Coffee or tea?

COFFEE 

Coffee seems to be the most popular and common beverages that enjoys by everyone. The aroma attracted almost everyone to have a cup of coffee every day in the morning. Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted coffee bean. The coffee contains 40 volatile compounds that gives to the coffee  aroma ^{[1] [2]}. The aroma results on the feeling of alertness, trigger emotions and evoke memories ^{[3] [4]}.

However, further research is needed on this area.  While, caffeine is one of the compound found in the coffee that stimulate the central nervous system (CNS) and positive effect of long memory. A cup of coffee contains an approximately of 75 – 100mg of caffeine. Limit the intake of caffeine per day up to 400mg (around 4 cups of coffee) is recommended. It is not suitable for pregnant mother to have more than 200mg of caffeine per day ^{[5] [6] [7]}. There is still a few beneficial effects of caffeine in the diet including improved alertness and well-being, help in concentration, improve mood and limit depression. But, some will get disturb in their sleeping pattern or rise the anxiety of individuals who are sensitive to caffeine sensitive to caffeine ^{[8] [15]}.

Excessive amount of caffeine will lead to nutrients depletion including vitamin B6 and interfere the absorption of essential minerals (calcium, iron and magnesium) ^[9]. Lifelong caffeine might prevent the decrease in cognitive level and reduce the risk of stroke and type 2 diabetes as well as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. The coffee and caffeine intake can be part of healthy balance diet even for elderly people as long as it is in the moderate consumption ^[8]. 

TEA

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring the hot and boiled water over the cured leaves of Camellia sinensis. The common types of tea including the black tea and green tea. It contains bioactive polyphenolic compounds that provide a lot of nutritional values for human health and reduce the risk of cancer. Tea has the anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-carcinogenic, anti- hypertensive, neuroprotective and cholesterol-lowering properties that might help in heart diseases, cancer, diabetes and obesity ^{[10] [11]}.

Moderate consumption of tea is beneficial to health, however, it is recommended to take two cup per day. Exceeding 3 – 4 cups (710ml – 950ml) per day would have negative side effects to our body health ^[12]. For instance, the compound – tannins found in the tea could reduce the absorption of iron in your digestion tract. Other complications including increase in anxiety, nausea, dizziness and caffeine dependence ^[13]. 
So, coffee or tea?

Both coffee and tea are the two healthiest beverages, second only to the water as reported by The Beverage Guidance Panel ^[14]. Both are not harmful if the consumption is in moderation. However, overconsumption could lead to side effect and even caffeine dependence if too much of coffee. Thus, it is recommended to have the tea more than coffee as tea has more beneficial effect than the coffee. 

References 

1. Belitz H.-D. Grosch W. Schieberle P. (Eds.) 

‘Aroma Substances’ in Food Chemistry 4^thRevised and extended Edition, Springer, Berlin 2009, pp. 955-956.

2. Ochiai N. et al. (2014) Multi-volatile method for aroma analysis using sequential dynamic headspace sampling with an application to brewed coffee. J Chromatogr, 1371: 65-73. 3. Delwiche J. (2004). The impact of perceptual interactions on perceived flavour. Food Quality and Preference, 15:137–146. 4. Herz & Cupchik (1992). An experimental characterization of odour-evoked memories in humans. Chemical Senses, 17(5):519-528. 5. De Mejia E.G and Ramirez-Mares M.V (2014) 

Impact of caffeine and coffee on our health. Trends Endocrinol Metab, 25(10):489-92. 6. Noguchi K. et al (2015) Effect of caffeine contained in a cup of coffee on microvascular function in healthy subjects. J Pharmacol Sci, 127(2):217-22. 7. EFSA (2015) Scientific Opinion on the Safety of Caffeine. EFSA Journal, 13(5):4102. 8. Nehlig, A., 2016. Effects of coffee/caffeine on brain health and disease: What should i tell my patients? Practical Neurology, 16(2), 89-95. 9. Wolde, T, (2014). Effects on caffeine on health and nutrition: A review. Journal of Food Science and Quality Management, 30. 10. Hayat, K., Iqbal, H., Malik, U., Bilal, U., & Mushtaq, S., (2015). Tea and its consumption: Benefits and risks. Journal of Critical Review in Food Science and Nutrition, 55(7), 939-954. 11. Jatin, A., Manghani, C., Kohli, S., Nigam, D., Rani, V., (2013). Tea and human health: The dark shadows. Toxicology Letter, 220(1), 82-87. 12. Healthline, (2019). Side effects of tea: 9 reasons not to drink too much. Available online: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/side-effects- of-tea#The-bottom-line [Accessed 11 May 2020] 13. Delimont, N.M., Haub, M.D., Lindshield, B.L., (2107). The impact of tannin consumption on iron bioavailability and status: A narrative review. Curr Dev Nutr, 1(2), 1-12. 14. NutritionFacts.org (2019). Coffee. Available online: https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/coffee/ [Accessed 11 May 2020]. 15. NutritionFacts.org (2019). Caffeine. Available online: https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/caffeine/ [Accessed 11 May 2020].