The Perks of Being a Tea Drinker

Many people flock to coffee shops to grab a steaming hot cup of their favorite coffee. While coffee has some benefits, it can also provide loads upon loads of too much caffeine, weird chemicals, and worst of all, bad breath and stained teeth! Tea is much more customizable and beneficial. What are the perks of being a tea drinker?

Antioxidant Benefits

While coffee has antioxidants, tea is a richer and safer source. Antioxidants are substances that help to combat free radicals in our body, which can cause cancer. They do this by neutralizing the free radicals so that they’re no longer harmful to our bodies. Some of the antioxidants that teas contain include polyphenols, which may help prevent atherosclerosis, aging, and cancer; flavonoids, which can be broken down into thousands of subcategories and can help with inflammation, heart disease, and may help support a healthy nervous system.

Getting antioxidants in the form of tea is one of the best perks of being a tea drinker, because you can avoid the jittery morning meetings that come with too much caffeine, a hangover that involves a migraine because you skipped a day of coffee (something we can actually become addicted to), and not have to spend all day worrying if you still have that morning coffee breath. Another benefit of getting your antioxidants from tea is that you get to choose your caffeine level!

Choose Your Caffeine Level

All teas have less caffeine than coffee, so this is good news! Your body really doesn’t need the level of caffeine that comes with coffee. This caffeine can keep you up at night, make you crash in the afternoon, give you headaches on the days you don’t have it, and even make you more prone to anxiety.

With tea, you can customize your caffeine level. While black tea tends to have the most caffeine, oolong tea follows, but green tea has even less, white tea has less than that, or you can choose herbal tea, which has no caffeine at all! Being able to customize your caffeine level is something you can’t achieve with coffee—even if it’s not brewed as strong or is watered down, you’re still getting caffeine. Even with decaf you’re not safe! 

With tea, you can create your own blends from loose leaf tea and mix them together to create a unique caffeine level that your body will tolerate. While I mostly prefer herbal teas, there’s nothing quite like a refreshing cup of green tea in the morning—and don’t worry, you won’t feel jittery afterwards! 

Avoid Bad Breath and Stained Teeth

It’s true that tea can still stain your teeth, especially strong black tea. Even though there’s a potential for this, you still won’t get the same kind of staining that you’ll be exposing yourself to with coffee. Coffee can stain teeth even after short periods of time, especially if you’re not brushing afterwards or if you’re an all-day coffee drinker. The bad breath associated with coffee drinkers comes from the dehydration that it causes. With so much caffeine, your mouth can get pretty dry, and this upsets the balance of good and bad bacteria in your mouth, which is vital for protecting your teeth, gums, and, let’s face it, your fresh breath reputation!

With tea, you’re getting significantly less caffeine, and you’re not getting quite the same dehydrating effects that you’re getting with coffee. Especially if you’re drinking herbal tea, you’re helping to hydrate yourself. Avoiding bad breath and stained teeth is something tea drinkers love about drinking tea! Sipping tea keeps you fresh, helps you stay hydrated, and can be healthier for your mouth.

Rev Up Your Metabolism

Some teas—especially green tea—has been shown to boost your metabolism and get you burning some calories! This can help you to burn fat even when you’re not exercising. Drinking a couple cups a day can help you get some great antioxidants, help you relax during your lunch break, and kick your metabolism into gear. While coffee can also raise your metabolism, you’d need to drink it in moderation to get the same effects. The caffeine may boost your metabolism but the other effects of coffee might not make you feel so great throughout the day.

Giving your metabolism and your body a little boost during the day is a big perk of being a tea drinker! There’s so many different kinds of tea out there, you probably won’t be able to just stick with one.

Grow Your Own!

From strawberry green tea to black vanilla chai tea, there’s some amazing teas out there. One of the best things about teas is that they’re normally not the victims of artificial flavor additives like many popular coffees out there, especially seasonal coffees like pumpkin spice. This doesn’t mean you don’t need to read the label though, because you do!

However, one of the awesome perks of being a tea drinker is that you can actually grow your own. While growing and harvesting coffee from home can be pretty difficult and time consuming, growing tea is easy. Plant some herbs in your garden—lemon balm, lavender, sage, rosemary, stevia, thyme, and mint can all make excellent teas. Chop off some leaves and brew fresh! When the end of the season comes, gather stalks of your herbs before they die and hang inside. You can crumble the dry leaves to make tea throughout the winter.

While both coffee and tea have their benefits, the perks of being a tea drinker are undeniable. From so many different kinds with their antioxidant power, various caffeine levels, and health benefits, there’s no reason to skip the next tea party you’re invited to!