Coffee Or Tea: The Great Debate

By Francine Fluetsch on April 1, 2015

Aah, coffee and tea, two major drinks that populate college campuses.

You have the people who like both, like one more than the other, or love one and hate the other with a passion and try to convince everyone that their choice is better.

Needless to say, these drinks are a point of conversation, but which would win out in a battle, coffee or tea? Let’s take a closer look.

Personally, I love both, and use them for different things. Coffee is my morning starter, my drink of choice with breakfast. That coffee smell makes 8 a.m.’s a little less horrible, and makes me feel ready for the day.

This being said, I don’t NEED coffee. Some people joke that they have an addiction to it and can’t function without it, while I’m fine without it, though I’d prefer to have it. It’s more of a habit than anything else.

Then there is tea, which I love as an afternoon relaxer. This I don’t drink for the awake factor, I simply indulge in the good taste and love dipping cookies into it–delish!

If I could only pick one to drink, I’d probably pick coffee. I mean, I would definitely miss tea, but I drink coffee much more often and would miss it more.

As for which one is healthier, I personally think tea wins that one, though people will get into debates about that one as well.

I followed two classmates into a café, and asked them which would win in their opinion, coffee or tea, and a great debate broke out.

Will Ramos, a third year literature student at UC Santa Cruz, went wholeheartedly for tea, while Sabrina Creekmore, who is also a third year literature student at UC Santa Cruz, opposed him with giving her heart to coffee.

Ramos: Tea honestly tastes way better and is easier to make. It also keeps me awake longer.

Creekmore: How does tea keep you awake longer? Coffee keeps me awake just fine, and it also has a more subtle flavor compared to tea.

Ramos: Well, coffee is murder if you are lactose intolerant.

Creekmore: You don’t have to put milk in your coffee, there are lots of other things you can put in it.

Ramos: Tea is healthier and more modern.

Creekmore: Coffee is healthy despite what people say about it.

They bantered playfully back and forth like this, both pretty much giving the same points, just for the opposite drink.

I then began observing what my fellow colleagues and professors were bringing into class. My TA for my poetry class came prepared with a tumbler full of green tea. I turned to my left and noticed the girl next to me was drinking a tea with a bunch of the petals still in it. That was two for tea.

Next, I made a stop at one of the coffee shops on campus, and spied that most people sat at their computers, hot coffees in hand. At least five for coffee.

I hurried to my next class, one later in the day, and noticed many yawning faces clinging to their paper cups, which I assumed were filled with coffee, but not all of them were certain.

While I played spy, I realized that coffee was winning out, though tea was still popular, just not as much. There are students who bring tea in those cute mason jars, and get tumblers that are especially for filtering tea, but more often than not, you will spy more coffee cups than tea cups.

But then I stopped in at Lulu’s, a cute coffee and tea place in downtown Santa Cruz, and there the teacups outnumbered the coffee cups.

So who won? I think we can settle with a tie. Both coffee and tea have different benefits, and will cater to different people for different things. My aunt is really sensitive to caffeine, so she prefers tea to still stay awake but not get buzzed on coffee, whereas tea doesn’t keep me awake so I can’t use it for that purpose.

Everyone will be different on what can wake them up and how they want to use the drinks to their advantage, so don’t be afraid to love what you love.

As for which is healthier, you will be able to find multiple ways that both of them are healthy, so if you drink them in moderation, you’ll be solid. This article mentions that coffee can actually keep Alzheimer’s at bay, and whereas this article talks about tea being able to prevent cancer.

If you are worried about the health benefits, feel free to do research and experiment with which drink is best for you and in what quantity. Two cups of coffee is the max for me, whereas I could easily drink three or four cups of tea.

Happy drinking!

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