Green Tea VS Coffee
Coffee is the most popular beverage followed by tea. Some people like coffee, others are excited about a cup of hot tea, and there are those who can’t choose what matches their mood. In general, both of these drinks speed you up and affect your body roughly the same. However, there are hardly demonstrable differences everyone should know about.
This article is going to settle the dispute between tea and coffee once and for all, emphasizing their advantages and demonstrating specific aspects and warnings.
How Much Coffee Do You Drink A Day?
Let's say it's not about the number of cups because the amount of caffeine in one serving cup depends on its volume, grain quality, and degree of roasting. The higher the degree of roasting, the higher the percentage of caffeine. The daily amount of caffeine is individual for everyone. Experts do not recommend exceeding 400 mg. 70-100 mg is enough to stimulate physical and mental activity.
When you make coffee at home, you choose the preferred sort of coffee and degree of roasting. When buying a drink in coffee machines, you trust the manufacturer. Well-known brands offer an ideal coffee blend for making a specific coffee beverage. Knowing the approximate levels of caffeine, you can regulate its taking during the day.
- Filter coffee (150 ml) – 60-180 mg, average – 115 mg
- Black coffee from a coffee machine (240 ml) – 65-120 mg
- Espresso (30 ml) and Americano – 30-60 mg
- Cappuccino – 70-80 mg
- Instant coffee (150 ml) – 60-85 mg
So, a maximum of 5 cups of your beloved espresso or mochaccino during the day will charge you up, and you will not exceed the recommended daily dose of caffeine.
Simple rules on how to drink coffee
- Treat yourself to a cup of strong natural coffee four times a day maximum.
- It's all in right dosing, and everyone has their own limit. Some may lose sleep even after a couple of cups of coffee a day, while others tolerate more serious "doses". Stick to the rule to take no more than two or three cups at a time.
- Don’t drink coffee on an empty stomach. Have a snack before.
- Coffee does improve short-term memory, but with frequent use, these effects disappear. From constant use, our body gets used to a certain amount of caffeine. In this case, to achieve a positive effect you need a higher dosage.
- The most appropriate part of the day for coffee drinking is lunchtime or afternoon when the body has lower levels of the hormone cortisol.
How Much Tea Is It Enough To Drink A Day?
It would seem – you can sit and sip tea the whole day long, especially in pleasant company. But the opposite is also true. Green tea dosage should be cut off. The fact is that the tea plants accumulate heavy metals (aluminum and lead), which harm the body when overdosing. In addition, tea impairs the absorption of nutrients, including calcium, and contains caffeine. Therefore, the norm of green tea is no more than 3 cups a day.
Simple rules on how to drink green tea
- You face nausea and indigestion if you drink tea on an empty stomach.
- Not on an empty stomach. Otherwise, Sharing tea and iron-containing foods. Green tea is rich in tannins, which impede the absorption of iron from food. To get maximum use from drinking tea it is better to serve it not earlier than an hour after your dinner.
- Properly brewed. Brew green tea for 2-3 minutes with hot water, but not boiling water, and drink freshly brewed. If the water is too hot or the leaves stay in it for more than a quarter of an hour, tannins will be released into the water and the tea will get a slightly bitter taste. That means this drink already has excess caffeine, pesticides, and heavy metals.
What Is Healthier: Coffee Or Green Tea?
Hot disputes between tea and coffee lovers are going on. Both drinks usually contain caffeine, but coffee fans look at tea fans with disbelief – and vice versa. Which of these genius beverages is more useful?
Let's start with the fact that they are both beneficial for health, especially in their natural form, without sugar and flavorings. Tea is better studied, but coffee follows him right behind. You can freely include both of these drinks into your everyday ratio if you are feeling well. And now – the details!
Energy boost
The caffeine from your favorite coffee gives you a good energy boost, but the stimulants in tea also affect the body. The only difference is that green tea contains about 4 times less caffeine. However, do not conclude that coffee, in this case, can amp you up more effectively. They just affect your body differently.
L-theanine, contained in green tea, slows down the absorption of caffeine and you’ll get a prolonged effect like from the old movie. At that time coffee will boost your mood immediately and powerfully.
Facts and Figures
Caffeine is on everybody’s A-list due to its specific influence on our health and body. Taking caffeine drink you’ll get:
- more energy, attention
- Goodbye wakefulness
- reduced fatigue
- increased accuracy
- boosted physical activity
- better memory and mood
To understand where you can take more caffeine - in tea or coffee, you need to know how the raw materials are processed. The fewer processing cycles, the better the products retain vitamins and other components, including caffeine.
However, a cup of strong espresso gives you 90-200 mg of caffeine at the same time and a cup of green tea contains only 25-35 mg.
If consciously and moderately take caffeinated products, their effect on the body will be positive. The optimal amount of caffeine for the daily norm is no more than 400 mg or 3-5 cups of drink per day. But you need to remember the individual characteristics of each organism.
Heart health
Green Tea
In accordance with a recent study in Japan, drinking green tea regularly helps keep your heart in good shape. Those who are tea lovers are less prone to heart attacks and some other forms of cardiovascular diseases. But there is one condition – you have to drink a few portions of aromatic tea a day. Drink to the bottom, but don’t overdo it, because an excess of green tea, presumably, can also cause little indigestion.
Coffee
As it turns out, drinking a minimum of one cup of coffee a day can save you from heart attacks in the long term. The connection between caffeine and heart health is really surprising. Many people consider coffee and caffeine to be harmful to people with heart risks. This drink is mostly associated with alertness, high pressure, etc. The positive effect of caffeine on our heart functioning puts everything upside down.
Cancer prevention
Green Tea
Cancer is a disease caused by a failure in the regulation of cell growth in our bodies, taking millions of lives each year. Keep in mind that green tea can reduce your chances to face heart disease. And the antioxidants taken from green aromatic leaves help to fight cancer! Their effects are manifested in long-lived countries, such as Japan, where the use of green tea is part of the local drinking tradition.
Coffee
Scientists have already proved that drinking 2-4 cups of aromatic coffee a day prevents diabetes (30%), Parkinson's disease (30%), or heart problems (5%). Speaking about cancer, coffee is able to prevent this deadliest disease by 20%. Of course, we don’t know the exact mechanism yet, but the benefits of drinking coffee come from flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols that are the strongest antioxidants contained in coffee.
Lower cholesterol
Green tea
There is a fact, treating yourself with green tea every day can lower cholesterol levels. Of course, this does not mean "good" cholesterol, but "bad" – LDL. LDL cholesterol leads to clogging of blood vessels, provoking blood clots, and hence the risk of stroke or hypertension. Scientifically proven that slurping tea you are helping yourself by lowering LDL cholesterol levels on average.
Coffee
Those who prefer other drinks than coffee are not very interested in how coffee raises cholesterol. And coffee lovers will still not give up their favorite drink or their favorite way to prepare it. That’s true, the cafestol contained in coffee significantly increases the level of cholesterol in the blood. To avoid this you should drink natural coffee brewed with a paper filter that removes cafestol-containing coffee oils. Now, your drink is safe for taking.
Strengthening bones
Green tea
Maintaining proper bone health is sometimes a challenging task, especially as you get older. Osteoporosis is currently a serious public health problem: in Europe, more than 20 million women and more than 5 million men over the age of 50 suffer from this ruthless disease. Green tea prevents osteoporosis which can only please.
Coffee
Despite all the benefits, coffee interferes with the absorption of nutrients, in particular calcium. But a drop of milk can change the situation! Blending milk with coffee helps to compensate for the loss of calcium.
Weight loss
Green Tea
Much has been said about the fact that green tea promotes weight loss. This seems to be true. As with most teas, green tea has very few calories, so it can fill a large volume in the stomach without causing fat accumulation. In addition, big doses of tea boost metabolism. Suffering from excess weight, try to help yourself by drinking green tea regularly.
Coffee
If you are a coffee lover, lose weight without sticking to tea. Coffee gives you a powerful metabolism boost and you feel fresh and active during the day. Besides, caffeinated coffee can really increase the number of calories that you burn, facilitating weight loss.
However, the effect of tea or coffee seems to be short-lived. Taking one or another drink daily develops a tolerance and weakens the desired effect. Just cycle your intake. For example, higher dosage and take breaks.
Alzheimer disease and dementia
Green tea
Green tea not only helps to lose weight, slow down aging, and strengthen the immune system – it saves from Alzheimer's disease! For those who are worried about their sanity in old age, green tea can even replace fish, which is not very useful for aging organisms because it accumulates radioactive isotopes.
Coffee
Natural coffee decreases the risk of Alzheimer's disease by 65%. This disease is a sticker for people over 60 years old. Unfortunately, the world has not yet found a cure for this. To prevent the development of the disease it is necessary to lead an active lifestyle, follow a healthy diet, avoid stress, and treat yourself with a cup of coffee a day.
Useful Substances Contained In Coffee And Tea
- Tea is rich in antioxidants and vitamins (C, P, B1, B2, PP), minerals (magnesium, calcium, iron, etc.), caffeine, tannin (CNS stimulants).
- Coffee contains small amounts of vitamin B, magnesium, and potassium, as well as antioxidants. The influence of coffee on the effectiveness of diets and sports training has been noticed. It helps to break down fats (with an improvement of the result up to 30%). The ability to maintain optimal glucose levels helps to better cope with hunger, and caffeine improves concentration and performance.
Possible Warnings
- Enhancing the taste of your drink, tea or coffee, with sugar, creams, and fruit syrups can significantly increase the caloric content.
- American studies proved that everyone’s favorite sugared coffee and tea belong to the most dangerous foodies that cause type 2 diabetes and heart attacks in adults.
- However, if you are too fond of tasting your favorite drink, you run the risk of experiencing all the effects of a coffee overdose. When overdosing regularly can worsen the symptoms of panic disorder and insomnia.
- Remember that the effects of caffeine on the body are a very individual process. And this applies even to the same person during the day. Caffeine addiction causes changing mood, fatigue, and decreased cognitive abilities. Those who are addicted usually don’t understand the root of their troubles and continue enjoying their beloved drinks every meal.
Who’s The Winner?
The fight between two genius drinks is going on! You can’t help but pick the winner based on your own preferences. Because nobody but you is the cup holder and drinker.
As you can see, it is impossible to choose one, the worthiest drink. Speaking about healthy dieting, the choice depends on what health problems you already have and what effect you expect. If you need to feel the energy hint fast and right now, coffee's high caffeine content will get you there. However, if you just need to cheer up and avoid ups and downs, invite your friends for a tea party to enjoy its natural taste and flowery aroma.