You have heard of the many amazing health perks of tea — black, white, green and oolong — and that’s why you make it a habit to drink a cup of it on a regular basis.

But just because tea is packed with goodness doesn’t mean that you can drink it in any way or form that you like. According to experts, there are proper ways to drink tea. So it goes without saying that there are certain things that you should avoid when drinking tea.

If you want to maximize the perks of tea and keep at bay potential issues, keep on reading — below you will come across some of those that you should never do when it comes to tea consumption.

Got lots of health-conscious family members and friends who are fond of drinking tea as well? Then make sure that you repost this article later on so that they may also be able to dodge the following no-no’s:

Drinking It Immediately After a Meal

Refrain from brewing and consuming a cup of tea as soon as you’re through with a meal — this can hamper proper digestion, thus keeping your body from getting all of the nutrients in food.

Experts say that you should wait for at least an hour to pass after eating before you drink tea. Experiencing indigestion? Feel free to whip up a cup of ginger tea as it’s something that can improve the process of digestion.

Drinking It Before a Meal

Similarly, you should steer clear of a cup of tea an hour before sitting at the table to eat. Again, it’s for the fact that tea can make the consumption of the most nutrient-dense foods on the face of the planet useless.

For those who are trying to shed off excess pounds, however, having tea before mealtimes can help curb the appetite, thus fending off overeating.

Drinking It for Taking Medications

It’s not just nutrients in food that tea may keep your body from fully getting, but also the most important ingredients in the medications you are taking, over-the-counter (OTC) or prescription alike.

Needless to say, the best way to take your medications is with water. And by the way, it’s also not a good idea to take medications, including especially antibiotics, with milk because proper absorption can be prevented by it.

Drinking It Scalding Hot

You can benefit from drinking tea no matter if it’s hot, cold or at room temperature. However, it’s a completely different story if it’s scalding hot — the intake of tea that’s very close to boiling temperature can do more harm than good.

Aside from ending up with a burnt tongue and throat, experts say that drinking very hot tea (or any other beverage) can considerably increase your risk of having cancer of the oral cavity, throat, esophagus and stomach.

Drinking It Very Strong

Being a tea lover, it is completely up to you whether you want every single cup to be weak, moderate or strong in terms of brew strength. Experts, however, strongly advice everyone against going for tea brewed very strongly.

It’s true that the amount of caffeine in tea is less than the amount of caffeine in coffee. But if you brew tea very strongly, the amount of caffeine in a cup of it can increase — consuming it especially at night can leave you sleepless.

Drinking It After a Day or So

As a general rule of thumb, you should drink your tea as soon as you brew it. That’s because the loads of antioxidants in it get destroyed the longer they are exposed to the elements.

This is why drinking tea that’s been sitting around for a day or so is pointless although not harmless. Luckily, there’s no need for you to throw it away as you may still take advantage of tea’s many beauty perks when used topically.