Are there health benefits to drinking black tea?
There are many health benefits to drinking black tea - and people have been drinking black tea for thousands of years without any ill-effect. With modern science now catching up, there are some interesting findings to verify the benefits of this ancient plant medicine.
Is black tea good for you?
We are not doctors. We would never intentionally engage in health-washing - so prevalent across the tea and wellness industry. But there are decent, peer-reviewed research papers available on the health benefits of drinking tea.
- Clinical research has found consistent associations between regular black tea consumption and improved vascular function, with evidence of modest blood pressure reductions and support for a healthy gut microbiome.
- A large UK Biobank study following 500,000 participants over eleven years found that drinking two or more cups of black tea daily was associated with 9-13% lower all-cause mortality, with the benefit holding regardless of whether milk or sugar was added. It is observational data, and we caveat accordingly.
- Much of this research has been conducted using industrial teas, rather than the finest hand-crafted leaves. It is reasonable to assume that tea grown under organic farming principles, without industrial chemicals, harvested and crafted with extreme care by skilled individuals and carefully packed and stored for freshness - might have even greater health benefits than tea churned out by industrial farming and processing.
- While green and white tea have the highest catechin levels, the levels of catechins and beneficial amino acids in a hand-crafted black tea may well be far higher than that of a machine processed green or white tea. The way the plant is grown and how it is crafted are essential to the health-giving properties we receive from the leaves.
- We only buy black teas that have been grown using organic farming methods without harmful chemicals.
- And all our teas are loose leaf so there is no contamination from industrial chemicals or plastics from teabags.
What are theaflavins and thearubigins?
The compounds of most interest in black teas are theaflavins and thearubigins - the polyphenols produced during oxidation from the catechins abundant in tea.
What else does black tea contain?
Black tea contains flavonoids, L-theanine, and caffeine.
And flavour!
Most importantly, drinking black tea is a delight - it is extraordinary, delicious, and will flood your life with pleasure.
→ Sources
National Cancer Institute (2022); Yilmaz et al. (2025), International Journal of Food Science, Wiley/PMC; Cochrane systematic review on black and green tea and blood pressure.
https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/press-releases/2022/health-benefits-black-tea
National Cancer Institute press release covering a UK Biobank study (500,000 participants, 11-year follow-up, Annals of Internal Medicine) - two or more cups of black tea daily associated with 9-13% lower all-cause mortality and reduced cardiovascular / ischaemic / stroke mortality. Benefit held regardless of milk, sugar, or caffeine-metabolism genetics.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7433290
Cochrane Database systematic review on long-term black and green tea consumption and small reductions in systolic + diastolic blood pressure.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0103247
Effect of black tea on blood pressure - systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
