5 Best Anti-Inflammatory Teas
A pot of tea a day keeps the doctor away
Tea is a truly incredible beverage. No matter whether your tea of choice just so happens to be a pure green or black, a citrusy or tart tisane, or even a keen blend incorporating ingredients or aspects of all of the above.
Yes, tea is a superb beverage to start, recharge, and/or wind down your day. When it comes to enjoying tea, one of the keen health benefits of tea that tea lovers can enjoy happens to be the anti-inflammatory properties of many various kinds of tea whether the tea in question is a “true-tea” or camellia Sinensis based leaf-like green or white tea, or an herbal tea or tisanes like lemongrass or ginger tea.
Then, of course, blends incorporating all of the above additionally provide keen anti-inflammatory benefits. Keep reading to learn more about the 5 best anti-inflammatory teas. Perhaps by the end of our list, you will have a great selection of teas to choose from to enjoy in your teapot as soon as you can!
What is inflammation?
To get a good grasp of the importance of anti-inflammatory tea, we should explore what exactly inflammation is. What is inflammation and what kind of damage does it cause to our bodies?
Inflammation is generally a good thing. It is our white blood cells activating to attack things that our body identifies as threats. Like bacteria, viruses, and other damage, and wear and tear our bodies undergo and sustain throughout life. Though this is a beneficial process our body uses to defend and sustain itself, it can in some circumstances and situations cause discomfort and unpleasant feelings as well as, most tangibly, swelling!
This swelling is also induced by the chemical reactions that can occur when white blood cells interact with threats or at least perceived threats to the human body. The fluid that can build up in our body may be painful or a nuisance to our general ease and well-being and so anti-inflammatories are here to save the day.
What are anti-inflammatories?
On its surface, "anti-inflammatory" is of course the opposite of what inflammation is. But anti-inflammatories do much more than just help to prevent or ward off inflammation. Anti-inflammatories can come in the form of artificial drugs and prescribed medications but they can also be acquired naturally from the food we eat.
This is where the tea world fits in of course but there are lots of other keen sources of anti-inflammatories out there including different kinds of fruits, berries, and vegetables. This makes sense as tea of any variety is usually comprised of one or all of the above. Most blends and tisanes include fruit and berries while true teas are themselves considered to be, and in parts of Asia today, enjoyed as leafy green vegetables! But now for the 5 best anti-inflammatory teas to enjoy.
- Green tea
Just about any and every good list of “the best teas for…” will include green tea! This is for so many good reasons. Green tea is tasty, it is versatile, it can be paired with lots of great ingredients, and has a long catalog of health benefits.
Of course the big ones like caffeine which helps keep us awake and alert, and L-theanine which helps us to remain calm and saves us from the unpleasant caffeine crash! Not to mention the antioxidants, vitamins, nutrients, amino acids, and tannins. All of which create a keen ensemble of health-enhancing and promoting properties for green tea.
A key health benefit that has helped to land this tea on our list includes of course the anti-inflammatory properties green tea has the potential to gift us with. Green tea can impart its anti-inflammatory powers in different blends but also in the form of matcha.
Matcha is always a great choice when trying to optimize as much of green tea’s great health benefits as one can. This is because when we enjoy matcha we drink the entirety of the green tea leaf in a more potent and concentrated tea experience.
- Holy Basil/Tulsi
If you are on the lookout for ingredients, teas, herbs, and/or spices that are great for anti-inflammation, then Holy Basil also known as Tulsi is a superb choice. Holy Basil has been used as a folk remedy in Indian cuisine.
The plant has religious and cultural significance, too, having a special place in Hinduism and Ayurveda medicine. It is also a great ingredient or tea base to get an anti-inflammatory tea. Brew up Holy Basil tea or use it in a blend if you are looking for warm, sweet, pungent, astringent flavor and aroma profiles with some flavors akin to licorice, lemon, cloves, and peppermint. In tandem, these combinations all make for a great spice to enjoy.
- Ginger
This versatile, spicy, little root makes for great and striking recipes but also makes a great anti-inflammation tea, too. Ginger and hot water are fine on their own, but since ginger tends to have a strong flavor, mixing it with other ingredients, herbs, spices, and other tea leaves will do wonders, too. Of course, the great ginger and honey combination makes a great trifecta as ginger, honey, and lemon.
But don’t be afraid to add some green tea or other ingredients, too! Cinnamon, turmeric and the aforementioned Holy Basil also go great with ginger root in a tea. The combinations and possibilities are endless and each one will provide some spectacular anti-inflammatory benefits, too.
- Turmeric
Speaking of turmeric, this other flavorful, and delectable root not only goes great with ginger but also provides great inflammation-fighting benefits on its own. Turmeric has served as a culinary spice for a long time, especially in India where the Ayurveda diet will employ this root for its many health-promoting benefits.
But more commonly we may enjoy turmeric in the form of curry! Certainly tasty over rice or with a little chicken, turmeric is also stupendous as a basis for tea. The flavor and aroma palette of turmeric on its own tends to be bitter, earthy, spicy, and even a bit musky. But, it also always makes for an extraordinary ingredient and addition to a tea blend. Especially when paired with some of the other teas, herbs, and spices on our list!
5. Cinnamon
Even just the name evokes that unmistakable scent. Somewhere between sweet and savory and spicy, cinnamon might bring back happy memories from holidays in the past or it may just make us happy because cinnamon tends to be delicious regardless!
Cinnamon, like the other herbs and spices mentioned above, is great on its own as a tea. It is spicy, a little woody, a little citrusy, and that aroma is always a treat. Cinnamon also, as one might expect, hosts some awesome anti-inflammatory powers, too. That is what puts it on our list of the 5 best anti-inflammatory teas to enjoy.
In the case that cinnamon may prove a bit too vivacious for some tea lovers, it makes for a great member of a tea blend ensemble. Black tea synergizes very well with cinnamon, but Oolong, Pu-erh, and green tea also make for great allies of cinnamon. Cinnamon is wondrous along with other herbs and spices in tisanes, too.
The 5 best teas to keep inflammation at bay
We hope you give each of these teas a brew. You may discover that one or more of them is your new favorite tea. This is especially exciting given the fact that these five teas help to keep our inflammation to a minimum. Not only that but they also taste and smell great. Why not try blending one or more of these spectacular teas and discover which one is perfect for you?
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