Managing high blood pressure isn’t a difficult task for the most, but the long term high blood pressure (hypertension) could pose a great risk to the overall health, especially the heart health.

Now researchers at the University of Western Australia say back tea is helpful in lowering blood pressure, and also decreases the risk of heart disease.

According to them, as many as 8 cups of black tea a day can help the hypertension patients helps in controlling the high blood pressure.

The researchers divided the volunteers into two groups. The first group was given black leaf tea, containing 429 milligrams of plant chemical polyphenols a day, which is equivalent to eight and half cups of tea. The other group was on a placebo.

After six months, the average blood pressure in the tea drinking group has come down by two to three mmHg, while the other group’s readings remained more or less the same.

Jonathan Hodgson, the lead researcher said, “Our study has demonstrated for the first time to our knowledge that long-term regular consumption of black tea can result in significantly lower blood pressures in individuals with normal to high-normal range blood pressures.”