A new study published in the ‘European Journal of Preventive Cardiology’ has found a link between drinking tea and living longer.

Chinese researchers analyzed a group of over 100,000 healthy participants over a period of seven years. Habitual tea drinkers were found to have a 20 percent lower risk of suffering from heart disease or stroke. They were also observed to have a 22 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease and stroke.

After an additional five years, those that continued to drink tea regularly had a 39 percent lower risk of heart disease and stroke and a 56 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease and stroke.

Although 49 percent of the tea drinkers in the study preferred green tea, which is believed to offer health benefits, it is not definite that it is “responsible” for the study’s results, according to Dr. Jenna Macchiochi of the University of Sussex.

“This study strengthens the body of evidence that habitual tea drinking is associated with lower rates of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, though it cannot prove that it’s definitely the tea that’s responsible,” says Dr. Jenna Macchiochi.