tea

Not that I am extremely interested in drinking tea, I was just worried that coffee might have the same effects as tea on iron absorption. As for tea, black tea contains tannins that strongly inhibit the absorption of non-heme iron (e.g., iron from non-animal sources). This iron-blocking effect is so strong that drinking black tea can help treat hemochromatosis, a disease of iron overload. But as it turns out, not coffee! So thank God we're safe there. For the legends about how humans discovered tea and more health details see this.