A Study on the Tea Drinking Habits of American Consumers and Nutritional Health Guidance

Abstract

Tea consumption in the United States reflects low-sugar beverage substitution, functional drink selection, and daily dietary management. Drinking habits are influenced by age, consumption scene, tea preference, brewing method, product labels, added sugar, and caffeine tolerance. This study established a multi-source framework for collecting and evaluating American consumers' tea drinking habits and encoded drinking frequency, tea type, brewing temperature, steeping time, serving volume, added sugar, label information, and caffeine sensitivity. The dataset comprised 1,200 adult questionnaires, 36 retail product labels, and 24 prepared-tea samples. Behavioral indicators were cross-analyzed by age, drinking scene, product form, and special-condition risk level for health adaptation. Questionnaire analysis showed that consumers aged 18--29 favored cold-brewed and ready-to-drink tea, whereas participants aged 45 and above paid greater attention to low-sugar and low-caffeine information; high-risk proportions reached 43% among respondents requiring glucose control and 37% among those reporting sleep effects. Label analysis showed that bottled flavored tea contained 13.7 g added sugar per 200 mL on average, compared with 4.2 g in juice- or syrup-containing cold brews. Component testing showed that fresh-brewed green tea contained 148.6 mg polyphenols and 18.4 mg theanine per 200 mL, while black tea contained 42.7 mg caffeine. These findings support age-stratified tea selection, sugar control, caffeine management, and nutrition guidance.