Which Do You Prefer? Coffee Or Tea? And Why?

[survivor]

Coffee and tea has both been my favorite beverages over the many years. However, I still prefer the classic taste of tea, and I never fail to drink at least 3 cups of tea a day! I'm also aware that tea is a much healthier option to coffee. (Not Really Entirely Sure Of How Coffee Is Healthy, perhaps anyone can comment about this?) I enjoy drinking mainly green tea such as Matcha, or Longjing Green Tea. However, i truly enjoy the unique taste of rooibos tea as well.

What about you? Do you prefer drinking coffee or tea?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

For me it depends entirely on the day. I prefer coffee on cold days or on days when I know that I need the extra caffeine to get through the things I need to do, and in the mornings there is really nothing quite like the aroma of fresh coffee. However on hot days I'll forgo coffee entirely in favour of tea. And my go-to beverage is actually chocolate.

[SylviaLovegren]

For first thing in the morning coffee is the only thing. And a cup of freshly brewed coffee is actually good for you, full of micronutrients as is any plant food. It's when it's been sitting around that it becomes a negative.

Tea in the morning means I'm coming down with a cold.

In the afternoon tea is good, especially with a snack. Depending on mood, black tea or Earl Grey, or buckwheat green tea.

[emannths]

I drink both, but I prefer coffee. Part of it is because of the taste, but I think part of the appeal is the body of the drink and the long-lasting flavor in the mouth. The light body and fleeting taste of most teas always seem to leave me unsatisfied, even if they are tasty!

As far as health effect goes...I suspect that choosing coffee or tea won't really make-or-break you. Tea certainly has a number of supposedly healthy compounds, but they're not exclusive to tea--they're found in fruits, vegetables, wine, chocolate, etc. Coffee consumption has also been correlated to a smattering of health benefits too, though the mechanism of these is more of a mystery. Both tea and coffee have potential health drawbacks too. You can read more about the health effects of tea and the health effects of coffee on Wikipedia.

[weinoo]

Coffee. Because it's better.

[Mjx]

I appreciate tea (although I was told that I have peasant's tastes, because I favour smoky lapsang souchong and gunpowder), but I LOVE coffee. Half the time, it's all I have between waking up and eating dinner.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Never learned to enjoy anything about coffee besides the smell, so it's all tea, all the time, and no coffee to drink, no coffee desserts, no coffee in my cooking.

I like lots of different teas.

[Kerry Beal]

Tea. Because it's better.

[Holly Moore]

While I'd rather have a bad cup of tea than a bad cup of coffee, I'll go for a toe-curling cup of great coffee every time.

[andiesenji]

At one time I had a distinct preference for tea, mainly because for me coffee had to be freshly brewed and the process of brewing for each cup was more time consuming than brewing a cup of tea.

I also have a large collection of teas.

Since getting a single-serve brewer (and a capsule espresso machine) I drink either tea or coffee, depending on my mood, the food I am eating, the weather, visitors or whatever other factor might come into play.

[Hassouni]

I grew up on tea, and coffee only became a recent taste acquisition (within the last 10 years, in my late teens). So that being said, tea will always hold a special place in my heart. As I wrote on my personal blog:

I often need to start the day with coffee just to zap me out of “GOD DAMN IT, IT’S BEFORE NOON, GO BACK TO BED” mode, but my true addiction is tea. I can go days without coffee and be OK, despite mornings sucking... But give me a couple days without tea, and usually by the second or third day, around 4 or 5 in the afternoon, I’ll just stop and have a profoundly out-of-place, something-is-wrong feeling. This has happened enough (by accident of course) that I know tea will remedy it immediately. Comparable to the greatest endorphin rush or moment of ecstasy, a sip of tea after a few days off is a reward for enduring the punishment of being without it, which was probably [my] own fault because [i was] too busy to make some tea.

So that being said, I do love coffee too, just not as much. I love the smell, I love the jolt it provides, and most of the time I like the taste. I'm not a fan of super dark roasts because to me they just taste like carbon (hello, Starbucks). In the US when I'm out somewhere I tend to order coffee, because most places here don't make tea right.

[Genkinaonna]

In the morning, coffee. No one dares speak to me until I've had my coffee...actually, I just wish this were the case, the kids still subject me to their unending verbal onslaught, but I don't RESPOND until I've had coffee.

I almost always have a cup of white tea at the end of the day, as I'm winding down before bed. I like the ritual aspect of measuring, steeping the leaves, heating the cup, straining, etc...it's very calming.

I guess I could live without tea, it would be a lot harder to forgo coffee, so I guess that I'm in the coffee camp.

[Dianabanana]

Tea.

1. It goes with more kinds of savory food--in fact every kind of Asian food I can think of (including Indian), and many other cuisines as well. I like a hot beverage with most meals. It just feels good.

2. It's more reliably good than coffee (if you make it yourself, that is).

3. It's not as perishable as coffee.

4. It doesn't give you bad breath. Coffee does.

5. It's much easier on my digestive system.

6. It has less caffeine than coffee, so you can enjoy many cups of it without having a nervous breakdown.

[Anna N]

Coffee. Because it's better.

Ditto.

[andiesenji]

So that being said, I do love coffee too, just not as much. I love the smell, I love the jolt it provides, and most of the time I like the taste. I'm not a fan of super dark roasts because to me they just taste like carbon (hello, Starbucks). In the US when I'm out somewhere I tend to order coffee, because most places here don't make tea right.

Starbucks has acknowledged your concerns (and obviously that of many others) with this announcement.

[ScoopKW]

I drink both, in roughly equal amounts. I suppose that makes me bi-caffeinated. But there's nothing wrong with that.

[Hassouni]

I drink both, in roughly equal amounts. I suppose that makes me bi-caffeinated. But there's nothing wrong with that.

Hear hear

[Hassouni]

I don't know if it's just that Pike Place is over-roasted or it's something they do to it in brewing, but even nearly-black French roasts, when acquired for home use, while not my favorite, are still far more pleasant than S'bucks

[Panaderia Canadiense]

It's water quality, I think, with Sbux, not coffee quality. Lord knows they've got reasonably good beans to start with. Then again, I'm spoiled.

[Hassouni]

It's water quality, I think, with Sbux, not coffee quality. Lord knows they've got reasonably good beans to start with. Then again, I'm spoiled.

I dunno. My water at home tastes pretty bad, and even the blackest roast made at home (in a French press, mind) is not as acrid and burnt tasting as Pike Place. At home I can easily drink 12 oz of coffee, but I struggle to drink half a Sbucks tall.

Edited October 20, 2011 by Hassouni (log)

[nickrey]

Coffee.

The only time I have tea is drinking green tea with yum cha.

[Hassouni]

Coffee.

The only time I have tea is drinking green tea with yum cha.

My dad is like this. Coffee fanatic, who will ONLY drink (and in fact will request) tea with Chinese food, I don't get it. I've often thought that introducing him to the espresso-like Iraqi tea will convert him but he's reluctant...

[SylviaLovegren]

I don't know if it's just that Pike Place is over-roasted or it's something they do to it in brewing, but even nearly-black French roasts, when acquired for home use, while not my favorite, are still far more pleasant than S'bucks

Starbucks is OK, but their Pike Place blend is just horrible. Unredeemable. Like burnt dirt.

[DjLau]

Tea.

I've been self roasting coffee from Sweet Maria's lately and a hot cup is splendid in the morning. I usually drink 1/2 my cup to prevent the out of body experience that ensues if I drink the entire mug.

Overall, tea's side effects are more pleasant (must be my Chinese genetics..) and there are more subtleties and interesting flavor profiles.

[Beebs]

I generally prefer tea. But I'm picky about my tea and I find that it's easier to get a decent cup of coffee than a decent cup of tea. So it's tea when I'm at home or the office, and coffee the other times.