If you want a rush, try gyukuro. Flavor of an umami green tea with the caffeine level of a cup of coffee & high L-thiamine to cut the jitters.
I lived it the UK briefly & my roommate never understood my fascination generally preferring his Yorkshire tea (trash). One day he asked about it so I made him a mug (we used coffee mugs). He said it tasted like yard clippings like other green teas before walking off continuing to sip to not waste it. He comes back in 15–20 minutes later over halfway finished, “Did you put drugs in this‽”. “Nope.” “I feel like I want to run a marathon. Okay, I see the appeal for your mornings, but this is the worst high ever.”
Both. If I can get up before lunch I will have a morning tea, then an afternoon coffee, & often an even tea—or if I have access to mate or guayusa (difficult here).
I used to be a heavy diet soda drinker, but my body hasn’t been responding well to it with stomach cramps in recent years. I used to hate tea since sweet tea & Nestea was all that was on offer where I grew up. I developed a highfalutin tea taste accidently when one of my old apartments was near a coffee/tea shop I would go to after work where due to free water to resteep, tea was a better bargain for the caffeine & they only had really good loose leaf (I would just have the staff recommend me something new each time). My face when I first went to the UK, known for the tea-loving stereotypes, on business after developing a taste. I rolled into a random café with my newly acquired tea knowledge & asked what sorts of teas they had to the response of “black & green”, Naïvely, “Umm, okay. Where is your green tea from?” She lifts an object, looks me in the eye with a vocal eyeroll “this box”. Working-class tea is very different to what I accidently became accustomed to.
Coffee was the same where it was gross instant Folger’s on the grandparents’ breath growing up. I would occasionally order a latte or mocha (no sugar) just to break up the monotony of tea now in Thailand where outside of the northern region, there is little understanding of good tea (just a flavor to add to your condensed milk lol). But the indie coffeeshops with friendly baristas slowly over the course of many years taught me how to taste the variety single-origin coffees offer. I would say I now slightly prefer coffee since the flavor gamut is broader & I found stuff I truly enjoy finally.
For that reason tho, I keep the kettle at home for tea only since I can buy the good stuff in bulk inexpensively to handle myself whereas I keep the coffee for the cafés so I have a good excuse actually leave the home when I work remote.