Why Does Coffee as a Stimulant Lose Out to Milk Tea in China?

Chinese consumers favor milk tea over coffee largely because of caffeine concentration and long-standing tea habits. A 150-milliliter serving of green tea, milk tea, or cola holds no more than 50 milligrams of caffeine, while coffee delivers far more. Genetic differences in caffeine metabolism, workplace structure, and income groups also shape who reaches for which drink.

Milk tea fits a lightly caffeinated, high-sugar daily routine, while coffee contains a much stronger dose per cup. That gap matters because both drinks rely on the same stimulant, and the article also examines the health risks of excessive caffeine intake, plus how income groups differ in their reliance on stimulants versus sugar.

China is a major tea-consuming country, and in recent years milk tea has become one of young people's favorite drinks. Coffee and milk tea both contain caffeine, yet Chinese people's preferences for the two differ markedly. Behind this lie factors such as genetic metabolic capacity, the low-caffeine habit formed through China's long tea-drinking tradition, occupational structure, and differences among income groups in their reliance on stimulants versus sugar. This article analyzes why Chinese people favor milk tea over coffee from the perspectives of caffeine content, metabolic genes, tea-drinking tradition, and workplace consumption data, and explores the potential health risks of excessive caffeine intake.

China has been a major tea-consuming country since ancient times, and compared with coffee, the public tends to choose tea-related drinks. Take milk tea, for example—it is now one of the most popular lightly caffeinated beverages among young people. Whether it's the classic joke about Jay Chou loving milk tea, or the recent hit variety show "Sisters Who Make Waves" in which Ningjing made her own "cordyceps milk tea," milk tea is almost everywhere, accompanying us in our daily lives.

The caffeine content of both coffee and milk tea is not low, but young consumers clearly favor milk tea. Milk tea has been regarded as the "life-extending elixir" of contemporary youth—a cup while shopping, a delivery order while lounging at home, a cup during overtime work; this kind of high-sugar drink can be seen everywhere in life.

Many beverages on the market contain caffeine, and milk tea is one of them, because the tea leaves used to make milk tea themselves contain caffeine; drinks such as Coca-Cola and coffee also contain large amounts of caffeine. Since both tea and coffee are rich in caffeine, why do Chinese people prefer milk tea rather than coffee?

One reason Chinese people prefer milk tea has to do with caffeine concentration. Take the most consumer-favored green tea, milk tea, and cola as examples—each 150 milliliters contains no more than 50 milligrams of caffeine, making them low-concentration caffeinated beverages; lightly caffeinated drinks such as Frappuccinos and milk coffee are also more popular than black coffee. From the data, coffee's caffeine content is far higher than that of lightly caffeinated drinks such as milk tea. These data indicate that most Chinese people prefer beverages with relatively low caffeine content, falling within the low-caffeine consumption range.

According to an article by Elephant Club, a 2020 study of metabolic data from more than ten thousand Chinese people showed that compared with other ethnic groups, fewer Chinese people are naturally equipped with high caffeine metabolic capacity, while those with medium-to-low metabolic capacity make up the majority.

· The CYP1A2 rs762551 genotype affects how fast or slow an individual metabolizes caffeine

However, a 2014 Harvard University study pointed out that these genetic factors account for only about 7% of the influence on coffee consumption. Another reason Chinese people drink little coffee is related to Chinese tea-drinking habits and occupational habits. The tea Chinese people love most is green tea, and green tea has relatively low caffeine concentration among the many types of tea; ripe Pu'er and black tea have higher caffeine content, but their consumption is relatively lower as well.

Data source: China Tea Marketing Association

On top of that, green tea itself has little caffeine to begin with, and Chinese people often don't finish a pot in one go but brew it repeatedly, so the caffeine becomes weaker with each infusion. Having long been accustomed to low-caffeine green tea, most Chinese people naturally find it hard to adapt when they taste the intense caffeine in coffee.

In addition, Chinese people's lack of enthusiasm for coffee is also related to occupation. A recent "Report on Coffee Social Consumption among Chinese Workplace Professionals" released by Maimai shows that in the workplace, tea (36%) and coffee (34%) are neck and neck as the most popular drinks for workplace socializing; the main reason is that 70% of workplace professionals drink coffee to refresh themselves and stay alert. According to data from Elephant Club, the reason caffeine in coffee can refresh a person is that adenosine in the brain triggers fatigue and drowsiness, while caffeine can block adenosine's effects.

Meanwhile, the large number of people engaged in heavy manual labor such as agriculture, manufacturing, catering, and transportation services need high-sugar drinks like milk tea and cola more than stimulants like strong coffee. This is because when doing heavy manual labor, people rely more on sugar to obtain pleasure and stimulation, but long-term intake of high-sugar drinks is quite harmful to the body. Generally speaking, those with higher incomes rely more on caffeine, while those with lower incomes rely more on analgesic substances such as sugar.

In 2020, Pangang Group Jiangyou Company delivered drinks to the steel forging workshop

In addition, although coffee can refresh you, excessive intake of caffeinated drinks can cause adverse reactions such as anxiety, insomnia, and rapid heartbeat. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration points out that each person's daily caffeine intake should be kept within 400 milligrams, roughly equivalent to 4 to 5 cups of 237-milliliter coffee.

*Image source: Internet

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.