Please drink more tea

Coffee’s great until it isn’t—jittery hands, crashing at 2 AM while still in the office, and the acid reflux of a man twice your age. If you want to last in this job, consider tea.

Green tea keeps you alert without the shakes, oolong gives you that slow-burn focus, and chamomile? Well, that’s for when the MD rips apart your model, and you need to sleep off the trauma. Bonus: fewer bathroom runs and less staining on those overpriced teeth-whitening treatments.

Not saying ditch coffee altogether, but mix in some tea if you want to keep your heart rate below "impending doom" levels. Trust me. When you are using stimulants like Zyns or even addy, your health is at risk when combined with regular 4-5 hours of sleep and constant stress. For me, tea has been such a game-changer and helps mitigate a lot of the high-cortisol related symptoms this job brings.

Godspeed

24 Comments
 

A bit of both. For when I’m working into the AM, say 2am onwards, I will probably have caffeinated tea in the night a few times - you’ll get less energy from caffeinated tea than coffee but the tradeoff is that you don’t feel as anxious/stressed. If it’s not super intense at work I usually won’t go for caffeinated tea past dinner because I don’t need require the energy that bad.

 
Funniest

My strategy is a big coffee on the morning to wake me up and give me energy at the start of the day, and then diet cokes spaced out throughout the day for the slow release of caffeine

 

Haven’t we left behind the healthy-good vibes-zen-yoga type of life?
Let people shove whathever they want in their bodies

 
Most Helpful

I promise you I am furthest thing from some kind of yogi. I am also not the tea police so feel free NOT to take my advice. Given the stories from recent deaths in the industry and folks from GS HC passing out on the desk, I thought to share a very simple tool that could help mitigate the massive toll this job has on your body - tea. The reason I mention tea is because it’s a super simple addition/switch to your day that doesn’t actually hinder your ability to perform on the job (eg taking time away to go to the gym could be more tricky).

My team is one of the sweatiest groups in London. I recently had two consecutive 100-110 hour weeks for reference and have only just found some downtime to share this. I like my team and I don’t mind working this much, but what I do care about is anxiety/fast heart rate/stress that carries over to the time I do have to myself, friends, and family. I still go for pints where I can, I still bench and squat when I can, I still take my gf on dates when I can, it’s not like I’ve made some revolutionary change to my life. For me personally, caffeine and nicotine has a very noticeable impact on my cortisol, which I had never noticed until I was consistently getting little sleep. I still have caffeine in the early morning, but the switch to tea (and by extension broader reduction of these stimulants) has made the mental strain of this job a lot more bearable and I can say for certain that I have been able to maintain a positive sense of overall physical and mental health, despite these absurd hours.

Tea is just an example, there are many other ways to help make sure your health isn’t destroyed. Good balanced diet, walking, breathing fresh air, taking deep breaths, etc.

 

Not a bad thing but important to drink tons of water with this so you have ample hydration. Caffeine without water can have undesirable second order effects

 

When I first saw this point I thought you had made another one.

Quant (ˈkwänt) n: An expert, someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
 

Pierogi Equities

When I first saw this point I thought you had made another one.

haha

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Isaiah- do you have any opinion on regular iced tea? I’m from the south and drink that most days. Just the regular Lipton iced tea

 

Frybird101

Isaiah- do you have any opinion on regular iced tea? I’m from the south and drink that most days. Just the regular Lipton iced tea

There is a time and place to drink sugar iced tea (sweet tea). You can basically drink unsweetened iced tea or green tea as much as you want.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

I will never give up coffee but I fucking LOVE tea. There's a fancy artisan tea shop (we're talking have multiple walls full of tins, always coming up with new blends) like 20 min from me and I'm there at least twice a week. I WISH the US had kept the tradition of British tea time. If anyone knows any good MEA or Asian online tea shops I can order from PLEASE SHARE.

Jack Black GIFs | Tenor

"If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

The first two paragraphs read like an ad you'd see on the tube after a week of 3AM finishes, constantly asking yourself "am I going insane?"

Array
 

Commodi eius eos earum assumenda quisquam perferendis corporis sapiente. Rerum cupiditate odit magnam sequi. Sequi tenetur voluptate aut quia molestias.

 

Dolores qui corporis recusandae vero provident qui quia. Eos quibusdam corrupti sequi eaque nesciunt. Error consequatur beatae praesentium quibusdam eligendi nisi facilis.

Enim ut nihil quae sint qui ut. Facilis debitis alias itaque aliquam vel nulla.

Id possimus temporibus velit et. Et officiis voluptates qui ducimus at commodi velit. Tenetur numquam cupiditate minima officia magnam dolores.

Quis adipisci accusantium dolorem eos laudantium architecto blanditiis. Rerum a quam sapiente corrupti ut vel a. Voluptas facere perferendis excepturi ut in et deleniti.

Career Advancement Opportunities

May 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.6%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

May 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.0%

Professional Growth Opportunities

May 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.6%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

May 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (65) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”