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My friend heard that tea is worse for drinking than water because "cells have a special membrane and tea has special supplements and membrane doesn't let tea pass and this is why skin is dry even when you hydrate with tea a lot", something about "lipid bilayer".

Is there is some nice scientific article on water andd tea difference to human organism?

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Your question is very awkward.

Let's define Tea as boiling leaves in water. At the end, you remove the leaves and drink the flavoured water.

At this point, the "tea" is still very much water - as in tea is water with dissolved chemicals from the leaves. Note, the word chemicals is not to be interpreted in a negative way because everything (including water) is a chemical.

So, the difference between tea and water are the chemicals that dissolve. What are these chemicals? The answer to that depends very much on the tea. Another difference is the temperature - tea is typically hot.

You can look at this article about chemicals in green tea and their associated health benefits. You can do further searches for other tea types and for each of those chemicals.

In short, no you do not get dehydrated because of tea vs. water. Dry skin can be caused by a lot of different reasons. Oh and no, caffeine doesn't cause any significant amount of dehydration as far as I know.

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Depends on the tea, but most tea (unless herbal) contains caffeine, which is a diuretic. This means it dehydrates, and why one might experience drier skin. However, this is not a direct relationship and the actual reason why one's skin might be dry is a lot more complex. However, for a basic answer, caffeine is your culprit.

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  • $\begingroup$ Please add citations to relevant scientific literature supporting your claim. The old wives tale about caffeine dehydrating you is completely false. Yes, it may increase your urine flow, but not enough to counteract the actual fluid intake from the tea (or whatever beverage) itself. Plenty of construction workers in the US rely solely on tea or soda beverages for their hydration during the day, and they have no symptoms of long-term dehydration. These actions are unhealthy because of the massive sugar intake, but they don't dehydrate. $\endgroup$
    – MattDMo
    Jun 12, 2016 at 2:10
  • $\begingroup$ @MattDMo Caffeine can be diuretic - but only in high concentrations (much higher than found in a cup of coffee). $\endgroup$
    – Chris ♦
    Jun 12, 2016 at 8:59
  • $\begingroup$ @Chris yes, I know. My point was that the amount of water you are consuming outweighs any minor diuretic effect of the caffeine. $\endgroup$
    – MattDMo
    Jun 12, 2016 at 20:17
  • $\begingroup$ @MattDMo For normal beverages, there is no effect. $\endgroup$
    – Chris ♦
    Jun 12, 2016 at 20:18

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