Drinking tea regularly not only promotes health preservation and healthcare but also helps prevent various diseases. However, there are certain considerations when consuming tea, as each type has its own unique properties and effects. It is important to be aware of potential conflicts between tea and certain foods, and which foods should not be consumed together with tea. After reviewing some materials, I’d like to share which foods should not be eaten while drinking tea, helping everyone enjoy tea in a healthier way.

1. Tea and Sugar

Tea leaves have a bitter taste and a cold nature. The purpose of drinking tea is to stimulate the digestive glands through its bitterness, promoting the secretion of digestive juices and enhancing digestive function. Additionally, the cold nature of tea helps achieve heat-clearing and detoxifying effects.

Adding sugar to tea can inhibit these functions. Although ancient texts mention remedies combining tea with sugar for specific ailments, this is suitable as a dietary therapy but not recommended for regular tea consumption.

2. Tea and Eggs

Boiling eggs in tea results in a highly concentrated tea solution. Strong tea contains a significant amount of tannic acid, which can coagulate the proteins in food, making them difficult to digest and hindering the body's absorption and utilization of protein.

Since eggs are high in protein, it is not advisable to boil them in tea for consumption.

3. Tea and Alcohol

Many people enjoy drinking tea after alcohol, hoping to achieve effects such as moisturizing, sobering up, aiding digestion, and regulating bodily fluids. However, this can be harmful to the kidneys.

Drinking tea after alcohol causes theophylline to produce a diuretic effect. At this time, acetaldehyde, converted from alcohol, has not yet fully decomposed and enters the kidneys due to the diuretic effect of theophylline. Acetaldehyde is highly irritating to the kidneys, potentially damaging kidney function and leading to symptoms such as kidney cold, impotence, frequent turbid urination, and testicular pain.

4. Tea and Lamb

While eating lamb regularly is beneficial for health, consuming lamb with tea can cause the abundant proteins in lamb to combine with tannic acid in tea, forming a substance called tannin-protein. This substance has a certain constricting effect on the intestines, weakening intestinal peristalsis and reducing moisture in stool, which may lead to constipation.

Therefore, it is not advisable to drink tea while eating lamb. It is also recommended to wait 2–3 hours after eating lamb before drinking tea.

5. Tea and Medication

Tannic acid in tea can react chemically with certain medications (such as ferrous sulfate tablets, ferric ammonium citrate, berberine, etc.), forming precipitates that affect drug absorption. If tea is used to take sedatives (such as phenobarbital, diazepam, etc.), the caffeine and theophylline in tea, as stimulants, can counteract or weaken the sedative effects of the drugs.

Since there are many types of medications and it is difficult to keep track of them all, it is safest to take all medications with warm water to avoid any adverse effects.