How Many Calories Are in a Cup of Tea?

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When it comes to choosing a beverage, tea seems to be our go-to option.

Well, no wonder it is one popular beverage around the globe.

You will be surprised to know that tea remains the second most widely consumed beverage in the world.

But have you ever wondered how many calories are there in a cup of tea?

I am sure you have always been curious about tea calories.

Before we answer this, let’s know that there are many variations of tea. Here we talk about desi chaye.

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How Many Calories Are in a Cup of Tea? – Let’s Find an Answer

Desi chai, karak chai, doodh pati or no matter what other you have for it, contain three basic ingredients. These include tea powder, sugar and milk. When it comes to calculating calories in a cup of tea, there is no rule of thumb. These calories depend upon the following:

The kind and amount of milk you are using to make tea (skimmed or full-fat)
How much sugar or shakkar you are using to make tea

The nature and amount of these two ingredients in your tea tell you about the exact calories of your tea. However, on average a cup of tea can contain 100-300 calories but that can vary from cup to cup.

How to Calculate the Calories in a Cup of Tea?

If you are still not satisfied and want to know about the exact calories in a cup of tea, you need to calculate the calories in individual ingredients. Here is all the calorie information about individual ingredients.

Calories in Milk (250mL)

Full fat or whole milk = 150kcal
Skimmed milk = 85kcal
Powdered milk = 50kcal/ 10grams

Calories in Sugar (10 gram)

White sugar = 38kcal
Brown sugar = 37kcal
Artificial sweeteners = 0-1/tablet

You can calculate your tea calories with milk or sugar or without it. This will help you to keep your other calories in check especially when you are on a weight loss or weight maintenance journey.

Can we Reduce Calories in Chaye?

Many people believe that a cup or two of tea is not harmful to their weight loss.

We even see weight loss strugglers asking whether they can have tea while on diet.

However, knowing about the calories in tea can be quite concerning for them.

This accounts for one of the common weight loss crimes people commit unknowingly. But do you know that they can still work on lowering the calories of tea?

After knowing about how many calories are in a cup of tea, here is all you need to know about reducing these calories.

No matter what type of tea you prefer, you can save calories by

Choosing a low-calorie variant of milk
Further, you can also choose a less harmful amount of sugar
Also, control the quantity of sugar and milk
Make sure to keep a check on your tea frequency.

Another problem which we face nowadays is that we go for powdered milk tea or tea whitener to prepare tea. This is even more harmful because it uses a good amount of powdered or processed milk that brings more harm than good, according to nutritionists from KRL Hospital Islamabad.

Further, these are not a type of milk but a combination of chemicals that is harmful to your health. Also, the nutritional profile of these milk alternatives is low which gives us all the reasons to avoid them.

Read more about the side effects of milk tea.

Are there any Healthy Tea Alternatives?

Other than reducing the calories in tea, you can also go for some healthy alternatives. Here are some of the options you can go after:

1- Herbal Tea

Herbal teas are quite popular including ginger tea, peppermint tea, camomile tea, rooibos tea and so on. All these herbal teas contain the goodness of nature. Due to many herbal tea benefits, these can be a good replacement for your conventional tea with milk and sugar.

You may initially find its taste a little bit different but you can improve it by adding honey or lemon to it. These teas help to improve your digestion, keep you alert and enhance your metabolic function.

2- Black Tea

You can enjoy your classical tea and keep it harmless by skipping the addition of milk and sugar to it. Yes, I am talking about black tea.

3- Puerh Tea

This is a popular form of black tea that is quite popular in China. This is a fermented tea that is made from the fermented leaves of “wild old tree”. This tea contains the goodness of tea and fermented foods as well which makes it a healthy tea alternative to your ordinary tea.

4- Green Tea

Who is not aware of the many green tea benefits?

A no-calorie nutrition profile is what makes green tea a good replacement for milk. Other than this, it supports your metabolism and can assist in weight loss if followed by wise food choices and a good workout routine.

Read more about Green tea for weight loss.

A Word from Healthwire!

I am sure now you have enough information about calories in tea with milk and sugar. You can carefully add it to your routine and keep a track of your daily calorie intake.

No matter how many calories, the excess of everything is bad and tea remains no exception to this. If consumption of tea is resulting in any side effects make sure to consult your physician right away.

However, if you are suffering from any existing health condition or are a lactating mother, make sure to add healthy tea alternatives to your diet. You can choose the best general physician in Lahore via Healthwire to make a wise decision regarding your health.