I owe MAW a beer. Why should this be? Because last night in a moment of drunken musing I bet him that tea had more caffeine than coffee. So the real question is, why did I believe this odd piece of urban legend? I’m not sure, but it’s wrong wrong wrong.
Depending on where it’s from, tea has between 40 and 60 milligrams of caffeine. Now true, this is more than a coke (34) or a pepsi (37), but it’s less than your average drip coffee which comes in at up to a heart-racing 175 for the same sized cup. A can of Red Bull contains a paltry 80, despite being banned in France for it’s negative effects.
But what of milk, I hear you say. Popular notion says that it bonds with the caffeine and makes it less painful. Well, drinking milk can prevent caffeine-instigated bone loss, especially for the ladies, but I’m not sure where I heard the other stuff.
Anyway, it’s not true, and now I owe MAW a beer.
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10Mar
2 Responses
Don’t buy that beer too quickly. I don’t know the specifics of your bet, but from what you have written, you both seem to be correct (with you being a bit more correct). Tea does have more caffeine than coffee. On the other hand, a cup of coffee has more caffeine than a cup of tea. If you did not specify that it is brewed tea and coffee, you would be correct. http://www.bigelowtea.com/help/faqdetail.cfm?faq=15
Interesting, l, but I think that counts as data with little or no external validity. For starters, coffee is heavy, so there’s less of it per pound than there is tea. Secondly, “coffee” and “tea” are beverages; “coffee grounds” and “tea leaves” are groceries.