An extra five years of life? That sounds like a pretty incredible promise. According to a new study in the British Journal of Nutrition, it’s possible. And all it takes is drinking more than three cups of green tea a day.

Scientists studied the green tea intake of 2,006 Chinese men and women over the age of 65. They also analyzed their blood for telomere length. Telomeres are the protective caps located on the ends of the chromosomes in your body. The longer the caps, the more protection they provide. The shorter they are, the less protection provided. Telomeres naturally shorten over time as you age, eventually becoming so short that they trigger cell death and contribute to aging and eventually your mortality.

In essence, the longer your telomeres the longer you are likely to live. In this study, scientists found that men who consumed more than three cups of green tea a day had longer telomeres than men who drank the least amount of green tea. The researchers concluded that the additional length added up to about an additional five years life expectancy.

In this particular study, the link between green tea consumption and longer telomeres was only found in men, not in women.

Even so, there are many other reasons why women as well as men should drink more green tea. Here are some of the benefits:

• Green tea is a potential energy booster.

• Green tea has about half the caffeine as coffee.

• Green tea has theanine, which helps people feel focused.

• The theanine content in green tea helps to balance the effects of the caffeine.

• There is scientific evidence that green tea helps keep weight off, boosts exercise ability, helps muscles recover faster from workouts, and improves attention span.