How do you take your tea?

With milk and a little sugar? Maybe some cream? A jug of it, iced? A can from the gas station? With biscuits, perhaps. Or honey when sick.

Tea has long been touted for its benefits. Some varieties, like green tea, have been linked to longevity, stroke prevention or protection against cancer. Tea drinking has even been shown to lower rates of cognitive decline.

Now, a new review published in Beverage Plant Research takes a comprehensive look at the documented benefits thus far — and also suggests that it’s not just what kind of tea we drink, but how it’s prepared.

The versions of tea that are some of the more convenient, like bottled teas or bubble teas on the go, often contain added sugars and preservatives. While these additions are rarely noticeable to our palate, they might play a role in offsetting the beverage’s sought-after benefits. For these, the authors recommend moderation.

And, while it might be hard to haul a teapot around with you day-to-day, the paper found that benefits are easily conferred when tea is freshly brewed.

Currently, when it comes to depth and breadth, green tea remains the golden — or should we say chartreuse — child of tea-related research. Researchers are pushing for a better understanding of the benefits of other unsung heroes, like black tea, white tea and even oolong. They also suggest there is ample opportunity for refining current guidance around tea drinking practices to better understand how the beverage does us well.

But for now, green tea, which is linked to weight management control, better metabolic markers and levels of cholesterol, remains king. Freshly brewed, of course.