Skip to Content

Can Drinking Too Much Tea Be Bad?

Can Drinking Too Much Tea Be Bad

Tea is the most popular drink after water.

There are many different types of tea and some are good for certain aspects of your health over others.

But, I was interested to know how many cups of tea is too much so I looked into what medical experts recommend, and here’s what I found.

Overall, drinking too much tea can be bad.

Drinking tea that contains caffeine can cause irritability, increased heart rate, insomnia, headaches, and frequent urination.

Excessive tea consumption can also cause diarrhea.

Teas that contain no caffeine generally have more milk-negative effects.

In this article, I will explain how much tea is too much and if it’s OK to drink tea all day or every day.

As well as, the results of surveys that showed how many cups of tea or Caffeinated beverage people drink per day.

How Many Cups of Tea a Day Is Too Much?

How Many Cups of Tea a Day Is Too Much

Excessive tea consumption is something you need to watch out for.

In large amounts, tea can cause acute and long-term caffeine consumption has negative effects and adverse effects.

Here’s a summary of how many cups of tea are too much or if can you drink too much tea.

On average, 3 to 4 cups of tea per day is too much according to medical experts.

Drinking more than that can cause diarrhea, nausea, headaches, and a poor mood, and make it difficult to sleep.

Less than that, tea has many positive health effects and is good to drink.

The caffeine side effects or negative effects of drinking large amounts of tea don’t affect everyone in the same way.

But, generally after drinking a few cups of black tea within a short period of time, or consuming more than about 3 cups, you will start to feel the negative effects.

According to recent studies, Harvard Medical School says that tea can also contribute to the formation of kidney stones (source), in people who are susceptible to them.

Tea contains amino acids that are known to be good for you and provide some of the positive health benefits of tea.

Such as helping to lower blood pressure.

But, you need to mostly watch out for the amount of caffeine in tea.

Tea contains 40 milligrams of caffeine in one regular cup (6.8 oz or 200mL) of black tea.

The type of tea also has an impact on the negative effects of drinking too much tea.

Plain tea is made from the tea leaves of the camellia Sinensis plant.

It’s also the same plant that is used to make matcha tea, and green tea.

Too much black tea can make it difficult for the body to absorb iron and lead to an iron deficiency.

In extreme cases, this can lead to kidney failure.

The recommended caffeine intake through Caffeinated drinks for an adult is 400 mg a day, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (source).

When you convert that to tea consumption it amounts to about 10 cups of tea.

Too much caffeine causes unwanted caffeine side effects. 

A common symptom of the effects of caffeine consumed in excess is a jittery, anxious feeling.

This is due to caffeine’s effect on the central nervous system.

In lower amounts, its effect on the nervous system improves energy levels.

But, in large amounts, it overloads the nerves which can also make it difficult to sleep.

Here’s an interesting video from a sleep expert that explains the negative effects of caffeine on sleep:

Tea in small amounts of less than 3 to 4 cups per day is good.

Various herbal teas are also very weak.

And if you mix up the types of herbal teas you drink during the day, it won’t have any adverse effects, or cause health problems if you drink more than 3 to 4 cups.

The main tea that 3 to 4 cups of Caffeinated drinks apply to is tea made from the camellia Sinensis plant.

This includes tea such as oolong tea, white tea, green tea, Earl Grey, and English breakfast.

Therefore, the benefits of green tea, white tea, and black tea are virtually identical.

The main difference is how the leaves are prepared. Both green tea and other types of tea have dried leaves.

But, with green tea, the leaves are dried instantly rather than let dry naturally.

There are various different grades of tea made from the camellia Sinensis plant, such as orange pekoe tea.

They are different in quality due to a range of reasons.

I explained what these are in this

It’s common for tea to be consumed with milk.

There is a range of different ways that tea can be prepared with milk.

I explained what they are in this article about what milk tea is called.

Other caffeinated beverages like coffee also contain high amounts of caffeine and have caffeine side effects.

The caffeine content in 2 cups of coffee is equal to 4 cups of tea.

And 1 cup of coffee contains roughly 2 times the caffeine that a cup of tea has.

But, as part of a healthy lifestyle, both coffee and tea are perfectly fine and in fact beneficial provided you keep below 3 to 4 cups of tea per day.

The number of tea children should consume is much less than for adults, and young adults.

In general, they aim to consume less than 1 cup of tea that contains caffeine.

However, herbal teas are generally fine provided the same type of herbal tea isn’t consumed a lot every single day.

If you like to drink a lot of herbal tea every day, or on a regular basis it’s best to mix up the type of herbal tea you drink.

Interestingly, some herbal teas have unique health benefits.

For example, raspberry leaf tea is known to be good for pregnancy.

I took a deep dive into the research behind raspberry leaf tea, and explained how it affects pregnancy and giving birth in this article about when to drink raspberry leaf tea.

A moderate amount of tea (a popular beverage) won’t provide you with high levels of caffeine which causes cardiovascular disease.

The same rule applies and more than 3 to 4 cups of green tea are not recommended.

Hot tea is great on a cold day and has positive effects on your well-being.

The nutrients in tea can also improve your immune system.

How Many Cups of Tea Does the Average Person Drink a Day?

How Many Cups of Tea Does the Average Person Drink a Day

Tea can make up part of a healthy diet, but if you’re a serious tea lover, you may have noticed that a lot of tea isn’t always a good thing and can leave you feeling jittery so you wondered how much tea is too much in a day.

However, it can affect people in different ways depending on their level of caffeine tolerance.

I wanted to know how many cups of tea is normal for people to drink, and here’s what I found.

On average, a person drinks 2 cups of tea a day according to a study done in 2019.

In the largest group of survey respondents, 25% said they consume 2 cups of tea per day.

But, other responses such as 1 cup per day and 5 cups a day were quite close and in the range of about 10% of respondents.

 

In general, it’s very much across the board how many cups of tea people drink per day.

For example, 10% of people drink 5 cups, and 10% of people drink 1 cup.

But, 2 cups was quite a bit more common and 1 in 4 people drink 2 cups of tea per day.

Tea is reported to contain a good amount of the B vitamin folic acid.

But, to get anywhere close to the RDI you would need to consume tea in amounts that would otherwise not be worth it.

This is because of the other negative effects of consuming so much tea.

Is It OK to Drink Tea All Day?

Is It OK to Drink Tea All Day

Tea is one of the best drinks, and having a cup every few hours or so is a really nice break, especially in between meals.

But, can too much tea be bad for you, and is too much tea bad?

As a general rule, it’s not OK to drink tea all day.

According to medical professionals, you should limit your tea consumption to 3 to 4 cups of tea per day.

This applies to tea that contains caffeine, and herbal tea.

In general, fruit juices, soft drinks, and energy drinks can be good.

But, as you may know, soft drinks and energy drinks have high sugar content and drinking a can or more can put you over the recommended daily intake (RDI) of sugar

And soda is generally not considered the most healthy drink.

Consuming more soft drinks than the RDI of sugar can be bad and negative side effects on heart health and can cause heart disease and cardiovascular disease.

In the short term it can also increase your heart rate, and over the long term can lead to high blood pressure and heart attack.

Whereas, tea can lower the risk of developing heart disease, coronary artery disease, cardiovascular disease, and cancer because it contains free radicals.

Energy drinks and sugary drinks also can contribute to making weight loss more difficult, and cause spikes in blood sugar levels, which can be very uncomfortable.

The good news is that diet soda contains virtually zero sugar and calories.

And don’t contribute at all to negative weight gain.

How Many Cups of Tea Does a British Person Drink a Day?

How Many Cups of Tea Does a British Person Drink a Day

Britain and the UK have a strong tea history and culture. Many people drink tea almost as much as they drink water.

You might have wondered if British people think is it bad to drink too much tea.

So, here are the statistics on how much tea British people drink per day.

On average, a British person drinks 1.4 cups of tea per day according to data provided by Statista.

The results of a survey they conducted found that an average British person drinks 10 cups of tea per week.

Calculating it per day equals 1.4 cups on average or 1 to 2 cups per day.

In the survey, they showed that an average British person consumes 20g of tea per week. 1 tea bag OR the amount of loose tea required to make a cup of tea is about 2 g.

This is about 10 bags of tea.

Provided you drink moderate amounts of tea there isn’t an issue with drinking it every day.