Are you more of coffee or tea drinker? It’s not too difficult to guess which one I prefer considering what Essential Brew offers. I’ll choose tea over coffee anytime.

To put the debate into perspective, here’s an interesting article on the benefits of drinking tea vs coffee (The Coffee vs. Tea Smackdown). Seems like both tea and coffee drinkers derive health benefits from their daily fix of caffeine but tea wins overall(score: 7 vs 3). Of course we cannot avoid the fact that having too much caffeine can be bad for you too (Caffeine Overuse), but I don’t really drink that much to the point of dependency and addiction so I should be quite safe. =) Historically, tea has also been drunk as a medicinal beverage so while I’m getting my daily dosage of caffeine, I might as well get the maximum benefits out of it.

By having my cup of tea, I’m also sharing the passion with billions of other people around the world as tea is the second most popular beverage in the world. Guess which is the most popular beverage?(click to find out but no prizes for guessing correctly =P) Almost everywhere around the world be it England, India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan etc have their local versions of tea being enjoyed daily and its prevalence round the world is no doubt partly due to its long history. According to Chinese legend, Emperor Shen Nung who was known as a scholar and botanist, discovered tea in 2737 B.C. when some tea leaves fell into his boiling water. Comparatively, coffee has a much shorter history dating back to around 800 A.D.

The culture of tea preparation makes it perfect for a relaxed get together with friends or family. Avid tea enthusiast do not solely enjoy the taste of the beverage but also enjoy the process of brewing tea. Personally, I find the process of the chinese tea ceremony therapeutic, as it forces one to slow down the pace and relaxes one’s mind. Time just seems to pass by more slowly and melt away all my stress when I have a good chat with friends while brewing a pot of good tea. In contrast, brewing coffee is a much less elaborate and more straight forward process.

Yeah, I might seem a bit bias choosing tea over coffee, but no doubt with the above in mind, tea is a more appealing beverage to me as compared to coffee(although i still have the occasional round of coffee). Over at Essential Brew, we’ve made the process of enjoying a good pot of tea a much simpler and easier process for those people who are intimidated by the intricacies of a traditional chinese tea ceremony. So what’s stopping you from being a tea convert given its innate attractiveness?