22/12/2021
This Is the Very Best Tea To Brew If You Have a Sore Throat
An unfortunate reality: Even if you take all the necessary precautions (booster, flu shot, hibernating at home until springtime; check, check, check), you can still end up with a sore throat.
The tell-tale signs of a sore throat are itchiness and irritation, which feels even worse when you swallow. Not fun. The most common cause is a viral infection, like a cold or the flu. Unlike strep throat, which is a bacterial infection and requires medication, a sore throat clears up on its own (you should, of course, still consult with your doctor for a proper diagnosis and treatment protocol.) Until then, there’s one simple remedy that can help: sipping tea.
“Warm teas cause the vessels of the throat and the muscles to open and relax more, thereby soothing the sore throat,” says Harvard Medical School- and Mayo Clinic-trained ENT and allergy expert, Shawn Nasseri, MD. Choosing a warm tea, he says, will be more soothing than reaching for a cold ice-pop because it will feel more comforting and help the throat muscles to relax more. “Icy drinks can sometimes cause throat spasms which definitely don’t feel comforting,” he says.
While any warm tea may feel soothing on your sore throat, some scientific studies point to one in particular that is especially helpful in healing a sore throat. One double-blinded randomized controlled study found that a tea made primarily with licorice root was more effective at minimizing pain than a placebo tea, which tasted similar.
