Drinking tea indeed has many benefits. Tea leaves contain over 600 chemical components, which not only have effects such as health preservation, beauty, health care, and weight loss but can also prevent and treat certain diseases.

Although tea is beneficial, unhealthy drinking habits can instead pose risks to people's health. If you have any of the following bad habits, change them quickly.

1. New tea

Due to the short storage time, new tea contains relatively high levels of unoxidized polyphenols, aldehydes, and alcohols, which can strongly irritate the gastrointestinal mucosa and easily induce stomach problems. Therefore, new tea should be consumed sparingly, and tea stored for less than half a month should be avoided.

2. Overnight tea

Because tea leaves contain a large amount of protein, most of which does not dissolve in hot water and remains in the leaves, when the water temperature is high, the protein on the tea leaves can rot. Leaving it overnight allows enzyme fungi to develop, while the large amount of tannic acid residue in the tea turns into a highly irritating oxide that can stimulate the stomach and intestines, causing inflammation.

3. First-brew tea

Modern tea leaves may inevitably be contaminated with pesticides, fertilizers, dust, and other substances during planting, processing, and packaging. The first brew is essentially water for rinsing the tea; it should be poured out quickly before adding boiling water again. The tea brewed this way is the most hygienic.

4. Strong tea

Strong tea contains large amounts of caffeine, theophylline, etc., which are highly stimulating. Drinking strong tea can lead to insomnia, headaches, tinnitus, blurred vision, and is also bad for the stomach. Some people may experience a sense of vomiting after drinking it.

5. Hot tea

Tea is generally brewed with high-temperature water, but it should not be consumed when the water is too hot. Excessively hot tea can strongly irritate the throat, esophagus, and stomach. Long-term consumption of overly hot tea may cause lesions in these organs. According to foreign studies, those who frequently drink tea exceeding 62°C are more prone to damaged stomach walls and stomach diseases. The ideal temperature for drinking tea is below 56°C.

6. Over-brewed tea

If steeped for too long, substances in tea such as tea polyphenols, lipids, and aromatic compounds can oxidize automatically, not only making the tea dark, tasteless, and low in aroma, losing its value for appreciation, but also reducing the vitamins and amino acids in the tea due to oxidation, greatly diminishing the nutritional value of the tea. At the same time, as the tea is left standing for too long, it becomes contaminated by the surrounding environment, and the number of microorganisms in the tea increases, which is not beneficial for the body.