With the insane amount of activities many of AHS students are involved in (and it could be argued that this is too much, but that’s another article), staying awake is important. Be it chugging a few espressos in the morning or sipping a cup of jasmine green tea, everyone has his or her own way of caffeinating themselves. Editor in Chiefs prove their point by defending their favorite morning drink.

I’m not into artificially stimulating my body, tricking it into thinking it had enough sleep. I am all for feeling alert and awake, but it should follow a good night sleep. And what is better than waking up early after a long (nine and a quarter!) slumber to a warm cup of tea with honey?

Okay, okay, this might be un peu unrealistic, especially for the amount of business high schoolers have in their lives. But taking the time to appreciate a cup of tea is an important lesson to learn right along with that french homework.

Tea also has antioxidants in it. According to WebMD, white tea is proven to prevent cancer. Green tea has been proven to prevent Alzheimers and parkinsons as well as reduce heart disease risk. Coffee, on the other hand, is not as good for the heart. My step father, who has had a heart attack, was recommended to stop drinking coffee for two weeks until his heart felt better.

Coffee is actually proven to dehydrate you. The urge to go to the bathroom about an hour after you drink it? That’s not because it gives the body water: it actually forces water through you and sucks it out of you. It can also really make your stomach hurt. When the body tells you something, you listen.

Tea is the ultimate compromise drink. If you condition yourself to be sensitive to caffeine, it is the perfect amount of an ah-ha! wake up call, minus the stomach ache. And it also forces you to get more sleep and appreciate the little things. It is the best of both worlds.

–Ella 

For those of us who have to work hard and don’t have time for 11 hours of sleep a day, there is a delicious beverage enjoyed by billions–with a B–people every day. It keeps you alert, focused and increases coordination and academic performance. Tea can do this, but only a fraction as efficiently as coffee.

Coffee may have negative effects, but these are minimal for most people. As long as you enjoy your cup of coffee with some toast and some juice or milk, you can entirely avoid both the dehydration and stomach ache that certain idealistic malingerers will warn you about.

As any athlete or person of strength knows, when your body tells you something, you power through. The urge to quit is the urge to fail. Will “antioxidants” help with that?

Most importantly, not all teas even have caffeine. “Sleepytime,” jasmine orange, and other herbal teas – these are abominations. Tea is an honorable plant which, while inferior to the sacred coffee bean, produces some caffeine, has become an umbrella term for anything hippies soak in hot water and drink.

Drink coffee. You’ll work harder, think faster, be better and partake in a grand American tradition. And it tastes fantastic too.

-Will