Milk tea is considered a staple in countries like India, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Cambodia, even now it is worldwide popular as a favorite beverage. But milk tea can be extremely bad for you. Below is the detailed information, why milk tea is harmful for our health.

These days tea is world’s most second popular beverage after the coffee. People love to have tea in the morning. Oh, no! not only in the morning, from home to office, at airport, when someone is meeting to someone for business deals, if someone is happy, then he drinks more tea, even when someone is feeling low, then he/she drinks tea. People have so many excuses to drink tea all the time.

I was one of them until 21 days ago by the time of writing the article(Date: December 18, 2021 Saturday) There was a time around 7 years ago, when I used to drink 5 cups of masala chai each day and then I started to reduce due to it’s side effects, but it took a long time to Quit my Morning tea around 4 years ago.

The good news is that now I’m 100% free from Caffeine and no tea anymore for whole life. I quit my 100% masala chai forever. When it will be one month after quitting my tea, then I will Publish an article on this topic, so waiting to complete one month.

I used to have so many side effects of this masala chai(means black tea made with spices and milk) and I was also badly addicted to this drink, so finally I quit it altogether.

Drinking tea, especially milk based tea is not good for health, this is due to the presence of tannins, which irritates the digestive tissue and leads to bloating, discomfort, stomach ache. The choice of tea varies from person to person

What is Black Tea

Black tea is made from the leaves of a Bush, which called Camellia sinensis. The process called Oxidation that turns the leaves from Green to a dark brownish-black color. Oxidation means the leaves are exposed to moist, oxygen-rich air.  

Black tea is a fully oxidized tea. Green tea comes from the same plant, but is not oxidized. Oxidation occurs when the leaves remain exposed to the air for a long time. Enzymes break down the chemicals in the leaves, producing their brown coloring and familiar smell. The method of black tea production makes it different from the other varieties of tea such as green tea and oolong tea.

Little More about Black Tea

Black tea is made from the leaves of a Bush, which called Camellia sinensis. The process called Oxidation that turns the leaves from Green to a dark brownish-black color.

Oxidation means the leaves are exposed to moist, oxygen-rich air.  Black tea is a fully oxidized tea. Green tea comes from the same plant, but is not oxidized. Oxidation occurs when the leaves remain exposed to the air for a long time.

Enzymes break down the chemicals in the leaves, producing their brown coloring and familiar smell. The method of black tea production makes it different from the other varieties of tea such as green tea and oolong tea.

Black tea, as other species of teas, has many health benefits. Fermentation is a significant process for the health benefits of black tea. Thus black tea can protect our bones, promote digestion, as well as help to lose weight.

All we know that there are different varieties of tea available in the market these days and they all come from the same plant,

Camellia Sinensis

The difference in the different varieties of tea is all in the process, the leaves go through after being plucked. White teas are plucked and dried, Green teas are steamed and then dried, Oolongs are lightly roasted and then dried, Black teas are roasted and then dried.

The different ways in which the plant is harvested and processed, produce different type of tea, and black Tea being one, among them.

Black Tea is also often blended with other plants such as English Breakfast and Earl Grey giving it a diverse flavor and aroma. It is also known for its caffeine content as it contains more caffeine than its counterparts such as green or white tea.

However, the caffeine content in Black Tea is far less as compared to coffee.

Side Effects of Milk Tea

The most popular varieties are green, black, and oolong — all of which are made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plan. Here are some possible side effects of drinking too much milk tea. adding milk to your particular cup of tea vanishes all its benefits.

1. Nausea: Drinking a lot of tea, especially 👉milk based tea( Which I used to drink for decades) can make you feel nauseated, this is due to the presence of tannins, which irritates the digestive tissue and leads to bloating, discomfort and even stomach ache.
2. Insomnia Due to More Caffeine: Like in coffee, tea, specifically black tea, which is what is used to brew milk tea is rich in caffeine. When your body is overloaded with caffeine, especially in the second half of the day, it can cause sleep disorders like insomnia. While small quantities will not do this, drinking an excess of more than two cups a day can cause major sleep issues. This is one of the most common side effects of tea with milk and sugar
3. Reduced iron absorption: Tannins found in tea can bind to iron in plant-based foods, reducing the amount that you’re able to absorb in your digestive tract. If you have low iron, reduce your tea or at least drink tea between meals not with the meals
4. Increase Anxiety & Restlessness: Tea leaves contain caffeine. Overconsuming caffeine from tea, or any other source, increase feelings of anxiety, stress, and restlessness. This I have seen through my own experience. Not only this tea also increase shortness of breath, which I faced and by decreasing my tea, my shortness of breath became okay. Black tea tend to contain more caffeine than Green tea and white varieties, and the longer you steep your tea, the higher its caffeine content. So don’t steep, 👉use this Recipe to make your tea. Milk tea can also disrupt your mental health as it increases tension, anxiety and restlessness. Drinking more than a cup of tea per day may cause anxiety and restlessness. If you notice these symptoms, reduce your tea intake or try substituting with caffeine-free herbal teas; such as mint tea, Chamomile tea etc. You can prepare your herbal tea, from fresh herbs or buy herbal bag tea
5. Low nutrient-absorption: Increased intake of caffeine can damage your digestion and reduce the absorption of nutrition. Tea has a component called tannin, which hampers the absorption of iron from the food we eat! This is why despite of eating so much healthy food, we don’t get health benefits, because black tea with milk(masala chai) reduce the absorption of Nutrition. Mohan Gupta Ji Naturopath give one example about the Side effects of Tea; he says, You have two litters of milk and if you put only one spoon of black tea in it and boil it, no nutrition will left behind. Means now you can not make Yogurt from this milk, boiled with tea or nor you can not make butter from it, because it ate all Neutrinos of this boiled milk(with tea) Same way no matter how healthy food we’re eating, fruits, salads, juices and dry fruits? He says even one cup of tea will eat nutrition that we get from that healthy food. So make strong determination to quit your tea 100% from today.
6. Increase restlessness: When people feel stress, due to any reason whether stress from the work or stress from family matters, they grab a cup of tea to relieve the stress and take a break. But did you know that this habit can actually aggravate the stress and anxiety you go through. Yes, I knows through my own experience, because when I used to feel stress due to any reason, I used to make a cup of masala chai, basically which used to make me more stressed and restless. You know why it happen? because too much caffeine consumption can lead to be the cause of restlessness. And the best way to deal with such symptoms is just by reducing tea intake and replacing regular tea with the health variants like chamomile, white tea or green tea.
7. Causes Acid Reflux & Heart Burn: A cup of tea often makes you uneasy and uncomfortable, especially in empty stomach! This is simply because the presence of caffeine in tea aggravates the acid formation in the stomach leading to heartburn and bloating. Moreover, it also causes acid reflux in the body. Since I quit my 100% Tea, my bloating and gas is decreased a lot, still the body is making adjustments, because today it is only 21 days, since I left the tea forever.
8. Headaches or Migraine: You must have been going for a cup of tea with the hope that it will give you relief from headaches. Unfortunately, tea is the cause of your headache. Tea or any source of caffeine increases your dependency on (caffeine) but at the same time it also leads to many side effects and headaches. Sometimes severe headaches; such as migraine.
9. Possibilities of Miscarriage: When you’re pregnant, however, relaxing your muscles too much or having too many detoxifying elements in the body or irregular blood flow can lead to miscarriages – this is why pregnant women are asked to monitor their tea intake very carefully.
10. Milk Tea Causes you to Bloat: Consuming too much milk tea can cause bloating. The caffeine in tea causes your stomach bloat. Adding milk to tea can several health hazards because milk and caffeine both work to increase gas production. Drinking milk-based tea can make you feel squeamish, because of the tannins (present in the tea), which disturbs the digestive tissue and leads to stomach ache and discomfort.
11. Constipation: A chemical Theophylline in milk tea, can make you dehydrated, which can also cause excessive constipation.  Theophylline causes extreme dryness in your body. Infants, children and toddlers seem especially at risk, probably due to a sensitivity to the proteids found in cow’s milk.
12. Cause Acne and Pimples: Milk tea can cause acne and pimples. Excessive intake of milk tea can cause an imbalance in body chemicals and produce extreme heat. This causes pimples and acne on the face.

Black Tea Risks

Drinking black tea in moderate amounts is generally safe for most people.

Drinking large amounts of black tea , more than four or five cups a day, may cause health problems. That’s mostly because of caffeine-related side effects.

Side effects of black tea (most often in high amounts) may include:

1. People who are sensitive to caffeine, could experience insomnia, anxiety, irritability, or an upset stomach when consuming tea in large quantities. I know with my own experience, when I used to drink 4-5 cups of tea in the day, I used to feel so hot and my mouth used to be sour
2. Black tea contains tannins. One 2017 review found that tannin-rich foods, such as tea, may be a good source of antioxidants, but that they can also reduce the body’s ability to absorb iron, so people with the history of iron deficiency should avoid consuming tea, when they are eating an iron-rich meal.
3. Anxiety and difficulty sleeping
4. Faster breathing
5. Drinking large amounts of tea, cause of Headache
6. Irregular heartbeat
7. Nausea and vomiting, which I used to feel a lot and even I had to eat ayurvedic medicine. But now I eliminate 100% milk tea( No Caffeine anymore) and 3 years ago, I quit my morning tea, Read Story here, since then my nausea and vomiting is okay.
8. Nervousness and restlessness– tea due to caffeine increase nervousness and restlessness.

Question Answers About Becoming Free From Caffeine

Question 1: What was Impact on my health of this Masala Chai?

Answer 1: I used to feel nausea, migraine, restless, Constipation and after drinking it right away, mouth taste used to become sour and sometimes bitter as well.

Question 2: How to Kick the Caffeine Habit?

Answer 2: Do Yoga, Meditation(I do Vipassana Meditation) Green Juice, More Fruits, More Salads, Walk, More hours Sleep & Rest. You can drink Kada(herbal tea) made from Saunf, Elachi, Basil, Mint, Ginger, Cinnamon, Cloves etc.

Question 3: How I Quit my 100% Tea?

Answer 3: Now I drink Kada made from fresh herbs 3 times a day. I sleep more and do more rest as well. Especially in the beginning first 2-3 day, I slept a lot and did less work.

Question 4: Do I see any health improvement after Quitting 100% Caffeine?

Question 4: Today only 21 days after quitting my 100% tea, I see tremendous benefits in my health; such as- Constipation is gone from day one, I feel more happy and confident, my weight is losing because I don’t eat any Cookies, which I used to eat with tea. In the long rung I will see many more benefits.

Conclusion abut Milk Tea

According to one Research, adding milk to tea changes the biological activity of the elements (present in the tea) and destroys it’s positive effects. The study suggests that it is beneficial to drink black tea so that you get all the benefits of tea.