As your finals caffeine binge begins to wane, you may be suffering from withdrawal headaches, nausea at the thought at another cup of coffee, or simply less of a need to stimulate your brain to stay up for an all-nighter. As the winter break progresses and the horizon of a new semester peaks at you from 2010, make one of your resolutions this year to be a healthier consumer of caffeine-give tea a try.

Tea has antioxidants in the form of flavenoids. Studies have shown that these compounds have anti-cancer properties. Green tea is the best source of a group of anti-oxidants called catechins which are found to be more powerful than vitamins C and E in stopping oxidative damage. Studies have found a link between consuming green tea and a reduced risk for several cancers including skin, breast, lung, colon, esophageal, and bladder.

Green and black teas have also been found to reduce the risk for heart disease. This may be due to the anti-oxidant qualities which block the oxidation of LDL (bad) cholesterol, increase HLD (good) cholesterol, and improve artery function.

Tea has many different varieties including black, green, white, oolong, red, and herbal. After water, it is the most commonly consumed beverage in the world! The warm-weather evergreen tree, called Camellia sinensis provides the leaves for black, green, white, and oolong teas. The only difference is the amount of processing:

White tea: wilted & unoxidized

Green tea: unwilted & unoxidized

Oolong tea: wilted, bruised, & partially oxidized

Black tea: wilted, sometimes crushed, & fully oxidized

Herbal and red rooibos tea are not derived from the same plant and, therefore, do not have the same health-promoting properties. Most herbal teas are in fact not tea at all! They are simply infusions of herbs, flowers, roots, spices, and other plant parts. The proper name for this type of beverage is tisane. Despite not having the antioxidant health effects found in the tea family, tisane drinks can have relaxing and calming effects.

Now as a direct comparison to your normal cup of joe, one cup of tea contains an average of 40 mg of caffeine per cup. This is about half that of coffee which contains about 85 mg in a freshly brewed cup.

To get the most out of your tea:

-Allow tea to steep for 3-5 minutes to bring out the antioxidants.

-Freshly brewed tea has the most beneficial compounds. Decaffeinated, bottled ready-to-drink, and instant teas have less of these compounds.

-Tea can prevent absorption of iron from meals. Adding lemon or milk or drinking tea between meals will counteract this problem.