Scentists have urged tea-loving Brits not to give up their favourite beverage because of a health scare.
Researchers found drinking tea with a temperature above 70C inceased the risk of oesophageal cancer eight-fold.
But if you let your cuppa cool for five minutes it should be safe to drink, experts have said.
The cancer warning was issued after a study in Northern Iran where tea is often drunk piping hot.
Golestan Province has one of the highest rates of throat cancer in the world despite its residents not smoking much and drinking little alcohol.
Researchers studied the tea drinking habits of 300 people diagnosed with the cancer and a group of 571 healthy people from the same area.
Nearly all drank black tea regularly, consuming more than a litre a day on average.
What emerged was that people who drank tea at higher temperatures were far more likely to get oesophageal cancer.
The study - published in the British Medical Journal - found no link between the amount of tea drunk and the cancer risk.
David Whiteman from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research said there is no cause for alarm.
"These findings should not reduce public enthusiasm for the time honoured ritual of drinking tea," he said.
"Rather, we should follow the advice of Mrs Beeton, who prescribes a five to 10 minute interval between making and pouring tea.
"By this time the tea will be sufficiently flavoursome and unlikely to cause thermal injury."