The morning cup, an afternoon break, something warm after dinner. For many people, that quiet habit has been part of daily life for years.
A large study in China has now linked regular tea drinking to a lower risk of heart and blood vessel disease.
The results were published October 21, 2026 in the Journal of Internal Medicine.
Researchers followed 485,934 adults for a median of about nine years. During that time, 14,863 participants developed heart or blood vessel disease.
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People who drank tea at least once a week had an 11% lower risk of vascular disease than people who did not drink tea at all.
Black tea stood out more than green
The team, led by Zichen Ye at Peking Union Medical College, found the lowest estimated risk among people drinking roughly six to eight cups a day.
Black tea showed more consistent links to a lower risk than green tea.
The reason is not clear. The two teas are processed differently and contain somewhat different plant compounds.
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The surprising catch is in the temperature
The protective pattern did not hold for every cup. People who said they drank their tea "burning hot" had a 16% higher risk of vascular disease than those who did not.
The study could not say why. Very hot drinks have been tied in earlier research to irritation of the esophagus and other tissues.
The finding echoes earlier work suggesting that how you drink your daily tea may decide whether it helps or hurts your heart.
What the number actually means
An 11% lower risk sounds impressive, but it is a relative figure. In absolute terms, about 3 in 100 participants developed vascular disease over nine years.
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An 11% cut on a baseline that size shifts the real-world count only modestly.
The study is also observational. It can show that tea drinkers tended to have fewer heart events, but it cannot prove tea itself was the reason.
Tea drinkers may differ from non-drinkers in diet, income, physical activity or other habits the researchers could only partly adjust for.
Dell Stanford, Senior Dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, told the Science Media Centre that the six to eight cups figure should not be read as a recommended intake.
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No single food or drink will transform heart health on its own, she added.
When tea fits into a wider pattern
The strongest result in the paper was not from tea alone.
Combining regular tea drinking with not smoking and high physical activity was tied to roughly a 45% lower risk of vascular disease than the least favorable combination.
If you already have a cup or two a day, there is little reason to change anything.
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Letting the tea cool for a minute before drinking it is a simple adjustment the study supports.
Not smoking and staying active were the biggest levers in this analysis.
This article is made and published by Ida-Marie Palm Varbæk, who may have used AI in the preparation.