Not all tea-drinking habits were associated with the same health benefits. Researchers found that tea type, strength, and temperature were linked to notable differences in vascular disease risk.
People who regularly drank tea had a lower risk of diseases affecting the heart and blood vessels in a large study in China. However, the pattern varied with the type, strength, and temperature of the tea, with “burning hot” tea associated with elevated risk.
The study, published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, followed 485,934 adults for a median of 9.05 years. Researchers recorded 14,863 cases of cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, pulmonary heart disease, and peripheral artery disease. These conditions involve the heart and circulation, including blood vessels in the brain, heart problems related to lung disease, and reduced blood flow through arteries supplying the limbs. Regular tea consumption was associated with an 11% lower risk of these outcomes compared with not drinking tea.
Tea drinking was also considered alongside smoking and physical activity, providing context for how it fit into a broader pattern of habits.
“Joint analyses showed that tea consumption, smoking status, and physical were collectively associated with vascular risk, with the favorable combination of habitual tea consumption, non-current smoking and high physical activity associated with the lowest risk,” the authors wrote.
Tea type, strength, and temperature matter
Among weekly tea drinkers, the lowest risk was estimated at approximately 6 to 8 cups per day. Black tea showed more consistent associations with lower vascular disease risk than green tea, while moderate-strength tea was associated with the lowest risk. These findings describe associations, rather than establishing that a particular amount or preparation of tea prevents disease.
The elevated risk associated with “burning hot” tea contrasts with the lower risk linked to regular tea consumption overall. Temperature therefore matters when interpreting the findings, but the reported results do not explain why very hot tea was associated with higher risk or establish that heat itself caused the increase.
Reference: “Habitual tea consumption is associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk” by Zichen Ye, Yawen Wang, Yimin Qu, Manman Chen, Jinming Fan, He Zhu, Keyu Han, Yuankai Zhao, Jiahui Wang, Qu Lu, Dianjianyi Sun, Canqing Yu, Jun Lv, Yu Guo, Yu Jiang, Liming Li and , 21 October 2026, Journal of Internal Medicine.
DOI: 10.1111/joim.70172
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