Coffee to Tea How To Switch

Many people look to diversify their coffee habit by incorporating tea, or get introduced to tea by a doctor because of health concerns. Examples could include lowering or eliminating caffeine intake, reducing acid content, problems with sleep, or incorporating some of the unique health benefits of tea. 

If you're used to your morning beverage of choice being a mean cup of joe, you might be thinking...

Tea tastes like water. Will I like switching from coffee to tea?

This is common, especially for lifelong coffee drinkers. If you've consumed nothing but coffee all day long for years, you are used to a strong and bold taste. And what often happens is that any time a coffee drinker tries tea, many times "grocery store tea" that is lacking in quality and strong flavors, making tea seem generally underwhelming compared to the tried-and-true taste of their favorite brew.

Worse still, many people gravitate directly toward green tea because their doctor told them they need antioxidants while their taste buds are still skewed towards dark and strong coffee flavor, leading to a struggle in choosing the right tea. This is often compounded by grocery store green tea being very easy to over brew and become bitter.

This leaves our lifelong coffee connoisseurs feeling like tea is simply coffee's weaker cousin, lacking the punching power of their favorite pick-me-up.

Our biggest recommendation when it comes to a brand-new coffee-to-tea drinker... GO BIG. GO BOLD.

We mentioned inferior-quality bagged teas before, and it is in this regard that quality becomes a factor. Loose teas simply have many more varieties, and most importantly they are far more flavorful than their bagged counterparts. We've taken some of this guess work out by coming up with our select favorites if you are ready to switch from coffee to tea.

• Assam Black tea - many breakfast teas use teas from Assam (from India) as the backbone of the any bold blend
• Yunnan Black tea - we like Yunnan black tea from China because of its rich, full flavored 'woody' profile. It doesn't have the sharp bite of an Assam, but it makes up for it by offering a rich complex flavor.
• Pu-erh - This fermented tea has a unique and earthy flavor, and it has the dark black infusion of coffee. We recommend a flavored variety to start out with.
• Mate/Guayusa - These South American herbs are rich in anti-oxidants and have caffeine levels approaching that of coffee, but don't have the levels of acid that coffee does.
• Decaf Tea - If you need to avoid caffeine entirely, but want to avoid the acid of coffee, consider a decaf black tea.
• Green tea - Of all the categories of tea mentioned, green tea will be the biggest difference in terms of flavor, and the different types vary greatly with flavor. A gyokuro is shaded green tea, and has bold unami flavors. Gunpowder greens are also full bodied.
• Herbal Tea - These general do not contain any caffeine. While a traditional herb like peppermint may not be a coffee subsitute, there are other spicy blends that may offer bold flavor.

Below you will find specific recommendation for the various teas mentioned above. If you are new to tea, we recommend getting samples. And to make things easier, we also offer a sampler of our TOP 6 teas.

Another option if you want to switch from coffee to tea and need some curated teas picked out, is to join a tea of the month club. If you are interested in sampling as many teas as possible, this is a good way to get a variety shipped to your door each month.