Good news for tea drinkers! Having five cups a day is GOOD for you

As we all know in Ireland, tea time is ALL the time. Drinking tea is something we all just can't get enough of.

But now, the rest of Europe is catching onto our love affair, as new Dutch guidelines are encouraging people to drink tea regularly.

The guidelines from The Health Council of the Netherlands, has advised people to drink up to five cups of tea a day. Hallelujah! 

The advice only applies to green tea or regular tea though (which is totally fine with us), and not other herbal options. 

They have already implemented the new guidelines into many Dutch schools, with children as young as four being encouraged to enjoy a cup of milky tea at lunchtime. 

“We noted that in the scientific literature in the last 10 years, there are clear signs that drinking tea is good for your health,” Eert Schoten, a spokesman for the health council, tells The Telegraph.

“Three to five cups a day reduces blood pressure, diabetes and stroke risks, so this comes as one of our 16 guidelines,” he says.

Tim Bond, from the Tea Advisory Panel says that the guidelines are the same as what he would recommend: “A number of recent studies looking at long term drinking habits have indicated that three to five cups of tea are associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.”

We already knew that green tea was good for us and can help protect against various illnesses, but we didn't realise that our love for Barry's or our taste for Lyon's would be providing us with hidden health benefits too.

Going to pop the kettle on? Yep, us too!