How Many Calories Are There In Tea?

Admit it or not – There’s not a Pakistani household that survives without tea. It’s so essential to our existence – like fuel.

But sometimes, this fuel becomes too much fuel for things that we do not wish to see escalating, for example, the figures on the body weighing machine.

Yes, you’re following the right trail. As we hear, some people have reported having gained weight, after long-term, intensive intake of this beverage.

But could our beloved unofficially national drink do that to us? Isn’t this a betrayal?

Perhaps, we need to hear the claims of both sides before jumping to any possible conclusions.

Maybe there’s brewing in more than we have heard about as of yet. So, join me in to analyze and investigate this case today.

How many Calories?

Calories are the unit for the energy we consume through food or drink. While consuming a moderate amount of calories is essential to keep our bodies functioning, too many calories can lead to weight increase and health issues.

Calories in tea is a very complicated subject. You see, a plain cup of tea that has tea leaves brewed in water will offer only 2-calories! In the world of food and beverages, these 2-calories are negligible and count for nothing.

With that, you’ll receive an extent of energy, but those calories aren’t sufficient to shift the needle towards weight gain.

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However, let’s not forget the kind of tea we Pakistanis like to drink. The lavish blend of tea leaves, milk, and sugar tastes amazing but also fuels your body with way more than 2-calories.

Although the part of getting more calories in our traditional Chai is clear, do know that the exact amount of calories will vary with the ingredients. The type of milk, sugar, and other ingredients affect the number of calories. Well, let’s explore this further!

Two Sweet Factors

The two prime factors add buckets of calories to our otherwise innocent cup of tea. And these are none other than our bittersweet pals, namely milk and sugar.

 (P.S. Milk and sugar aren’t entirely bad, and so Foodies.pk’s court refrains from declaring the two entirely guilty of leading anti-health propaganda)

Milk

Since there are many different types of milk, each can add varying but significant amounts of calories to your tea. Sweetened condensed milk happens to be the worst of all options, as it adds 130 calories. While goat’s milk and non-fat milk are comparatively the best options with only 25 calories.

Other than that, Organic low-fat milk brings 32 calories to your hot cup while whole milk and evaporated milk brings 40 calories each.

 If your lactose intolerant than here’s what you need to know about plant-based milk:

• Soy Milk – 20 calories
• Organic Light Coconut Milk- 70 Calories
• Condensed Soy Milk – 110 calories
• Almond milk – 110 calories
• Organic Coconut Milk – 120 calories

Sugar

Generally, most people use white sugar for their tea. One teaspoon (4 grams) of this sugar adds about 16 calories to your tea. Some suggest that it’s better to replace white sugar with brown sugar. However, that’s not true, at least not in every case.

That’s because it provides more or less the same calories as half of the people have become attuned to the sweet flavor of the tea. So, they’re pouring in plentiful spoons in the tea, which eventually becomes equivalent to white sugar.

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Another alternative is honey, but it brings twice as many calories a sugar. So, certainly, it’s not advisable unless you use it in negligible quantity.

Artificial sweeteners are no good option either because they have a bunch of side effects that ultimately result in increased calorie intake. For example, according to a study, the extra sweet taste of artificial sweeteners trains our minds to crave sweeter food.

So, what’s the Calorie-less formula?

Get rid of tea.

Probably, listening to this statement would have created a lump in your throat, and only one word would have escaped your mouth impossible.

It is quite logical to react like that, considering the prime position of tea in our lives as well as culture. We love tea. But, what about the calories and problems linked to it?

Well, here is a solution that will take time but will be efficient. A majority of us have tea two times a day, don’t we? So, regardless of the times, you have tea, try to gradually cut down the amount of milk and sugar in your tea. By this gradual decline, one will be able to satisfy their taste without gaining excessive calories.

Good Luck!