Many of us enjoy a hot drink (or more than one!) a day, usually in the form of coffee or tea. Coffee is often used as a tool to increase awareness and tea is often favoured mid morning or afternoon with a snack. They are both hot drinks but there are a number of similarities and differences between coffee and tea.
Caffeine
Although coffee tends to have a reputation for containing caffeine, tea also contains this stimulant. A 250mL cup of instant coffee contains approximately 80mg of caffeine, while a short black or espresso has approximately 107 mg of caffeine. Arabica coffee tends to have less caffeine than Robusta coffee. If you purchase a commercial iced coffee (~500mLs) this can contain anywhere from 20 – 200mg of caffeine. On the other hand a 250mL cup of tea will contain approximately 27mg of caffeine. It may surprise you that green and black tea has the same caffeine content but the overall amount will depend on how long you leave your tea to brew. If you are looking for a caffeine free tea, Roobios (red tea) is an alternative. It is important to monitor your caffeine intake, especially if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. For anyone who is not pregnant or breastfeeding a guideline to follow is to limit your caffeine consumption to less than 600mg a day.
Antioxidants
As well as containing caffeine, both tea and coffee contain antioxidants. There is numerous research available suggesting that coffee contains a number of antioxidants, and it is well known that tea also contains these. Antioxidants help to remove free radicals that cause damage to the body’s cells. It is not worth trying to increase your consumption of tea and coffee alone to boost your antioxidant intake – these are found in many other fruits and vegetables too.
Kilojoules
If you are watching your weight you may like to think about your tea or coffee habit and how this could be contributing to your weight. Tea without milk contains nil kilojoules but adding milk and/or sugar will increase the kilojoule content of your drink. Coffee is the same in this respect – it is low in energy until you start to add extras to it. Coffee drinks that contain cream or large amounts of milk will contain more energy so you should limit your intake of these.
What Should You Choose?
Both tea and coffee have benefits and concerns. Coffee is often higher in caffeine so if you are watching your intake of this you may like to choose a tea. Tea and coffee both contain antioxidants but less caffeine in tea means that it will not have the same effect on alertness. Tannins are also found in tea and coffee so you should avoid drinking both of these directly before and after meals as tannins inhibit iron absorption. It will be a matter of personal preference what you consume as you may rate flavour more important than caffeine intake and so on. Whatever you choose to consume remember that you should have this in conjunction with plenty of plain water and a balanced diet.
Originally published on Nov 10, 2011
