Less
caffeine could make tea more popular
By Sarah Bataych
Special to the On-line Forty-Niner
Coffee
lovers may face a greater dilemma than how
they take their coffee. Soon, a greater
issue than cream and sugar may be their
health.
Communications major Jay Mitchell loves
his morning cup of coffee because it wakes
him up. While Mitchell is not alone in his
craving of caffeine jolt, the coffee he
is consuming may have an adverse effect
on his health in the long run.
Typically, a plain, fresh 8-ounce cup of
coffee contains an average of 100 to 115
milligrams of caffeine per cup. According
to the Tea Council of America, the average
adult can consume about 300 milligrams per
day with no evidence of harmful effects.
So, more than three cups a day could be
damaging to your health.
In comparison to coffee, the same size cup
of tea contains at least half the amount
of caffeine as coffee, with 50 milligrams
per cup, and can taste just as good.
“I prefer tea over coffee because the herbs
taste better than the beans and it’s less
sweet,” said Ricky McCarthy, a sophomore
business major.
Although herbal teas do have a unique flavor
and can be soothing, they have virtually
no nutritional value. According to Gail
Frank, professor of nutrition at Cal State
Long Beach and national spokesman for the
American Dietetic Association, teas are
broken into three categories: black tea,
green tea and oolong tea, which all contain
the antioxidant, polyphenols. Each tea has
an active ingredient that has a health benefit,
with green tea being the richest source
of catechins, an anti-cancer component.
According to the Cancer Research Journal,
tea acts as a mechanism that deactivates
cancer cells that may be charged in our
body from carcinogens we take in on a daily
basis. Medical research done among Japanese,
who drink high levels of green tea, found
reduced rates of stomach cancer and overall
health related death rates.
So in a society of coffee chains on every
corner offering coffee in any way imaginable,
can tea make such an impact on American
society that coffee has?
According to Kristen Lee, operations manager
and certified tea master at Cha for Tea,
located at 5720 E. Seventh St., it can.
“We use green tea as a base in our blended
drinks and in the healthy food we make,”
she said. “The blended drinks we make are
becoming very popular with all the different
flavors and the pearls you can add to any
drink.”
The pearls Lee is talking about are the
little tapioca balls made of sweet potato
commonly known as boba. These pearls, a
variety of flavored drinks and late hours
makes Cha for Tea an up-and-coming competitor
to any coffee house.
With America emphasizing a healthier nation
and specialty tea houses popping up, we
may soon see a significant rise in tea purchases
and a decrease in health issues.
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