Tea is a popular choice for people watching their calories. In fact, plain brewed tea (whether from tea bags or loose leaves) contains almost no calories.

This is because tea is mostly water and only tiny amounts of natural compounds from the tea leaves. A typical 8-ounce cup of black or green tea has about 0–2 calories.

Health experts often note that when you drink tea without adding anything extra, those few calories are so small they’re usually rounded down to zero on nutrition labels.

Calories in tea

Most of the calories in your cup come from what you add, not from the tea itself. A plain cup of tea made with just a tea bag has virtually no calories.

In fact, organizations like the U.S. Dietary Guidelines consider unsweetened tea to be a zero-calorie beverage.

The little calories that do exist are from trace carbohydrates dissolved from the leaves during brewing.

In practical terms, a single tea bag steeped in hot water yields only a couple of calories at most.

Whether you choose black, green, white, or herbal tea, the calorie count is nearly the same: almost none, unless you add milk, sugar, honey, or cream.

How many calories in a cup of tea

When you ask “how many calories in a cup of tea,” the short answer is: very few if it’s plain. For example, an 8-ounce cup of brewed black tea usually has about 2 calories.

Green tea and herbal teas often have 0–1 calories per cup. These numbers depend on cup size and brewing strength.

Even a larger mug (12–16 ounces) of plain tea will only have 5 calories or so. By contrast, once you sweeten tea, the calories jump. One teaspoon of sugar adds roughly 15–16 calories, and even a teaspoon of honey adds about 20 calories.

Milk adds calories too – each tablespoon of whole milk adds around 9–10 calories (skim milk is about 5 calories per tablespoon).

In recent health news, many Americans are paying attention to added sugars in drinks.

The American Heart Association warns against too much sugar – recommending no more than about 100 calories (6 teaspoons) from added sugar per day for women, and 150 calories (9 teaspoons) for men.

This is why unsweetened tea is so appealing: it gives flavor with almost no calories. The trend is clear: ready-to-drink teas with “no sugar added” or low-calorie sweeteners are booming in popularity.

Since sugar can quickly add calories, plain tea remains a top choice for dieters.

Green tea calories

Green tea is especially popular with health-conscious consumers, and it’s just as low in calories as black tea.

A standard cup of brewed green tea has about 0–2 calories, essentially nothing.

Green tea contains antioxidants called polyphenols, which have been linked to heart health and even gentle support for metabolism.

As a result, many people add green tea to weight-management diets. Still, any calories in green tea come only from natural compounds in the leaves, so plain green tea is essentially calorie-free.

Keep in mind that bottled green tea drinks or flavored green teas can be different.

Those often contain sugar or juice and can have dozens of calories per serving.

But pure brewed green tea is nearly zero-calorie. If you sweeten it (with sugar, honey, or milk), the calories come from those additives.

For example, a teaspoon of honey in your green tea adds about 20 calories; a splash of milk adds about 10–20 calories.

Black Lipton tea caffeine

While calorie counts in tea are usually negligible, tea’s caffeine content is often of interest, especially for those cutting back on coffee.

Black tea (like Lipton’s black tea) typically has more caffeine than green tea.

A single Lipton black tea bag in 8 ounces of hot water delivers about 50–55 mg of caffeine.

For comparison, an 8-ounce cup of coffee has about 95 mg, so Lipton black tea is milder but still energizing.

Caffeine itself has no calories, but it can give you a gentle energy boost and slightly ramp up your metabolism.

Many dieters enjoy black tea for this reason. If you’re monitoring caffeine, remember that decaffeinated black tea has virtually the same zero-calorie advantage (it just has about 1/10th the caffeine).

In summary, Lipton black tea gives you about 50 mg of caffeine per cup and still only a couple of calories (if drunk plain). It’s one way to wake up without adding calories.

How many calories in a cup tea?

So overall, how many calories in a cup tea? It depends on what’s in that cup. Plain brewed tea (black, green, white, or herbal) is nearly calorie-free.

As noted, an 8-ounce cup is usually under 5 calories. Even if you brew tea very strong or use two tea bags, the total might only reach 5–10 calories for a large mug.

In contrast, adding sweeteners or milk is what really adds calories.

Here’s a summary:

Most plain teas – whether hot or iced – have about 0 calories.

This makes tea a great drink if you want flavor with no extra calories. For example, 12 ounces of unsweetened iced tea is just a few calories, whereas the same size of sweet iced tea could have 80–100+ calories from sugar.

Key takeaways for dieters:

By choosing plain tea (and skipping the sweeteners).

You can enjoy multiple cups per day and almost all of them will be counted as zero calories in a diet.

Tea also offers variety, from bold black teas to gentle green teas or herbal infusions, without adding to your calorie tally.

• Black tea (plain, 8 oz): ~2 calories

• Black tea + 1 tsp sugar: ~18 calories (1 tsp sugar ≈ 16 cal)

• Green tea (plain, 8 oz): ~0–2 calories

• Green tea + 1 tsp honey: ~20 calories (1 tsp honey ≈ 20 cal)

• Unsweetened iced tea (12 oz): ~5 calories

• Sweet iced tea (12 oz): ~90–100 calories (sugar-sweetened)

Each entry above shows roughly how calories add up. Notice how plain brewed teas are all basically zero-calorie drinks. Enjoy your tea knowing that it can flavorfully fit into a low-calorie lifestyle!