Calories in Tea

Tea is one of the healthiest drinks available, and you’ve probably heard about its many benefits. Well, it is true that it is good for you, but the catch is that it only applies to tea made without milk or sugar. By itself, tea is almost free of calories.

One cup of tea (herbal, Assam, or chamomile) has only about 2 calories; it’s a very negligible amount. But, the moment you make that tea into a half cream tea, it goes up to 315 calories!

Similarly, a medium-sized glass of iced tea contains almost 130 calories.

One cup of instant tea, sweetened with sugar and flavoured with lemon contains almost 730 calories. Unfortunately, most of the calories come from sugar or dairy products. Calories from sugar are empty, which means that the body cannot convert them into energy.

It’s almost impossible to say exactly how many calories your cup of tea has because of the wide variety of ways in which tea is drunk. As a rule of thumb, add 16 calories for every teaspoon of sugar and 5 calories per teaspoon of 2 percent fat milk. Keep in mind that tea at fast food restaurants often has a lot of sugar, and is, therefore, very high in calories.

Benefits of Tea

However, the benefits of tea are many, and tea is not drunk for its caloric value. Tea contains large amounts of antioxidants, which fight free radicals in the body, thereby working to protect healthy cells. Tea also contains many minerals like fluoride and manganese.

Tea has been shown to enhance your immunity, making you healthier. Studies have shown that tea drinkers have lower blood pressure and healthier hearts than non tea drinkers. Tea also lowers cholesterol levels in the body.

Tea is considered to have cancer fighting benefits, and green and black teas have been shown to fight different cancers, including oesophageal, prostate, lung, colon, stomach, and some skin cancers. Oolong tea and green tea have been shown to reduce hypertension. Similarly, green tea also destroys leukaemia cells according to medical research.

A more immediate benefit of tea is that it increases your metabolic rate, thus helping you lose weight.
So, which teas are best for you? The verdict is still out on that one, and while it was originally believed that green tea was better for you, it is now believed that black teas may be just as good, if not better.

To get the most out of tea, drink freshly brewed tea rather than instant tea, and drink it without sugar or cream.

Submitted on January 16, 2014