Why you can’t drink hot tea, and why tea bags are better than tea leaves

It is impossible to imagine a Russian winter without it. In every thermos, in every apartment – he. Hot tea. However, a drink that we are already accustomed to considering is primordially ours, Russian, can be dangerous. We explain with what. 

1. Temperature

As Iranian scientists discovered in 2008, tea should not be scalding hot. The fact is that regular drinking of such drinks has an extremely bad effect on the esophagus: they burn the mucous membrane, microtrauma and microinflammation occur. As a result, this leads to an increased risk of esophageal cancer. To avoid such a misfortune, you need to drink tea no hotter than 65 degrees. That is, you need to brew, pour and let the drink stand for at least four to five minutes so that it cools down to a comfortable temperature. 

In fairness, we note that any hot drink, not just tea, has a bad effect on the esophagus. But this is what we drink more often and most regularly.

2. Tea leaves versus tea bags

It is generally accepted that leaf tea is tastier, healthier and better than packaged tea. We will not argue with this. However, in some cases, loose leaf tea can be dangerous. In 2013, American scientists studied 30 types of tea, and it turned out that they all contain a large amount of lead. Another 75 percent of the tea when brewed generously “shares” aluminum with us, and the longer the leaves are infused, the higher the metal content in the drink. To avoid danger, experts advise choosing tea from the least environmentally polluted regions, which include many parts of China, India and Sri Lanka. But we are used to thinking that there is the best tea! Another way is to brew the drink for no longer than three minutes. Better yet, buy tea bags and brew them for a minute, no more. 

3. Price matters

British scientists have found that leaf tea often contains quite a lot of fluoride. In limited quantities and externally – in toothpaste, for example – this microelement is useful. But inside and in large doses – it is harmful. As it turned out, fluoride gets into tea due to the peculiarities of the assembly methods. And there is less fluoride in more expensive teas: choose oolong, darjeeling, and assam. Never drink tea on an empty stomach and try to minimize the brewing time. 

4. Bigger is not better

The amount of black tea should be limited to four to five cups a day. And by no means half a liter, but standard ones. Otherwise, you will have to deal with the side effects of an invigorating drink: anxiety, nervousness, insomnia, headache, arrhythmia, ringing in the ears, and even seizures… If you notice a change in heart rate, the pulse accelerates – set the unfinished cup aside. 

5. This is not a cure

According to the results of many studies, tea is capable of miracles: it protects against cardiovascular diseases, has antioxidant properties, thanks to which it reduces the risk of many types of cancer and even Parkinson’s disease. But still, this is not a medicine, not a panacea, and many studies were carried out only in laboratory conditions on experimental rats. And people are still very different from them.