There’s so much more to tea and tisanes than just tasty beverages. We’ve all heard about how drinking tea is great for your blood pressure, heart health, and more, and certainly a nice cuppa can be a great stress-reliever.

But did you know that many teas and tisanes – and not just funky-tasting herbal concoctions – can be medicinal?

It’s cold season. And flu season. And, apparently, norovirus season. This year is just rough for anyone attempting to stay well…or at least stay functional when the various viruses and bacteria attack. When you catch something this year, you’re just down for the count. Those little microbes are potent this time around.

So what’s to be done, especially if you have to somehow keep yourself up and running when you’ve been hit by the latest permutation of the seasonal plague?

We recommend grabbing a cup of Red Hot rooibos chai, spiked with honey.

Why?

For one, it tastes good.

But more importantly, it actually contains several ingredients that will help make that cold or flu more bearable for you.

One of the flavours you’ll notice immediately when you brew a cup of Red Hot is the cayenne. We use 70-heat cayenne pepper in this blend; that’s 70,000 Scoville units, on average, and pretty darned spicy. (I have to wear a mask when I’m blending this one.)

Why is that important?

Because the thing that makes cayenne spicy, the chemical compound capsaicin, is extremely effective at clearing out your sinuses and helping relieve chest congestion. All stuffed up? Brew a very, very strong cup of Red Hot and sip gently while it’s very hot. The heat from the warm liquid will help you breathe easier, while the watery secretions triggered by the cayenne (you know, that feeling your mouth gets when you eat something spicy) will help break up the congestion in your throat and chest.

Dr. Irwin Ziment, a pulmonary specialist at the University of California Los Angeles, explained in the March 1992 issue of Health Magazine that chile peppers, “trigger a sudden release of a wave of watery fluids in the mouth, throat and lungs. This helpful action actually begins in the mouth, throat, and stomach, where special sensory receptors send nerve impulses racing to the brain, which in turn tell glands lining the airways to start producing. Their secretions, like the chemical cystine, also helps thin down the respiratory mucus, so it’s easier to cough up and expel.” Basically, peppers act as an expectorant.

Chile peppers also have antimicrobial properties; it’s not entirely clear whether this helps clear up a cold or flu, but it’s been found that capsicums like cayenne inhibit up to 75% of the bacterial growth in food. Meanwhile, cinnamon, another key ingredient in Red Hot, can kill up to 80% of that bacteria!

So there’s a decent chance that drinking an intensely spicy concoction, loaded with cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne, when you’re sick will help kill off the bacteria and viruses in your system, shortening the duration of your cold or flu, and helping a lot with combatting bronchitis, which is usually bacterial in origin. And you’ll feel less ill while you are sick, because you’ll be breaking up that chest congestion and clearing your sinuses.

Meanwhile, adding honey to your cup of Red Hot will help soothe your throat, and calm any coughing fits you might be having. Consuming a fairly considerable amount of honey (about two ounces or four tablespoons) can help reduce the duration of a cold by two days, too. So load up!

To all of you out there feeling like heck because of this season’s bugs: Feel better soon!

 

Want to learn more about the antimicrobial properties of spices? Check out this PDF of a food safety study examining the antimicrobial properties and biochemical analysis of certain cooking spices.