Whether good or bad, the effects of caffeine on the human body is something you hear about a lot lately. This is mainly because of people’s love affair with the highly caffeinated drink which gave Starbucks its notoriety. 

For comparison a tall (12 ounce) cup of Starbucks Pike Place Roast has approximately 235mg of caffeine while a tall Teavana Shaken Black Iced Tea has 20-25 mg of caffeine. This is according to Starbuck.com.  Below the caffeine content of other popular beverages are compared.

While the caffeine content of iced tea is much less than coffee, it can still have an effect on your health. 

Excess caffeine consumption has been shown to have a number of negative effects on health which include: insomnia, nervousness, restlessness, irritability, upset stomach, tense muscles, high blood pressure and a faster than normal heart rate.

Excess caffeine is usually defined as more than 500-600 mg per day, but some studies suggest that as little as 300 mg a day can lead to these health effects in some people. 

On the flip side there are numerous studies linking more moderate caffeine intake to various benefits like improved memory, lower risk of many types of cancer, lower risk of stroke, lower risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and decreased risk of type 2 diabetes. Most studies show these benefits with consumption below 200-300 mg per day.

The takeaway from this is that you can get too much of a good thing, but when consuming tea compared to coffee, it is much harder to get to the range where caffeine can have potential health risks.