Tea or coffee? And is your comforting cuppa healthy?
Brits are renowned as a nation of tea-drinkers, but have we started to fall out of love with the leaf in favour of coffee? Steve Cain investigates.
As the lyrics of the Jack Buchanan song say, “there isn’t any roar when the clock strikes four, everything stops for tea.” However, a recent survey has revealed that coffee is now the preferred cuppa in the UK, with 63 per cent drinking it regularly and 59 per cent sticking with tea.
One food and drink expert attributes the trend change to the proliferation of coffee shops such as Costa, Starbucks and Esquires.
“All you need to do is hop onto Google Maps and type in “coffee shop versus tea shop” to see the remarkable differences,” said Aidy Smith, an award-winning journalist and broadcaster.
Statistics show that around 80 per cent of people who go to coffee shops do so at least once a week and 16 per cent visit daily. Furthermore, shoppers purchased more than 533 million packs of coffee over the year to March 2023, compared with 287 million packs of tea.
However, the decline in the popularity of tea is not a new phenomenon – British tea consumption has been on a steady downward trajectory since 1974.
But, whether your preferred cuppa is tea or coffee, there’s good news – both offer significant health benefits.
TEA
There’s a good reason why many of us turn to a hot, sweet cup of tea in times of trouble. The tea plant (camelia sinensis) contains I-theanine
– a chemical compound that can help alleviate the symptoms of stress and anxiety. Since many teas also contain caffeine, the combination of the caffeine and the I-theanine is generally thought to produce clarity and focus, soothing the mind and increasing mental performance.
Tea is also rich in protective plant compounds, which have many health benefits. Drinking tea may improve blood pressure, cardiovascular health, gut health and bone health. It is also thought to reduce the risk of diabetes and cancer.
COFFEE
While tea offers a calming effect, coffee provides an energy hike. Around 20 minutes after drinking a cup of coffee, you may notice a boost in your energy levels. This is due to the caffeine, which neutralises adenosine chemicals in the brain.
Coffee can also have a positive effect on mental health by providing a rapid boost of alertness and an improvement in mood. For maximum health benefits opt for lighter roasts rather than dark and take your coffee black, as studies have shown that milk can reduce the absorption of some of the beneficial nutrients.
Research has also found that coffee-drinkers are also less prone to heart disease, and at less risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Both regular and decaffeinated coffee contain magnesium and lots of health-boosting antioxidants (including chlorogenic acid which gives coffee its flavour), which are believed to improve the body’s sensitivity to the hormone insulin.
However, drinking too much coffee can increase blood pressure in some people – try to avoid drinking more than four or five cups a day.