Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships are like a lottery: there’s often a slim chance they’ll get along well. According to psychologist Terri Apter’s research for her book What Do You Want from Me?: Learning to Get Along with In-Laws, about 60% of married women report that the relationship with their MIL causes them stress and unhappiness.
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In an interesting twist of events, this MIL felt this way about her son’s wife. Their strained relationship started at the coffee shop: the DIL wouldn’t get her mother’s drink order because tea, according to her, was “leaf water” and not worth her money. When the MIL returned the favor with the same level of pettiness by refusing to get her coffee order, the son and wife banded together against the MIL and demanded an apology.
An MIL got in a row with her DIL over her drink of choice — tea
The DIL wouldn’t get her a tea latte on her coffee runs because it was “leaf water” and not worth her money
Although tea lattes are becoming more popular, coffee remains the most popular caffeinated beverage in coffee shops
Just like with food preferences, people’s beverage drinking habits differ from person to person. People get their daily doses of caffeine in all sorts of different ways. Some like coffee; others can’t stand it; some prefer green or black tea; others go for something more trendy like matcha or a chai latte.
In the U.S. and most of Western Europe, coffee is the beverage of choice. According to Statista, about 60% of Americans and Western Europeans drink coffee, while about 40% prefer tea. In Latin America, coffee is even more popular, as roughly 70% of the population drinks coffee over tea. Tea is more popular only in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, where 56% and 55% of the population, respectively, choose tea over coffee.
It’s also not fair to lump “tea” in with coffee, as there are heaps of types of tea. Some people might go the classic route with simple green or black teas; others might want something trendier or more exotic, like chai or matcha. In essence, they’re more of the same thing: matcha is just green tea leaves pulverized into a powder, while chai is made with black tea, spices, and milk if one prefers it. Let’s also not forget that “chai” literally means “tea” in Hindi.
A chai (or masala chai, more specifically, as it’s the most popular kind in the Western World) or a matcha latte might be more pleasurable to drink than plain black or green tea. Matcha especially has grown wildly popular in the post-pandemic years, with Gen Z driving its popularity by 169% in the last three years. Still, coffee retains its dominion as the most popular way to get their caffeine, even in the world's metropolises.
Drinking tea has certain health benefits that drinking coffee doesn’t have
There are many reasons why people choose to drink tea over coffee. For some, it’s a matter of taste; for others, it’s about the caffeine content: coffee might sometimes be too strong a stimulant. Nevertheless, the reason is that it’s never okay to put someone’s taste down and insult their beverage of choice as “leaf water.”
Those who prefer tea over coffee might be sensitive to caffeine. Coffee gives quite a hit of caffeine: there is anywhere from 90-200 mg of caffeine in an average 8-ounce cup of coffee. Black tea has around 50 mg of caffeine in the same size cup, and green tea has up to 45 mg on average. Some people might prefer white tea for its subtle taste, but a cup contains only 16.79 mg of caffeine.
According to Healthline, people with heart disease, migraines, or those who take certain medications should avoid coffee. Pregnant and breastfeeding people also have to limit their caffeine intake, as the recommended daily dose is 1 cup of coffee.
One health benefit that makes tea the superior drink is the amount of antioxidants they carry. Green teas, for example, have a lot of epigallocatechin gallate, a compound that supports cell health and, as some studies suggest, may slow down the aging process. Black teas, in turn, contain theaflavins that are good for our cardiovascular health.
Tea also contains L-theanine, a non-protein amino acid that helps us stay alert without giving us the jitters. The compound is primarily found in tea leaves, but we can also get it from mushrooms or dietary supplements.
A nutrition researcher at the University of Newcastle, Australia, Emma Beckett, goes so far as to say that teas have benefits similar to those of fruits and vegetables. “When we make a cup of tea or coffee, that very hot water [combined with] that very small, chopped up [plant material], is a very efficient way to extract bioactives, and get them in our bodies very quickly,” she told National Geographic.
“If you don’t like eating your vegetables, tea is a great place to get bioactive compounds, like you would with fruits and vegetables,” she added. “It does make sense that we see populations who drink more tea live longer and do better.”
“She can be a food/drink snob, so that’s where I think this is coming from,” the MIL clarified in the comments
Most commenters initially sided with the MIL, calling out the DIL’s behavior as blatant disrespect
In a surprising twist of events, the son changed his tune after seeing people’s reactions to his mother’s post online
Commenters had little sympathy for the DIL: “I don’t think your DIL is a nice person”
