I guess the first aspect many people consider would naturally be the flavour. You have the usual types of tea: white, black, oolong, and green. With coffee the variety is a little less, there’s instant coffee and then the more natural ‘coffee shop’ brewed type, which personally I favour. Coffee's stronger, richer flavour compared to teas lighter one is what does it for me.
Like a lot of people, I prefer to wake up with a nice hot cup of Joe in the morning alongside my breakfast. And yes, coffee does help you wake up, with up to two times the amount of caffeine in it compared to some types of tea! There is 125–185 mg of caffeine per cup for coffee and 55 mg of caffeine per cup for tea.
Around 2.3 billion cups of coffee are consumed every day – however, tea takes the prize for being the most consumed beverage in the world, beating coffee, chocolate, soft drinks and alcohol combined. Maybe this is also due to Tea’s health benefits: the lowering of cholesterol and blood pressure and it’s help in building the immune system. Nevertheless, coffee does improve your focus and energy levels. Another point goes coffee's way with it being, surprisingly, the second most (legally) traded commodity in the world! Shocking, isn’t it? Oil is the most traded commodity. Humans have a strange fascination with black liquids, don’t they?
However, not all coffee and tea is consumed hot. In the United States, 80% of tea is consumed as iced tea. If you live in Australia then you would know that “It’s a Farmer’s Union Iced Coffee or it’s nothing”, and if you don’t drink it then you’re not a ‘real man’.
In the end, tea has more varieties and better health benefits and is more of a social beverage, but to be the second most traded commodity in the world, coffee must be doing something right. For me personally, the choice is heavily swayed by my mood. I believe that it all comes down to your own personal preference and choice between the two – but with those high levels of caffeine, how can you not choose coffee!?
