What Tea Wakes You Up? Tea Ranked by Caffeine

The tea that wakes you up is the tea with the most caffeine in the cup. Guayusa and yerba mate sit at the top. Matcha is close behind, then black tea, oolong, green and white. Most herbal teas have none at all, so if you’re looking for a jolt in the morning, most herbal won’t do.

Now that you have the short answer, lets get into the details. How much of a kick do you want, what do you like to drink, and how do you get the most out of the leaf you already have?

What teas wake you up the most?

Here’s what lands in an 8 oz cup give or take.

• Guayusa and yerba mate: about 85 mg. Our Very Berry Guayusa and Good Morning Yerba Mate both carry about that much.
• Matcha: about 70 mg for our Everyday Ceremonial Matcha.
• Black tea: around 45 mg.
• Oolong: around 30 to 35 mg.
• Green tea: around 20 mg.
• White tea: around 10 mg.
• Most herbal teas: none.

For comparison, a cup of black coffee is around 90 mg. So the top of the tea list gets you close to a coffee without being an exact match. Yerba mate though is the odd one out. It’s an herbal, not true tea, but comes packed with energy. It comes from a small South American tree in the holly family. Unlike most herbals, it has plenty of caffeine along with iots cousin Guayusa.

Does tea wake you up like coffee?

Yes, but no. For some people, that’s the point. Tea leaves carry L-theanine, an amino acid. Taken together with caffeine, it may help with alertness and helps with switching attention between tasks quickly. It has also been known to take the edge off the caffeine.

We go further into the coffee side of this in Caffeine in Coffee vs. Tea.

How to get more wake-up from your cup

Steep time matters as much as the tea you pick. The longer the leaf sits in the water, the more caffeine ends up in the cup. So if a black tea says 2 to 3 minutes, the 3-minute cup is the stronger one. Although, you should stay inside the range each tea gives; otherwise, you may have a bitter taste in your mouth.

Matcha is a different beast and it works a bit different. You whisk the powdered leaf into the water and drink the whole thing, rather than steeping and straining it. That’s why a green tea powder lands so far above a steeped green tea in terms of caffeine content.

The best tea to wake up in the morning

These are the five we’d reach for, strongest first. Picked by taste as much as by caffeine. A tea you look forward to is a tea you’ll actually make at 6 a.m.

We built Good Morning Yerba Mate for exactly this. It’s roasted mate and rooibos with cocoa bits, coconut flakes, cinnamon and cloves. The roast gives it a deep, coffee-like body. It holds up well to a splash of milk. One reviewer, Niels A., put it simply: “A tad of milk and your Good Morning Yerba Mate is now one of my favorites.” Use 2 tsp per 8 oz at 180°F for 3 to 5 minutes.

Very Berry Guayusa is the bright, fruity way to get the same caffeine. We blend Amazonian guayusa with hibiscus, rose hips, elderberries, apple and pieces of strawberry, raspberry and blackberry. It tastes tangy and berry-forward, with an earthy green note underneath. Brew 1.5 tsp per 8 oz with boiling water, 212°F, for 5 to 10 minutes.

Everyday Ceremonial Matcha is Japanese green tea ground to a powder. It’s grassy, crisp and a little savory. Whisk 1 tsp into 8 oz of 165°F water until it turns frothy. Remember, since the leaf is consumed whole, more of the caffeine moves into your body.

Premium Earl Grey Black Tea is the classic morning cup. It’s Ceylon and Yunnan black tea with real bergamot, malty and citrusy at once. At about 45 mg a cup, it’s a gentler start than mate or matcha. Brew 1 tsp per 8 oz at 203°F for 2 to 3 minutes. Add milk if you like it creamy.

Ginseng Oolong is the lightest of the five on caffeine, at about 35 mg a cup. Ginseng and licorice coat the rolled oolong leaves. It tastes roasted, sweet and a little earthy. Ginseng may have a small effect on everyday tiredness. The leaves also stand up to several infusions, so one scoop covers the whole morning. Use 1.5 tsp per 8 oz at 185°F for 2 to 3 minutes.

Where to start

If you’re replacing a coffee, start with Good Morning Yerba Mate. If you’d rather something lighter, Earl Grey or Ginseng Oolong will ease you in. All five live in our Energy Boosting Teas collection, and we picked a few more for steady, all-day energy in Teas for a Boost of Energy.