I swapped out coffee for green tea and my skin has never been healthier

I’m in a serious and committed relationship with coffee. Though my favorite roast has yet to propose, we start mornings together and get our grind on, check in throughout the day, and on occasion, spend intense nights together making each other shake. Our relationship has always seemed solid, but my frequently broken out skin disagreed. I turned to my dad (whose skin glows) for advice, and he suggested the impossible: swap coffee for green tea for better skin.

Since my dad is no skin expert, I turned to dermatologists to uncover if there’s truth behind the claim drinking green tea instead of coffee could lessen breakouts and improve my skin. Dr. Shereen Idriss of Wexler Dermatology and Dr. Sue Ann Wee at the Manhattan Center for Dermatology spilled the beans (or should I say leaves?) on the coffee vs green tea debate, and what I might notice by swapping. After all, every good relationship needs to be tested, right?

The Facts

First, the accusation. Dr. Shereene Idriss tells me how, despite coffee’s health benefits, “it happens to be a strong diuretic, which in the dermatology world equates to dehydration. In turn, this leads to a buildup of toxins that cause inflammation resulting in dilated superficial capillaries, blotchy and dull skin.” Dr. Sue Ann Wee adds, “Coffee drinkers often add sugar and sweetened creamers to coffee, and this excess sugar ... can increase inflammation in the body [and] trigger acne flares." Why coffee, why.

Alternatively, green tea gets some serious praises for its skin-loving effects. Dr. Wee shares, “Green tea [IMO] is better for your skin than coffee mainly because it doesn’t spike cortisol like coffee (high levels of cortisol can lead to ... aggravation of acne, rosacea, and other skin conditions." Dr. Idriss also points out how “[it’s] not usually consumed with creamer and therefore tends to be more hydrating than coffee without inducing acne." Well, snap.

The Experiment

(Above, me happily drinking coffee while wearing a substantial amount of concealer like I do EVERY day.)

Armed with some serious motivation, a ton of yummy green tea options, and a little anxiety, I decided to drink green tea instead of coffee for an entire seven days to find out what would happen to my skin. While Dr. Wee and Idriss commented that it would likely take up to a month to notice any incredibly drastic effects, I am only human and a week was the longest amount of time that sounded even remotely feasible. I know my fellow coffee addicts will understand.

And since this is a thoroughly scientific experiment, I want to point out that the photos below were all taken in similar lighting, not photoshopped or filtered, and I made sure to get seven hours of sleep each night!

Day 1

An excerpt from my phone notes on day 1: “Oh my god. This was a terrible idea. Why is morning so bright? Please tell me day 7 is tomorrow.”

But for real. The headache struggle was so real basically all day. I popped a few painkillers by 2 p.m. because I needed to function at work.Yowch.