But I don't understand... 8<)
My pots of coffee are still good after several hours of "steeping " ..... (By the way, I'm cutting back. Down to only 2-3 pots a day.)
Why should tea be more delicate?
tea can steep all day as well. Drink what you want, eat what you want... just get enough exercise to offset the "bad" stuff.
Regular coffee and tea is already roasted. Green tea is not. I don't have all the chemistry on-hand but the upshot is the first minute or two releases the best of the tea and additional steeping gets further into the tea leaves and releases bitter-tasting chemicals.
If you use good hot but not boiling water, and only steep for 1-2 minutes, you should get a sweet-tasting tea, not bitter. Even grocery store (Meijer, here) green tea suffices; it's not necessary to go buy some ridiculously expensive tea.
I don't think you really steep coffee for 5 minutes unless you leave it in one of those french press things? Normally the water drips through the coffee and that's the last the water sees of the grounds. Percolators, I think, recycle the water through the grounds ... but I always found percolated coffee very bitter, at least if it's been perking for a couple hours (!)
There are good health benefits to burnt, er, regular tea (less than green). Even coffee has its benefits (lower diabetes risk, less risk of colon cancer, improved cognitive function (duh), less risk of Parkinson's, physical endurance) -- in moderation!
No need to panic and go vegan health nut, just live sanely - that's my non-medical opinion.