茶或咖啡：哪个更适合你？
Tea or coffee: Which drink is better for you?
Countless arguments have been waged over the superiority of one beverage over the other. But what does the scientific evidence say?
关于这两种饮料孰优孰劣的问题已经引发了无数争论.但是科学证据是怎样的呢？
George Orwell may have written that "tea is one of the mainstays of civilization in this country" – but even we British have to acknowledge that our national drink is facing stiff competition from the espressos, cappuccinos, and lattes invading our shores.
乔治·奥威尔或许写过"茶是这个国家文明的一个支柱"这样的句子——但我们英国人也要承认,随着浓咖啡、卡布奇诺和拿铁侵入国门,我们的全民饮料正面临着激烈的竞争.
Despite the dangers of wading into such a charged argument, BBC Future decided to weigh up the relative merits of each drink. There's no accounting for taste, of course, but we have combed the scientific literature for their real, measurable effects on our body and mind.
尽管探讨这个敏感话题充满风险,"BBC未来"栏目还是决定对每种饮品的相对优点进行评估.当然,百人百味,但通过精心梳理科学文献,我们找出了它们对人体和大脑真实的、可测量的影响.
The wake-up call
醒脑剂
For many, the caffeine kick is the primary reason we choose either beverage; it's the oil to our engines when we're still feeling a bit creaky in the morning. Based purely on its composition, coffee should win hands down: a cup of tea has about half the dose (40 milligrams) of the stimulant caffeine that you would find in a standard cup of brewed filter coffee (80 to 115 milligrams). Yet this doesn't necessarily reflect the jolt of the wake-up call.
对许多人来说,咖啡因的兴奋作用是我们选择这两种饮料的主要原因；在睡眼惺忪的清晨,咖啡因就像石油一样,给我们身体的引擎以能量.只考虑成分的话,咖啡可以轻松获胜：一杯茶的咖啡因含量（40毫克）大约只有标准杯过滤咖啡（80至115毫克）的一半.然而,这并非反映了它们的醒脑作用.
Dosing subjects with either tea or coffee, one study found that both beverages left subjects feeling similarly alert later in the morning.
通过让被试者饮用一定量的茶或咖啡,一项研究发现,这两种饮料都能让受试者在早晨晚些时候感到同样清醒.
Verdict: Against logic, tea seems to provide just as powerful a wake-up call as coffee. It's a draw.
结论：虽然逻辑上讲不通,但茶跟咖啡的醒脑作用似乎不相上下.平局.
