Have you ever eaten a big evening meal and immediately craved a delicious hot mug of something refreshing, decaffeinated and delicious in some kind of evolutionary belief that it will help you feel like a normal human being who hasn’t just eaten enough to feed a small family for a day?
Same.
It is something we touched on in our blog post: Tea rituals of the world volume four - Ireland where it is a defining feature of Irish tea drinking culture.
But why do we feel like this? We’ve heard it said that drinking hot drinks with a meal heats the fats in your foods, making them easier to digest. That is in fact false.
But there are many reasons why drinking certain types of tea can help you survive the dreaded tummy ache.
In this blog post, we’ll list some of the best known variations while teasing out some of the more interesting reasons for their digestive benefits.
So go eat a big meal and boil the kettle as we get digestive.
Peppermint tea
When you think digestive aid, the words that come to mind are alkaline, bicarbonate of soda, fizzy dispersive tablets, chalk and of course mint.
Peppermint tea has to be the best known and obvious choice of the digestive aid in hot drink format. And for good reason.
People have been drinking it for thousands of years with the active compound, menthol being the main improver of digestive issues.
Peppermint oil extract is a popular choice for sufferers of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) which affects the large intestine and causes all sorts of unpleasant symptoms.
Anything that helps with such things is alright by us. It’s also absolutely delicious.
Ginger tea
Ginger, that fiery rhizome from Asia, is another digestive powerhouse. Gingerols and shogaols, compounds in ginger, can stimulate stomach contractions, helping with bloating, gas, and indigestion.
One study we looked at found that eating just a gram and a half of ginger each day significantly helped to reduce nausea and vomiting in pregnant women, motion sickness sufferers and chemotherapy patients.
It doesn’t say anything about feeling a bit sick after over-eating but it surely has to be worth a try.
If you’re looking for something to help you get through the food coma, why not try our Green Tea with Ginger Teabags.
Fennel
This one divides the ranks here at Chanui HQ with some people thinking anything aniseed flavour could only help in turning ones stomach in the wrong direction rather than help it.
But it does follow that the two prominent flavours of gaviscone are mint and aniseed - a first cousin of the milder fennel.
The antioxidants in fennel have been shown to help prevent stomach ulcers and drinking a cup of fennel tea every day results in significantly more bowel movements. An easy addition if you’re suffering.
When proofing this blog post, a Chanui team member shared an interesting anecdote from when her baby was breastfeeding and suffering from reflux. She noticed that whenever she drank fennel tea brewed by her partner, her baby’s discomfort would significantly reduce after feeding.
Well worth steeping a teaspoon of fennel seeds for 10 mins.
Black tea
Camellia sinensis. Tea. Cha. Chai. Elixir of life.
Was it ever in any doubt? It’s good for pretty much everything from creativity to making friends so of course black tea is good for digestion.
There are a few key compounds that are worth talking about.
First up is thearubigins, a type of polyphenol found in black tea, formed during the oxidation process of tea leaves. They contribute to the dark colour and rich flavour of black tea.
As well as being rich in antioxidants (see our blog Antioxidants in tea), thearubigins have been shown to suppress inflammation.
Next we have catechins which can help improve gut health by promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria. There is good reason we use phrases like ‘gut feeling’ or ‘trust your gut’.
Our gut health is increasingly being proven to be closely linked to our emotional state. It’s no wonder we feel better after a few cups of the good stuff.
Finally black tea contains an amino acid called L-theanine that can promote relaxation and reduce stress, potentially easing stress-related digestive issues.
Digestive biscuit bonus
It would be remiss of us to mention the word "digestive" so many times without paying homage to one of the classic tea-time companions.
It should come as no surprise that a snack comprised mainly of butter, sugar and flour are not, in fact, particularly beneficial for digestion. The name is a relic of the 19th century when original recipes included sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) which was thought to help with digestion.
To be fair, a Quick-Eze tablet contains around 680 mg of sodium bicarbonate, designed to neutralise stomach acid effectively.
Compare that to the around 100 mg per biscuit and the majority of that will be neutralised in the baking process and you get the sense that you shouldn’t reach for the biscuits after a massive rich and spicy meal.
Final thoughts
There isn’t much more to say here other than if you’re not in the habit of drinking a cheeky little cup of something hot at the end of a meal then you should start.
It is undoubtedly going to be a better choice over other traditional options such as a cigarette, a richly flavoured digestif or indeed, a biscuit.
