The Benefits of Tea Drinking

With the soaring popularity of coffee shops such as Starbucks and Dunkin’, and all of their new and unique coffee options and flavors, sometimes the exceptional beverage option that is tea gets easily swept under the rug and overlooked. 

Even though there are an array of tea options at both Starbucks and Dunkin’, they are often unappreciated in comparison to their more popular counterpart, coffee. 

In all honesty, I find this very sentiment incredibly unfortunate, as I personally believe that tea is actually better than coffee. This may be part of the minority opinion when it comes to caffeinated beverages, but I know that I’m not the only one who thinks this way. 

In fact, even though it has been around for centuries, in recent years, studies have shown that tea is rapidly gaining more attention and popularity in the United States. In 2023, $508 million worth of tea was imported in the U.S., which is $350 million more than 30 years ago. 

Besides becoming more widely available and sought after in the United States, tea is delicious and can provide something for everyone. 

A lot of people are under the impression that tea is just tea, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. You can add cream, sugar and honey to give the tea some sweetness, and there are even thousands of different types of tea, each with unique flavor profiles.

However, the types of tea generally fall into seven categories: black tea, green tea, oolong tea, white tea, yellow tea, pur-eh tea and herbal tea. Each type of tea varies and has a distinct taste. 

For instance, while black tea has a stronger and more potent flavor, green tea is more delicate and fragrant. 

Oolong tea often tastes fruity and floral, while herbal tea contains earthy and sultry notes and often includes chamomile as one of its ingredients. Depending on your mood or how you’re feeling that day, you can make your selection. 

Not to mention, tea drinking offers a wide variety of health benefits. 

Drinking tea can give you a reduced risk of chronic illness, improved sleep (when drinking teas such as chamomile), improved oral health, improved bone health, more focus and alertness, improved digestion and reduced inflammation, as noted by the National Institutes of Health. 

If you’re not into drinking tea, there are even many benefits that come from tea in other areas of life. For example, you can use tea bags to help with inflammation and puffiness around the eyes.

You can also place a green tea-soaked paper towel on your face to help with acne. Another great hack is to use black tea bags to help heal sunburns. You simply soak the tea bags in cool water and place them on the affected area.

Black tea can even be used to fix scratches on wood floors and surfaces. 

The moral of the story is that tea is not as one-dimensional as it may seem and can offer you a wide array of benefits. 

Tea is truly worth looking into more. If you decide to make a tea purchase during your next Starbucks or Dunkin’ run, I can promise that you will not be disappointed, especially with all of this new knowledge of what tea can do for you. 

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