Sleep and timing

Can I drink tea at night?

By GyroscopeUpdated November 15, 20266 sources

Yes, if it’s a small cup or an herbal one. A cup of black tea has about 47 mg of caffeine, and at 8pm it leaves about 34 mg in you at 11pm, about a can of Coke. A green tea leaves about 21 mg. Chamomile on its own has no caffeine at all.

Tea feels like the gentle drink, and next to coffee it is. But black, green, white and oolong tea all come from the same plant, and they all have caffeine. Only herbal teas, made from other plants, can skip it.

9pm

24 mg is still in you when you fall asleep at 11pm after a green tea at 9pm, about a can of Coke. On our lines that’s low.

Each tea at 8pm and 9pm

On our lines, under 40 mg counts as low, so a black tea by about 8pm, or a green tea with dinner, stays in the low band. Matcha is the one to watch. You drink the whole ground leaf, so a strong bowl can carry as much caffeine as a coffee.

Herbal blends sometimes mix in real tea, so check the label if you’re avoiding caffeine. The Sleep Foundation points out that chamomile can be blended with a caffeinated tea.

Why the size of the cup beats the hour

Caffeine halves about every 5 hours, whatever you drank. A black tea at 8pm lands at bedtime about where an 8 oz coffee at 3pm does, at around 35 mg. In a 2025 trial, about 100 mg of caffeine 4 hours before bed changed nothing the researchers could measure. A cup of black tea is under half that.

Tea at night is like a nightlight. It’s on when you go to sleep, but at a level most people sleep through.

What we’d do

If tea is your evening habit, keep the caffeinated cup to green or a small black tea before about 8pm, and switch to chamomile or another herbal tea after that. If you’re sensitive to caffeine, go herbal after dinner. If you’re on the pill or pregnant, caffeine lasts longer in you, and the half-life tool shows how much longer. Is tea healthy? has the rest of the story, and the cutoff clock works out your own evening.