Why Every Indian Needs to STOP Drinking Tea First Thing in the Morning
Riya Kumari | Apr 03, 2025, 14:03 IST
( Image credit : Times Life Bureau )
Alright, let’s talk about that thing you do every single morning. No, not checking your phone before your eyes are even fully open (though, guilty). I’m talking about tea. Chai. The lifeblood of the nation. That sweet, steamy, aromatic elixir that has you in a chokehold. The first thing you reach for like it’s oxygen. And look, I get it. The entire country practically runs on chai fumes. Your mom, your neighbor, your favorite roadside chaiwala—they all swear by it. But, here’s the inconvenient truth: that beloved cup of morning tea? It’s low-key ruining you.
We all have our rituals—the small, repetitive acts that shape our days, our moods, and, over time, our entire lives. And in India, no ritual is more universal than that first cup of chai in the morning. It’s not just a drink. It’s culture. It’s habit. It’s the warm reassurance that the day has begun. But here’s the thing about rituals: they can either serve us, or we can become their servants. And if you’ve spent years reaching for tea the moment you wake up, it’s worth asking—who is really in control here? You, or the habit? Because the truth is, your morning chai might be doing more harm than good. Not just in some vague, theoretical way, but in a way that shapes your energy, your health, and the way your body functions every single day. And the cost of a bad habit, repeated enough times, is far greater than we like to admit.
The human body is not designed to wake up and run on caffeine. It’s designed to wake up and rehydrate, restore, and ease into the demands of the day. When you sleep, you lose water. Your cells are in repair mode. Your digestive system has been in a long pause. The first thing you put into your body after this reset matters more than you think.
Tea—especially on an empty stomach—is an assault, not a welcome. The tannins irritate your gut lining. The caffeine spikes your stress hormones. Your stomach, which has just spent hours resting, is suddenly thrown into a state of high acidity. And your body, which needed nourishment, gets a stimulant instead. It feels good, yes. But so does scratching an itch that’s actually a wound. Just because something gives temporary relief doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
A cup of tea wakes you up, but it doesn’t actually give you energy. There’s a difference between true vitality and borrowed wakefulness. Caffeine tricks your brain into feeling alert by blocking the chemicals that make you feel tired. It doesn’t nourish you. It doesn’t replenish you. It simply suppresses exhaustion, forcing your body to run on reserves it was never supposed to spend that early in the day.
And this is why, by mid-morning, you crash. Why, an hour or two later, you need another cup. Because you’re not actually fueling your body—you’re just numbing its signals and overriding its needs. It’s the biological equivalent of spending money you don’t have, and then wondering why you’re broke.
You might think, “It’s just tea. It’s just a habit.” But nothing is just anything. A small habit, repeated over years, becomes a lifestyle. And a lifestyle, repeated over a lifetime, becomes your health. The little things we do every day—the things we never question—shape not only how we feel, but who we become.
Drinking tea on an empty stomach might not seem like a big deal today. But think about it over the course of years—years of gut irritation, years of cortisol spikes, years of missing out on proper hydration and nourishment first thing in the morning. A single bad habit is rarely a problem on its own. It’s the accumulation of a thousand small bad habits that slowly wears us down.
What if, instead of reaching for tea first thing, you reached for water? What if, instead of jolting your body into stress mode, you started the day by giving it what it actually needed? The answer isn’t to stop drinking tea altogether. Tea is not the enemy. But timing is everything. Give your body a chance to wake up naturally. Hydrate. Eat something first. Then, have your chai. And notice the difference.
Because at the end of the day, it’s not really about tea. It’s about awareness. About questioning the habits we never question. About recognizing that the smallest changes, when made consistently, can redefine the way we feel—not just today, but for years to come. And if something as simple as when you drink your tea can have that much impact, imagine what else might change if you just started paying attention.
1. What Your Body Actually Needs in the Morning
Water
( Image credit : Pexels )
The human body is not designed to wake up and run on caffeine. It’s designed to wake up and rehydrate, restore, and ease into the demands of the day. When you sleep, you lose water. Your cells are in repair mode. Your digestive system has been in a long pause. The first thing you put into your body after this reset matters more than you think.
Tea—especially on an empty stomach—is an assault, not a welcome. The tannins irritate your gut lining. The caffeine spikes your stress hormones. Your stomach, which has just spent hours resting, is suddenly thrown into a state of high acidity. And your body, which needed nourishment, gets a stimulant instead. It feels good, yes. But so does scratching an itch that’s actually a wound. Just because something gives temporary relief doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
2. Energy vs. Stimulation: The Illusion of Wakefulness
Tea
( Image credit : Pexels )
A cup of tea wakes you up, but it doesn’t actually give you energy. There’s a difference between true vitality and borrowed wakefulness. Caffeine tricks your brain into feeling alert by blocking the chemicals that make you feel tired. It doesn’t nourish you. It doesn’t replenish you. It simply suppresses exhaustion, forcing your body to run on reserves it was never supposed to spend that early in the day.
And this is why, by mid-morning, you crash. Why, an hour or two later, you need another cup. Because you’re not actually fueling your body—you’re just numbing its signals and overriding its needs. It’s the biological equivalent of spending money you don’t have, and then wondering why you’re broke.
3. A Small Habit with a Long-Term Price
Chai habit
( Image credit : Pexels )
You might think, “It’s just tea. It’s just a habit.” But nothing is just anything. A small habit, repeated over years, becomes a lifestyle. And a lifestyle, repeated over a lifetime, becomes your health. The little things we do every day—the things we never question—shape not only how we feel, but who we become.
Drinking tea on an empty stomach might not seem like a big deal today. But think about it over the course of years—years of gut irritation, years of cortisol spikes, years of missing out on proper hydration and nourishment first thing in the morning. A single bad habit is rarely a problem on its own. It’s the accumulation of a thousand small bad habits that slowly wears us down.
What If You Changed Just This One Thing?
Because at the end of the day, it’s not really about tea. It’s about awareness. About questioning the habits we never question. About recognizing that the smallest changes, when made consistently, can redefine the way we feel—not just today, but for years to come. And if something as simple as when you drink your tea can have that much impact, imagine what else might change if you just started paying attention.