The 4 Best Exciting Teas To Try If You're A Coffee Drinker

Calling all coffee drinkers! Are you ready to take a break from your daily cup of joe and start trying something delightfully new?

Coffee is something so many caffeine lovers believe they can’t live without having every morning - to kick off the day with energy, vibrancy, ritual, and that sweetly bitter flavor so many people enjoy on their way to work.

Unfortunately, that “pick me up” caffeine boost we receive from coffee also delivers a jittery “coffee crash,” leaving some of us scrambling like a zombie in need of a new boost. Luckily, there is an amazing alternative beverage to coffee that can also provide extra benefits and a wide variety of flavors to choose from tea.

Tea is a unique drink with so many flavor options that is rich in important chemical compounds and nutrients, contains unique super-food benefits such as promoting digestion, heart health, and enhanced exercise performance and provides a slow-burning, long-lasting energy boost without the coffee crash.

One cup of coffee contains around 80 to 100 mg of caffeine, and, in contrast, one cup of tea usually contains around 30 to 50 mg of caffeine. Tea’s lower caffeine combined with the fact that tea contains L-theanine (a unique antioxidant amino acid that stimulates your brain and releases anti-stress effects) is believed to be the reason why tea provides maintained balanced alertness and focus.

Here at Wise Ape Tea, we may love tea, but of course, we also really enjoy a good cup of coffee. So, there is no coffee bean hate here – coffee is a healthy and vitally enriched beverage of choice and great for a quick energy boost. We’re not here to compare and push one beverage’s superiority over the other, but to help and guide all those coffee-lovers out there into the world of tea because everyone should be able to experience tea!

Plus, as we mentioned, coffee can stir up some health struggles for some people.

The high acidity of coffee might stir up digestive struggles for you, maybe the extreme caffeine highs followed by the inevitable crashes have gotten too tiresome, or maybe you just want to switch up your daily routine and start including tea in your daily routine. You might even just want to experiment with trying out what it’s like to ditch the beans for leaves.

No matter what your reason is for being a coffee-lover kicking your coffee habit, tea can be an amazing morning pick-me-up alternative. Tea is a soothing yet stimulating beverage that can help you kick your day off right or pick you up during a long day at the desk. But there are so many teas to choose from that it can be hard to know what tea to drink, especially when you are used to drinking rich coffee.

So, today we’re sharing a few tea recommendations for coffee drinkers who want to branch out or kick coffee out the door!

Whether you’re a coffee drinker looking to ditch the “caffeine-crash,” in need of a good alternative to make it easier to quit coffee, or you just want to experiment with leaves, this article is for you. Here are 5 teas that will give you a hit of energy, the rich flavor you’re looking craving in a drink, while also kicking off your journey with tea!

1. Yerba Mate (Chocolate and Mint Yerba Mate Tea)

If you want a coffee substitute without parting with your hit of caffeine and a dark roasty flavor, yerba mate is probably the choice for you!

Yerba mate has around 75 to 85 mg of caffeine per cup. This means it contains slightly less caffeine than coffee but more than most tea herbs. And the great thing about the caffeine energy boost you’ll receive from yerba mate is that it comes without any jittery “coffee caffeine crash” side effect.

Yerba mate has the unique skill of being able to stimulate and soothe at the same time, making for a more balanced caffeine option that still boasts a buzz. Plus, mate is rich in important chemical compounds and nutrients, unique super-food benefits like promoting digestion, heart health, and even enhanced exercise performance. You can learn more about these benefits over on our blog post on: Why You Should Think About Swapping Coffee For Yerba Mate.

Flavor-wise, yerba mate has a strong slightly bitter flavor like the strength of flavor you’d get from a cup of coffee. Yerba mate is usually described as earthy, mildly bitter, with grassy undertones that have been said to create a kind of chocolatey and nutty flavor. Sounds like a pretty yummy replacement for that cup of nutty and smoky coffee, you know and love, right?!

Traditionally, the soaked mate brew was sipped with a metal straw from a gourd. However, most conveniently, today you can easily drink mate in a mug after steeping the leaves of the dried herbs.

Most excitingly, if you’re a fan of flavored coffees, you’ll be happy to know that you can also enjoy yerba mate in fun flavors and blends. Our herbal tea blend Chocolate Hustle is a powerful blend of roasted yerba mate tea with hints of chocolate and mint, combined with adaptogenic super-herbs to support focus, energy, and clarity.

2. Matcha (Powdered Green Tea)

If you want to try something completely different as your “coffee alternative” then matcha fits the bill. Matcha provides a similar energy impact as coffee as opposed to taste, which is unique to strict coffee drinks.

Matcha is a powdered green tea, grown in Japan, and has amazing health capabilities such as metabolic support, detoxification, relaxant, and anti-stress, and is packed with antioxidants including the powerful EGCG (a unique plant compound known for its anti-inflammatory abilities).

A cup of matcha still contains caffeine, around 25 to 30 mg per cup against coffee’s around 60 to 120 mg. So, your caffeine intake would be cut in about half, and there is some evidence that the caffeine in green tea is absorbed slowly, resulting in a calm high, helping you focus and stay alert without caffeine jitters.

Furthermore, although, matcha tastes nothing like coffee, it is delicious on its own or can be used as an add-in in lattes, smoothies, and even baked goods. The flavor is bright, slightly bitter, with notes of sweetness and umami.

3. Flavored Black Teas (Turmeric, Coconut, Pau D'Arco, & Black Tea Blend)

If you love coffee’s strong flavor and its variety of rich flavors, you will probably enjoy black tea. Black teas are dark, rich, and can have many flavors from malty, smoky, to sweet. And, strong black teas are suitable for blending with milk, perfect for those of you who like the richness and creaminess of coffee drinks.

Black tea such as Assam black tea has high levels of caffeine balanced with the calming effect of L-theanine (the unique antioxidant amino acid that stimulates your brain and releases anti-stress effects) and has a deep and malty flavor.

Additionally, black tea provides several health benefits and contains many powerful groups of polyphenols and catechins (or flavonoids) which have been shown to help safeguard against the onset of several chronic disorders.

If you want to try Assam black tea in a revitalizing blend packed with flavor, then we recommend you try out turmeric, coconut, Pau D'Arco, and black tea blend.

Our Coconut Warrior tea blend combines Assam black tea, coconut, and turmeric, with wildcrafted pau d' arco bark to heal your human temple. This legendary elixir is designed to mitigate inflammation and defend your body from the inside out.  Balanced flavors of Assam black tea, turmeric, and cinnamon are complemented by light coconut-vanilla undertones, followed by a kiss of subtle sweetness from pau d' arco bark.

4. London Fog

A quintessentially British tea classic and one of the most recognized flavored teas in the world, Earl Grey tea is rich in benefits, supplies a gentle boost of caffeine, and is a great replacement for coffee.

The London Fog drink is made with earl grey tea, frothed milk, sugar, or honey (we recommend using raw honey) and is one of the best morning teas to replace coffee, especially lattes because its tea latte structure yields that fullness coffee drinkers love.

Earl Grey tea is a blend of black tea which has been flavored with the oil of a bergamot orange, a type of citrus found in Italy.

Furthermore, Earl Grey tea is rich in a high antioxidants content, supporting heart health and preventing serious health conditions and diseases. Earl Grey’s anti-inflammatory properties also aid in alleviating gastric problems including constipation and bloating.

Enjoy Finding Your Perfect Coffee Alternative!

No matter what your reason is for choosing to cut back on drinking coffee – be it wanting to consume less caffeine or just wanting to explore the world of tea and all its rich health benefits - tea is yummy as heck, healthful, vibrant with energy-boosting capabilities, and has a large variety of choices… so, trust us you’re in good hands replacing coffee with tea!

Tea is an amazing alternative for even the most avid coffee drinker, and we hope that these 4 tea options will make your swap from coffee to tea even better.

Do you have any other tea ideas for coffee drinkers?

Let us know by tagging us on Instagram @WiseApeCo and use the hashtag #WiseApeTribe and we’ll share it! 

Now, what're you waiting for? All this beverage talk has got us craving a hot tea. Why don't you join us in enjoying a health-promoting and flavorful cup of tea? Here at Wise Ape Tea, we combine premium tea with adaptogenic herbs, crafted to create bright, flavorful organic wellness-driven tea combos. This is the evolution of tea.

This informative article is written, by Sophia McKenzie. Sophia is head content creator and writer, for several premium websites, where her expertise lies in health, nutrition, and wellness. Her content focuses on providing and sharing doable solutions to help people truly thrive and live their happiest, healthiest, fulfilled lives.