Tea or Coffee? Choosing Between These Wellness Drinks
Coffee and tea offer benefits. Should you choose depending on your health risks?
By Mark S Gold
Published by Psychology Today on December 3, 2025
Key points
• Those who drink tea tend to have a lower death rate than those who don’t, and more illness-free years.
• Coffee drinkers have lower rates of death, diabetes, liver problems, Parkinson’s Disease, and some cancers.
• There are different health benefits for tea and coffee drinkers; consider drinking both to improve your odds.
Coffee and tea are among the most consumed beverages worldwide. Two-thirds of American adults drink coffee daily, says the National Coffee Association’s 2025 survey, up 7 percent from 2020. In contrast, the Tea Association indicates that just under half the population drinks tea. (Some drink both beverages.) Tea attracts a younger, health-oriented crowd to new-age teahouses, a social setting akin to bars and coffeehouses.
