Green tea, coffee and the drinks aisle: caffeine, catechins and claims that outrun the evidence

Green tea is the most over-promised product in the Indian grocery basket. It is a genuinely pleasant, essentially calorie-free drink with a modest antioxidant contribution. It is not a fat burner, it does not detoxify anything, and the packs that say otherwise are making claims the evidence does not carry.

What is actually in the cup

Green and black tea come from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. The difference is oxidation: black tea is fully oxidised, oolong partly, green tea barely at all, which is why green tea retains more of the catechins - including EGCG - that most of its reputation rests on.

Those catechins are real, and tea is a reasonable everyday source of them. The studies behind the dramatic claims generally use concentrated extracts at doses far above what brewed tea provides, and the effects reported for weight loss are small and inconsistent even there.

High-dose green tea extract supplements are a different product from tea, and have been associated with liver injury in rare cases. Drinking tea is not the same activity as taking an extract, and the safety record of the two is not the same either.

Caffeine, roughly

A commonly cited ceiling for healthy adults is around 400 mg of caffeine a day, with lower limits in pregnancy. Most Indian tea drinkers are nowhere near it; people who drink filter coffee and energy drinks together can reach it easily.

Buying loose leaf and tea bags

• Whole leaf grades brew more delicately than dust and fannings, which are what most economy tea bags contain. Dust brews strong and fast, which is exactly right for chai.
• Look for a packing date and a resealable pack. Tea does not spoil dangerously but it goes flat, and green tea flattens fastest.
• Flavoured green teas are typically ordinary green tea plus flavouring. Check whether sugar or maltodextrin is in the ingredients list.
• Matcha is powdered whole leaf, so you consume the leaf rather than an infusion - a stronger drink in both caffeine and catechins.
• Store away from spices. Tea absorbs odours, which is why tea kept next to masala tastes like masala.

The ready-to-drink shelf

Bottled iced teas, flavoured waters, juice-based drinks and health beverages are where a good ingredient meets a sugar problem. Read the sugar row per 100 ml, not per bottle - a 500 ml bottle at 8 g per 100 ml is 40 g of sugar, well past a day of the ICMR-NIN added sugar ceiling.

Two label habits pay off in this aisle. First, check whether a drink is a juice, a nectar or a fruit-based beverage - the categories differ in how much fruit they must contain. Second, treat any wellness word on the front as a prompt to read the panel: immunity, detox, metabolism and rejuvenation are not regulated nutrition claims.

The regulator has been active here. In late 2025 FSSAI ordered enforcement against beverages using the term ORS on their labels when they do not conform to the WHO oral rehydration formulation - a case where a medical-sounding label was being applied to what was effectively a sweetened drink.

A sensible position

Drink the tea you enjoy, brewed the way you like it, and count its caffeine if you are sensitive to it. Expect a pleasant habit and a small antioxidant contribution. Do not pay a premium for a claim about fat, and do not accept sugar in a bottle because the label mentions a plant.