.g. Decaf Earl Grey, Decaf Chai Spice, Decaf Sencha Green

And the weakest "tea", if they can be considered as tea at all, since they DON'T contain caffeine, is HERBAL TEA, e.g. Chamomile, Peppermint, Lemon Blossom

So if you want to compare, the much lower amount of caffeine in tea does not really give you the "kick" or "boost" like coffee does.

So there is absolutely much lower chances of caffeine overuse or overdose by drinking tea, or even causing caffeine tolerance or withdrawal symptoms.

However, there had been many reports or claims on the potential health benefits of tea, unlike coffee, where there is almost NONE.

So, do I think that drinking tea is healthier than drinking coffee? Based on available evidences, the answer is a relative yes, although I wouldn't recommend overconsumption of tea. Daily drinking, 2-3 cups of tea a day should be more than enough.

But if you need the alertness, the instant "kick", then, I would have to say that tea does not do justice.

And one PRECAUTION though: ALTHOUGH tea has many potential health benefits, like improve arthritis (by reducing inflammation and slowing cartilage breakdown), help asthma (by improving airflow to the lungs (bronchodilation)), dental cavity prevention, improve fertility (a combination product called FertilityBlend has been associated with some success in helping women to conceive), heart attack prevention, reduce cholesterol or triglycerides, memory enhancement, relieving menopausal symptoms, anti-cancer, e.g. prostate cancer properties (because of the antioxidants i.e. flavonoids and catechins), sun / skin damage protection, increases metabolic rate (weight loss), possible anti-diabetes effect, boosts immune system and mental alertness, lowers stress hormone levels, effects on HIV, EGCG Specific mechanism, effects on bad breath, iron overload disorders and effects associated with caffeine, THERE ARE ALSO, POTENTIAL DRAWBACKS from drinking too much tea, in excess of 8 cups a day. What are the side effects?

1. You may be getting too much fluoride, which is naturally present in ALL tea leaves.
2. Overuse or overdose of caffeine
3. Too much oxalates, which could cause kidney damage, and cause you to lose calcium and other minerals from your body.
4. The potential health benefits of tea (mentioned above) are NOT strongly substantiated by clinical studies, so I will NOT say that I would support all the benefits of drinking tea, until more studies had been conducted to confirm the benefits.

So what is the conclusion? I would say that it depends on what you need. For health benefits, coffee has almost ZERO benefit while tea has many POTENTIAL benefits. For mental alertness and warding off drowsiness, may I say occasionally, coffee is a better choice. But whatever it is, BOTH, if abused by overconsumption, can cause SIGNIFICANT HARM to your body, with coffee relatively worse than tea.