Coffee Vs Tea Vs Ayurveda

Social media is clearly divided into two kinds of individuals giving health & nutrition advice. The ones that give deliver information based on scientific evidence or research, or with common sense correlation & logic.

The other ones are the pseudoscience group. For whom, words like research, evidence or logic, simply don’t exist. And a breed of such people in India, often support their logic-less claims, within the name of Ayurveda. They in-turn disrespect an ancient and deep science like Ayurveda.

Of the numerous, considered one of the recent claims is that using coffee/tea is prohibited in Ayurveda.

Let’s understand the fact behind this myth.

Acc. to the Govt. of India, National Health Portalthe origin of Ayurveda goes back to Lord Brahma. Rig Veda, the oldest Veda, has mentions of diseases & medicinal plants. But most material related to health & diseases is given within the Atharva Veda.

However, the earliest codified document on Ayurveda is Charaka Samhita, written by Acharya Charaka, which talks about internal medicine. Another one is Sushruta Samhita, written by Acharya Sushruta, which is dominated by surgical procedures and techniques.

With this information, there is no such thing as a known date of origin or Ayurveda. But Charak Samhita dates back to 1^st Century AD.

Now let’s shift our focus to origin of coffee in India. The coffee plant shouldn’t be a native Indian plant. Coffee is alleged to have originated in Ethiopia. But it made its approach to Yemen, sometime within the 15^th century, and slowly to the whole world.

However, in terms of introduction of coffee in India, the credit goes to a Sufi Saint named ‘Baba Budan’. After his pilgrimage to Mecca within the 16^th century, when Baba Budan was able to board his return ship to India, from the port of Mocha, he was offered a black & sweet liquid, which he found to be immediately refreshing and invigorating.

But coffee beans were prized possession back then, and stealing them, was punishable by death. However, Baba Budan, rigorously smuggled seven coffee beans, by strapping them to his chest, and planted them in Chikmagalur, Karnataka, which can also be called the birthplace of coffee Indian coffee.

On the opposite hand, caffeine present in coffee, was discovered much later in 1819, by a physician called Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge who isolated and purified the white crystalline substance.

Moving on to Tea. The credit for creating India’s vast tea empire goes to the Britishwho discovered tea in India. The East India Company after losing its monopoly in China in 1832 has taken up cultivation of Tea in India (Assam) in 1834. The first industrial batch of Tea ever produced in India, got here from Assam in 1839.

So, if Ayurveda is over 2200 years old;

Coffee got here to India app. 600 years ago, but became widely known much later;

Tea is even recent, with a history of app. 180 years in India;

With these timelines, can anyone tell me, when did coffee & tea became prohibited in Ayurveda. Acc. to which ancient Ayurvedic text or Vedas, coffee & tea are harmful ??

The answer is, None!! Ayurveda has no mention of tea or coffee anywhere in any of its earliest texts.

But in case you read the logic given on various web sites related to Ayurveda online, you will see that all of them giving different, but mostly self-made reasons to place down these beverages.

Acc. to different web sites:

• Ayurveda recommends not greater than 1 cup of coffee/day.
• Ayurveda recommends caffeine-free, herb-and-spice blends
• People with excess Pitta or Vata of their constitutions ought to be cautious and possibly avoid coffee.
• According to Ayurveda, coffee depletes the body of significant energy.

And, there are tons of such logic-less and baseless recommendations, within the name of Ayurveda. Then there are web sites selling you Ayurvedic coffee, as an healthier alternative to traditional coffee.

You will find similar recommendations pertaining to tea also, specially black-milk tea, which Indians relish. But, you furthermore may have firms selling you healthier alternative in type of Vata tea, Pitta tea, and Kapha tea, or other types of herbal tea.

In reality, in terms of tea & coffee, they’re among the healthiest beverages in existence. Thousands of studies have shown, that consumption of three to 4 standard cups of coffee day by day has been consistently related to a reduced risk of several chronic diseases, including cancers, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, liver diseases, psychological disorders etc.

When it involves coffee intake limit, for healthy adults, the FDA has cited 400 milligrams a day—that’s about 4 or five cups of coffee—as an amount not generally related to dangerous, negative effects. However, there’s wide variation in each how sensitive individuals are to the results of caffeine and how briskly they metabolize it (break it down).

Just for reference:

• 1 cup of brewed coffee accommodates about 95mg caffeine.
• The same amount of easy coffee accommodates about 60mg caffeine.
• 1 shot espresso accommodates about 65mg caffeine.
• 1 cup of black tea accommodates about 47mg caffeine.
• Green tea accommodates about 28mg.

So, in case you are having 1-2 cups of tea or coffee, you might be well inside the healthy limits, and relish your regular tea & coffee, with none worries in anyway. You can have it in any way you want, be it black or with milk.

The only concern could also be excess sugar. But, in case you are adding 1-2 teaspoon of sugar in your beverages, there’s again no issues in any respect, be it when it comes to overall calories or health advantages.

Tea/coffee are virtually calorie free beverages. If you add 1 teaspoon of sugar, it’s just 16-20 calories. If you add half milk and half tea, it may possibly add app. 40-80 calories more, depending on the form of milk used.

Which means normally, 2 cups of milk tea with little sugar, provides you with not greater than, 100-160 calories.

The same may be said for coffee too.

On the opposite hand, just like all other food or beverage on the earth, few people could also be sensitive to tea or coffee, and may have acidity issues, or another health problem. But, that is a person issue, not the issue of the beverages as such.

Therefore, coffee & tea in moderate amounts will not be just absolutely protected, but excellent on your overall health & psychological wellbeing, and no Ayurvedic text has never given anything against the conventional use of tea & coffee in your day by day life.