Coffee or Tea? Is one better than the other?

coffee

Yummy!

Walking into class early mornings, it is typical that you may see a wide variety of travel mugs. All of which are filled to the brim with your favorite way to kick start your day. Though coffee seems to be more apparent, you may also notice small little tags hanging off to the side of the mugs indicating tea may be the next most popular choice. Coffee and tea both have there advantages, ranging in flavor, potency, size and temperature, but what makes one better than the other? One might argue that coffee simply packs more punch than your average cup of tea. Personal preference leaves us biased but, is it possible that one isn’t necessarily better or more effective than the other?

 

The BBC put out an article stating the many benefits and pitfalls of coffee vs. tea consumption. Though the research is described as thoroughly conducted, it does note some variables that may have lead to false positive results. For example, the sample size of the study was mentioned to be on the smaller side. In reality, the large the sample the better the results could turn out. Another variable that could possibly alter the data is the fact of measurability of the y component. The effect caffeine has on some one might have a different effect on another. For example, if someone drinks 8 ounces of coffee versus 8 ounces espresso, they are both coffee yet one is more potent than the other. Coffee is a lot more complex than what the general public might think. The Graph below is a clear example of the variance at which caffeine is in relation to brews, and types, it also has types of tea’s to compare as well. A you can see some teas are have more caffeine than coffee’s and vise versa. Though the study doesn’t go into much detail about that consumption, it merely states that they have studies similar caffeine effects from coffee and tea. Another variable that was noted was once again, a harder variable to measure like, the expectations of consumption, or even taste.

caffeine-chart

Finally, the study does give some insight as to which one might have a better outcome for you individually based on what your consumption of the beverages however they appear to be more generally than anything, such as, if you want to better sleep, or whiter teeth, or not have jittery side effects. It is noted for some results, again that there is limited data so it makes it hard to conclude if one is better than the other. In those instances, the findings is reported as a draw, although one could argue this could be a failure to accept any type of 3rd confounding variable.

In closing, the article did base its info on very broad and general information about coffee and tea. It also highlights both positives and negatives over one another which in itself could be somewhat conflicting. Overall, the article was interesting since coffee and tea are a heavily consumed beverage among students 18 and older. So when it comes to coffee or tea, the decision is clearly up to you and your desire. Since the results of the study had little variance, the best option for you may be to try out different coffee’s and tea’s and draw your own conclusion on what works best for you and your lifestyle!

3 thoughts on “Coffee or Tea? Is one better than the other?

  1. zvk5072

    This post was kind of cool. People talk about this debate a lot but I never thought of the science behind it. I like how you use the graph to make the article easier for the reader to understand as well. Not only is this debate frequently discussed amongst people, but news outlets have done pieces on this issue as well. The BBC put out a piece recently where they discussed the issue as well: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160115-tea-vs-coffee-which-drink-is-better-for-you. Really solid blog post on a pretty intriguing issue.

  2. jnb5450

    Your blog interested me because I love both coffee and tea. I actually just wrote a blog about the affects of coffee on the body (advantages and disadvantages). What do you think a good study would be to conduct to test which beverage has a bigger affect of the body? That would be interesting. Here is an interesting link that talks about which is healthier for you and better for the body: http://news.health.com/2015/12/04/coffee-or-tea-an-rd-weighs-in-on-which-is-healthier/

  3. Catherine Drinker

    This was interesting for me personally because I love both coffee and tea. I think that tea, in general, is healthier just because the base is water and then the herbs of the tea are adding to it. Coffee is more complex because of caffeine.

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