I drank this instead of coffee for a week. My focus doubled

This article was updated on September 5th, 2021

I love my morning coffee. It wakes me up and puts me in the right headspace to start the day. But for a week, I decided to cut out my morning coffee and replace it with something different. 

At first, it was tough. Coffee has been a part of my morning routine for many years. But for a week, all that changed. I was curious about what kind of difference it would make.

And to my surprise, it made a huge improvement in my focus and helped me to think clearer. 

You might be wondering what I drank instead of coffee. 

I drank a cup of green tea in the morning for that entire week. I’ll be honest, the taste of green tea is not my favorite, but I felt a noticeable increase in my focus throughout the day. 

According to Healthline, green tea’s health benefits are second to none. 

Green tea is chock-full of antioxidants that can help improve brain function and protect against cancer. Also, antioxidants can even help promote fat loss. 

And, it’s no wonder that green tea helped me focus. “Caffeine isn’t the only brain-boosting compound in green tea,” wrote Healthline. “It also contains amino acid L-theanine, which can cross the blood-brain barrier.”

L-theanine has been linked to lowering feelings of anxiety, and it can even boost dopamine within our brains, which is a powerful chemical responsible for feeling happy and excited. And, feeling focused as well. 

“Dopamine provides the drive and focus we all need in order to be productive,” writes BrainMD. “It is heavily involved with our attention span, focus, follow-through, motivation, and the ability to experience pleasure.”

I also noticed that my energy was more stable throughout the day. 

When I drank coffee, I would feel the near-instant boost. But, green tea’s energy hit was less pronounced at the beginning but seemed to more gradually fade as the day went on. 

To help with the flavor, I began adding a small amount of lemon juice to my green tea. Not only did it help improve the flavor of the tea, but I also learned that vitamin C in the lemon helps the body to absorb more of the healthy nutrients in green tea. 

WebMD recommends not adding green tea to boiling water as it’s bad for “catechins”, which are healthy chemicals that help make green tea an incredibly beneficial drink. WebMD also said that pricier green tea options generally contain more nutrients, while canned green tea drinks have less.