For many of us, a cup of coffee or tea is the starter of the day. Tea and coffee are the most popular beverages next to water in many parts of the world. They help us to go through the hustle bustle of the daily chores, averting boredom, socialising and to gain that extra boost we all need sometimes when we don’t feel like going. But what’s in it that charges you to feel freshen up ? Yes, you probably know it : caffeine. Not all caffeinated beverages are the same and neither is their impact on our mind and body. Let’s find out a tad bit more about our favorite drink today.

Between tea and coffee, the birth history of tea dates way back than coffee. Interestingly, both coffee and tea were discovered accidentally, almost like how penicillin was discovered. As the legend goes, while boiling water for his master, the Chinese emperor Shen Nung, his servant accidentally mixed up the leaves that fell from a tree under which they were sitting. Shen Nung was a botanist himself and out of curiosity he had decided to taste this blend. The tree was camellia sinensis and the drink that was produced is what we call tea now. This story dates back to 2737 BC ! While the story of tea involves an emperor and his servant, the legend of coffee has an Ethiopian  goat herder, Kaldi and his goats! So, Kaldi had observed that after eating from a strange bean, his goats became so energetic they apparently did not need to sleep ! Many centuries down the line, now these two drinks are consumed by millions with a lot of variations from the original form.

The common form of teas includes black tea, green tea, white tea, oolong tea and herbal tea. Except for the herbal tea, which is not a “true” tea per se rather a mix of spices and herbs, all other forms stem out from the leaves of camellia sinensis plant. Black teas are oxidized (hence the color), oolong tea and white tea are partially and minimally oxidized respectively and green tea is non-oxidized. Out of all these, black tea contains the highest amount of caffeine per serving (which is roughly half the amount per cup of coffee).

The level of coffee on the other hand varies from very low in Decaf coffee to highest in cold brew (Black coffee has the second highest amount of Caffeine). Espresso, latte and cappuccino all have almost similar amounts of caffeine in them.

I want to be very clear at this point regarding the source of caffeine; it can be found outside the tea-coffee duo, like in energy drinks, soft drinks, pharmacological preparations etc. Once taken, caffeine enters into our system by about 45 minutes and reaches its peak in 30 minutes and the half life (time taken to get rid of 50% of what was taken)  ranges from 3-5 hours [1]. Let’s have a quick look at the bright side of caffeine intake:

Reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, parkinson’s disease and Depression

Lower risk of NAFLD, Cirrhosis and HCC (specially due to Hep C)

Frequent intake is associated with reduced risk of T2 DM

Has antioxidant and anti inflammatory property

Decreases the risk of kidney stone and fibrosis

Regular intake is associated with lower risk of all cause mortality

It will not be fair to hide some of the possible hazardous effect of caffeine too

1. The obvious sleep disturbance.
2. Can provoke tremor, anxiety, raised blood pressure if taken too much
3. Increases heart rate which may lead to arrhythmia in some people
4. Increased risk of Huntington’s disease
5. Increased risk of Low birth weight baby if taken higher amount during pregnancy

Overall, up to 400 mg of caffeine (roughly 4 cups of coffee) for adults and 200 mg for pregnant or lactating women is advised per day. We should not go overboard and moderation in consumption as well as proper timing is the key to rip the most out of these stimulating drinks.

TRIVIA: Decaf coffee means decaffeinated coffee in which at least 97% caffeine has been removed (EU regulation is <0.3% !). In 1906 a German called Ludwig Roselius wanted to create a coffee blend that would have the taste but not the caffeine, as he thought his father had died from drinking too much of this “poison”. He, too, discovered the way to do that by accident! While transporting a shipment of coffee beans, one box got immersed in sea water and later was found that most

of its caffeine had been washed out, giving rise to the technique of steaming of coffee beans to make a decaf!

Did you know that the largest consumers of tea and coffee on a per capita basis are Turkey and Finland respectively?