Need Some Caffeine? – Coffee or Tea

Photo by Yanapi Senaud on Unsplash

I don’t know if you have stared at your cup of coffee or tea and wondered “hmmm does coffee or tea have more caffeine?”. Or maybe I was just in a pensive mood. I would consider myself a Teh(tea)-Connoisseur. Love me a good cup of teh in the mornings. But apparently having too much coffee or tea is not good for you, as having high levels of caffeine intake can have adverse effects on our bodies. So how much is too much really?

So here’s are fun facts that I found out about coffee and tea:

1. Tea leaves have more caffeine than coffee beans.
2. Brewed coffee has more caffeine than tea leaves.

Huh? Yea I know right. So apparently, more caffeine is extracted from coffee beans as compared to tea leaves. That’s why tea is clearer than coffee, even black tea.

A cup of coffee contains about 95 – 200 mg of caffeine, while black tea only has about 14 – 70mg of caffeine.

I know many of you depend on caffeine to keep you awake on Monday mornings, some, every morning. But what happens when you become too reliant on caffeine? In other words, addicted to caffeine. I’ve heard of people getting irritable, some get headaches and are in a depressed mood for the rest of the day, if they have yet to have their dose of caffeine. The recommended caffeine intake per day would be about 400 – 500 mg, so if you have more than that you might not be able to have a good grip of your pens or hopping off your seats!

When I talk about coffee or tea, I prefer using the terms ‘kopi’ and ‘teh’ instead. And with that being said, yes, I’m talking about the kopi and teh from coffeeshops and hawkers, not the over-priced coffee from the mermaid-with-a-star-crown coffeeshop. Okay, now that I’ve offended some people, and they have gone, let’s get down to business.

What’s your favourite order? Mine would be Teh-gao. And if I’m being honest, I never knew coffee and tea had that many combinations of orders:

Let’s start with the basics:

Teh- Tea

Kopi- Coffee

‘O’- no milk, just sugar

‘C’- evaporated milk + sugar

Kosong- no sugar, no milk

Intermediate:

Po- “thinner” more water added.

Gau- “thicker” stronger tastes of coffee or tea

Siew dai- less sugar

Gah dai- more condensed milk

The Kopi Specialist:

Di Lo- extra thick

Sua- 2 cups of the same order LOL

Gu you- Butter (slice of butter added on top of your coffee)

There are probably many more variations that I have yet to discover, but here’s a good list. If you haven’t tried kopi gu you… it’s amazing. It makes the coffee so much smoother! If you want to bring your kopi or teh experience to the next level, order some cakes like the Gula Melaka cake from www.foodline.sg! Come’ on that’s an unbeatable duo.