Video above: If you aren't sipping hibiscus tea, you're missing out on major health benefits

A warm cup of tea in your favorite mug can seem to heal the soul — and a new study finds it may be good for your body, too.

Drinking two or more cups of black tea a day is associated with a lower risk of death from all causes, according to the study published Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The study looked at nearly 500,000 men and women ages 40 to 69 years old who participated in the UK Biobank, which houses in-depth genetic and health information, between 2006 and 2010. The database included information participants reported about their own tea drinking habits, such as frequency and what they added to their cup, according to the study.

Some participants didn't drink black tea at all, but since the data came from the United Kingdom, there also were plenty of people who drank it regularly — and some who drank up to 10 cups a day, said lead study author Maki Inoue-Choi, an epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute in the U.S.

Video below: Five tips for keeping your caffeine consumption in check

The Biobank followed up about 10 years after the original survey, and researchers found that people who drank two or more cups of tea daily in the interim were less likely to have died from causes such as cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease and stroke, according to the study.

The research is an exciting look into tea drinking habits, but there is still more work that needs to be done before recommending dietary changes, said Howard Sesso, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Sesso was not involved in the study.

"The authors tried to control for other dietary factors, but tea drinkers typically differ from non-tea drinkers in other ways that would likely weaken these findings. We really need more randomized clinical trials testing tea intake," Sesso said in an email.

What about the milk and sugar?

For many tea drinkers, the process of making their tea is crucial.

What temperature does the water need to be? Do you take it black? Do you add milk? Sugar? How much?

If you can't imagine taking your tea black, don't worry just yet. There was no significant reduction in health benefits for those who added milk or sugar, according to the study.

That doesn't necessarily mean it's the healthiest way to drink tea, though. Inoue-Choi said health experts strongly encourage limiting sugar and the saturated fats like those in milk.

Should you change your drinking habits?

Although it's hard to say for sure from the research so far, Inoue-Choi said there are some good reasons why black tea might be so beneficial.

"There are multiple possible mechanisms," she said. "Tea is rich in bioactive compounds ... They have the potential to decrease oxidated stress and inflammation. That could protect against health conditions such as cancer and heart disease."

There has been plenty of research on the health benefits of green tea.

Observational studies, like one from 2013, suggest that it could slow the growth of precancerous legions, while a 2014 study found that green tea consumption is associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline.

Both black and green tea come from variations of the same plant, camellia sinensis, but little research before now has looked into the impacts of drinking black tea, Inoue-Choi said.

Because of the lack of research, it may not be time to add black tea into your daily routine just yet, she added.

"Our findings may provide reassurance to people who already drink tea every day, but we don't recommend making decisions about whether people start drinking tea or change how much they are drinking right now," Inoue-Choi said.

People shouldn't rely on the results from a single study for these kinds of changes, she said, and more research is needed to round out the findings.

"This study does not prove that tea intake reduces mortality, but it does suggest that if you are currently drinking tea — and especially black tea, which was the tea type of choice in the UK — you can continue to do so," Sesso said.

The cup of coffee or tea you reach for in the morning — OK, maybe it's a few — may be associated with a lower risk for stroke and dementia, according to a new study.

Among more than 360,000 participants studied over a period of 10 to 14 years, those who drank two to three cups of coffee, three to five cups of tea or a combination of four to six cups of coffee or tea a day had the lowest risk of stroke and dementia, according to researchers from Tianjin Medical University in Tianjin, China.

"Our findings suggested that moderate consumption of coffee and tea separately or in combination were associated with lower risk of stroke and dementia," the authors of the study said in a release.

Around the world, 10% of deaths are caused by stroke, according to a 2017 study published in The Lancet. Dementia refers to a general decline in brain function, but it can set in after a stroke.

Drinking coffee or tea alone also was associated with lower risk for both conditions, but people who had two to three cups of coffee and two to three cups of tea daily — four to six cups total — faired the best, with a 28% lower risk of dementia and 32% lower risk of stroke than those who didn't drink either, according to the study.

The participants' information came from the UK Biobank, a database of anonymous health information from around half a million volunteers in the United Kingdom gathered between 2006 and 2020. The study looked at health participants between ages 50 and 74 who self-reported their consumption of coffee and tea.

Over the course of the study period, 5,079 participants developed dementia and 10,053 experienced at least one stroke, according to the study, which was published in PLOS Medicine.

There have been many studies suggesting health benefits may be associated with drinking coffee and tea, but it is important to note that the researchers could only say the two were linked — not that the beverages necessarily offered protection.

There are limitations to the accuracy of the data because the participants reported their own tea and coffee drinking, and their estimates could be influenced by their own bias, Dr. Lee H. Schwamm, chair of the American Stroke Association Advisory Committee and chair in Vascular Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, said via email.

"We cannot impute causality, and say 'drinking more coffee or tea is good for your brain.' What we can only say is that in this study, people who reported moderate coffee/tea drinking were less likely to have a stroke or dementia occur in the 10 years of follow-up," Schwamm said.

Is it time to start drinking coffee?

Past research has suggested that coffee may be beneficial to brain health.

Another 2021 study that utilized the UK Biobank showed that for people with no diagnosis of heart disease, regular coffee consumption of 0.5 to three cups of coffee a day was associated with a decreased risk of death from heart disease, stroke and early death from any cause when compared to non-coffee drinkers.

Several studies have also shown that three cups of coffee a day can decrease the risk for Alzheimer's Disease.

Caffeinated coffee can help the brain in several ways by increasing production of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, according to the UK Alzheimer's Society. Called G-CSF, it helps protect and repair neural brain cells.

Neither decaffeinated coffee nor caffeine alone was shown to help in this way, "suggesting that there could be a combination effect between caffeine and an unknown compound in coffee," the society said.

More is not always better when it comes to coffee. People drinking more than 6 cups a day were at an increased risk of dementia and smaller total brain volumes, according to a study published in June in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience.

The results of the most recent study may point to some benefits of drinking coffee and tea, but that doesn't necessarily mean that everyone should start to brew more cups across the day.

"A word of caution, one man's cappuccino is another man's expresso," Schwamm said. "Not all coffee beverages have the same amount of caffeine, and people estimate a cup's worth of coffee or tea differently, so we should keep in mind that most things are best consumed in moderation."

If you avoided caffeinated beverages in the past, there may have been a good reason, and there isn't evidence yet that there is a benefit to starting a coffee or tea habit, he added. For most things, moderation is the best approach, Schwamm said.

"Enjoy your morning cup of coffee, and don't swear off additional cups if you enjoy them," he concluded.

Customers at Starbucks will have new ways to pay for their drinks and food while still earning stars in their rewards program.

The changes to the Starbucks Rewards loyalty program begins Tuesday, September 15.

Customers have complained for years about the need to reload their Starbucks card in order to spend money at the coffee giant and earn loyalty stars. In order for customers to earn stars in their loyalty program, customers had to use a Starbucks card or gift card to pay. This forced regular customers to constantly reload their card to ensure there was enough money for their purchases.

Starting Tuesday, alternative ways to pay will be allowed and still allow members to earn stars for purchases. Alternative methods include debit/credit cards, cash, and select mobile wallets.

However, there’s a catch.

Customers paying with their Starbucks card or gift card will earn two loyalty stars per $1 spent, and those paying with alternative methods will earn one star per $1 spent.