Best Tea for a Cold or the Flu: 8 Teas Ranked by What the Trials Show
The best tea for a cold is a hot one, and the three with the most useful evidence are hot lemon-ginger with honey (for symptoms), elderberry (for shortening the illness) and green tea (for not catching it in the first place). Heat is the one thing proven to help right away: in a crossover trial of 30 people with a cold, a hot drink relieved runny nose, cough, sneezing, sore throat, chilliness and tiredness immediately and for about half an hour, while the same drink at room temperature helped only the first three. Honey has a Cochrane review for cough. Beyond that, elderberry shortened flu by about 4 days in a 60-patient RCT, green tea catechins cut flu infections in trials of healthcare workers and care-home residents, and echinacea and andrographis have mixed but mostly positive records.
This guide is for an uncomplicated cold or flu in an otherwise healthy adult or child over 1. See a clinician the same day if there is trouble breathing, chest pain, confusion or unusual drowsiness, a fever above 39.4°C or lasting more than 3 days, symptoms that improve and then suddenly worsen, signs of dehydration, a stiff neck or rash, or if the person is under 3 months, pregnant, over 65, or has asthma, COPD, diabetes, heart disease or a weak immune system. For flu in those higher-risk groups, antiviral medicines work best within 48 hours of the first symptom, which is a reason not to wait and see with tea.
Each pick below is graded by the human evidence for colds and flu specifically, with a brew for this purpose, who it suits and what can go wrong. After the list: how to choose, three popular claims that do not survive the trials, the non-tea levers that matter more (zinc lozenges, sleep, fluids, the flu vaccine) and answers to the questions people ask most.
Quick answer
- Hot lemon-ginger with honey — heat relieved six cold symptoms within minutes in a crossover RCT; honey cuts cough in a Cochrane review
- Elderberry — flu symptoms resolved about 4 days earlier in a 60-patient RCT; a 4-trial meta-analysis found shorter, milder colds
- Green tea — catechin capsules and gargles reduced influenza infection in trials of healthcare workers and care-home residents
- Echinacea — small preventive effect across 24 trials in a Cochrane review; weak evidence for treating a cold you already have
- Andrographis — a 33-trial meta-analysis found faster relief of cough and sore throat; bitter, so usually taken as capsules
- Peppermint and chamomile — comfort teas: menthol opens the nose by sensation, chamomile helps sleep; no cold trials
The 8 best teas for cold and flu
Ranked by the strength of human evidence. Strong = multiple trials or a meta-analysis. Moderate = a few small trials. Preliminary = early, traditional or animal data.
This is the drink the hot-drink trial was effectively testing. In a randomised crossover study at the Common Cold Centre in Cardiff, 30 people with a cold or flu drank a hot fruit drink and the same drink at room temperature on separate occasions; the hot one gave immediate and sustained relief of runny nose, cough, sneezing, sore throat, chilliness and tiredness, while the room-temperature drink helped only runny nose, cough and sneezing. Honey adds a Cochrane-reviewed reduction in cough, especially at night. Ginger and lemon contribute flavour, a little vitamin C and ginger's anti-nausea effect; they are not the active ingredient.
- Key evidence
- Sanu & Eccles, Rhinology 2008 (hot vs room-temperature drink, 30 subjects); Oduwole et al., Cochrane 2018 (honey for cough)
- How to brew it
- 10 g of sliced fresh ginger simmered 10 minutes in 300 ml of water, then the juice of half a lemon and 1 to 2 teaspoons of honey; drink hot but not scalding, every 2 to 3 hours.
- Best for
- The first 2 to 3 days of a cold or flu, when chills, sore throat and congestion are worst
- Cautions
- No honey under 12 months. Ginger has a mild antiplatelet effect (limit to 2 cups with warfarin or clopidogrel) and can cause heartburn; up to 1 g dried ginger a day is considered safe in pregnancy. Count the honey as sugar with diabetes.
Elderberry has the best treatment data of any single herb here, but it is a small and uneven record. In a double-blind RCT of 60 adults with laboratory-confirmed influenza, 15 ml of elderberry syrup four times a day relieved symptoms about 4 days sooner than placebo, and a 2019 meta-analysis of 4 RCTs (180 participants) found elderberry substantially reduced upper-respiratory symptom duration and severity. Against that, a 2020 RCT in 87 emergency-department patients with flu found no benefit over placebo, and most positive trials used a standardised syrup, not tea. Anthocyanins block viral attachment in the laboratory, which is the proposed mechanism.
- Key evidence
- Zakay-Rones et al., Journal of International Medical Research 2004 (60-patient influenza RCT); Hawkins et al., Complementary Therapies in Medicine 2019 (meta-analysis of 4 RCTs)
- How to brew it
- 1 tablespoon of dried black elderberries simmered in 300 ml of water for 15 minutes (cooking is essential), strained, with honey; 2 to 3 cups a day starting within 48 hours of symptoms.
- Best for
- Flu-like illness caught early; people who want an antiviral-leaning tea
- Cautions
- Raw or undercooked berries, leaves, bark and stems contain cyanogenic glycosides and cause vomiting and diarrhoea; always cook dried berries and never use fresh plant parts. May stimulate immune signalling, so check first if you take immunosuppressants or have autoimmune disease; safety in pregnancy is not established.
Green tea is the pick for not getting sick rather than for feeling better. In a 5-month RCT of 200 healthcare workers, capsules of green tea catechins (378 mg) and theanine cut clinically defined influenza to 4.1% from 13.1% on placebo, and in a care-home RCT, gargling a catechin solution three times a day reduced influenza infection to 1.3% from 10%. A 2018 review pooling the randomised trials found catechins, taken or gargled, lowered the risk of influenza infection, though the trials were small. As a treatment for a cold already underway there is no good data; drink it for the warm fluid and modest caffeine lift on a sluggish day.
- Key evidence
- Matsumoto et al., BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2011 (200 healthcare workers); Furushima, Ide & Yamada, Molecules 2018 (review)
- How to brew it
- 1 teaspoon of loose leaf (or 1 bag) in 250 ml of water at 75 to 80°C for 2 to 3 minutes; 2 to 3 cups a day through cold season, with a cooled mouthful gargled before swallowing.
- Best for
- Prevention during cold and flu season; a daytime cup when you are run down but working
- Cautions
- 25 to 45 mg of caffeine a cup; keep it before mid-afternoon and limit it with arrhythmia or anxiety. Tannins cut iron absorption when drunk with meals; green tea can reduce absorption of the beta-blocker nadolol and, in large amounts, affect warfarin via vitamin K.
Echinacea has more trials than any cold herb and the answer is still 'a little, maybe'. The 2014 Cochrane review of 24 double-blind trials (4,631 participants) found no significant treatment effect in individual trials and only a small, non-significant trend toward preventing colds, with the authors noting products differ so much that results cannot be pooled cleanly. The best single trial, 755 adults taking Echinacea purpurea extract for 4 months, found fewer cold episodes and fewer recurrent infections than placebo. Tea delivers alkylamides and polysaccharides less consistently than a standardised extract, so treat it as a mild preventive, not a treatment.
- Key evidence
- Karsch-Völk et al., Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2014 (24 trials, 4,631 participants); Jawad et al., Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2012 (755 adults, 4 months)
- How to brew it
- 1 to 2 teaspoons of dried Echinacea purpurea aerial parts or root in 250 ml of water just off the boil, covered, 10 to 15 minutes; 3 cups a day for up to 10 days, started at the first tingle.
- Best for
- People who catch cold after cold; the first 24 hours of a cold
- Cautions
- Daisy-family allergy (ragweed, chrysanthemum) can cross-react, and echinacea can trigger rashes in children. Avoid with immunosuppressants and in autoimmune disease; it inhibits CYP1A2 and may raise caffeine and theophylline levels. Keep courses under 10 days.
Andrographis paniculata ('king of bitters') is the most-studied herb for cold symptoms you may never have heard of. A 2017 meta-analysis of 33 RCTs (7,175 patients) found it improved cough, sore throat and overall symptom scores more than placebo or usual care and shortened time to recovery, though the authors rated most trials as poor quality. In the best single trial, 223 patients taking 200 mg a day of a standardised extract improved significantly faster in cough, nasal discharge, headache and fever from day 3 onward. It is extremely bitter, which is why nearly all trials used tablets; as a tea it is an acquired taste.
- Key evidence
- Hu et al., PLoS ONE 2017 (meta-analysis of 33 RCTs, 7,175 patients); Saxena et al., Phytomedicine 2010 (223-patient RCT)
- How to brew it
- 1 teaspoon of dried aerial parts in 250 ml of water just off the boil, 10 minutes, with honey to cut the bitterness; or 200 to 400 mg a day of a standardised extract for 5 to 7 days.
- Best for
- A cold with cough and sore throat as the main symptoms; adults who will take a capsule
- Cautions
- Do not use in pregnancy (animal data suggest it can end pregnancy) or while trying to conceive. It can lower blood pressure and blood sugar, adding to medications for both, and has a mild antiplatelet effect. Rare allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, have been reported.
Ginger on its own earns a Preliminary grade: fresh ginger blocked respiratory syncytial virus from attaching to airway cells in a laboratory study, and gingerols are anti-inflammatory and anti-nausea in human trials, but no trial has tested ginger tea in people with a cold or flu. Its best-supported job in flu is settling the nausea and loss of appetite that come with it, where 1 to 1.5 g a day has consistent RCT evidence in other settings. Drunk hot, it also delivers the proven heat effect and makes a chilled, achy person feel warm quickly.
- Key evidence
- Chang et al., Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2013 (fresh ginger vs RSV, in vitro); nausea RCTs; no cold or flu trial
- How to brew it
- 10 g of sliced fresh ginger simmered in 300 ml of water for 10 minutes; honey to taste; up to 3 cups a day. Fresh ginger, not dried, showed the antiviral effect in the lab.
- Best for
- Flu with nausea, chills and body aches
- Cautions
- Mild antiplatelet effect (limit with warfarin, clopidogrel, aspirin); can cause heartburn; may add to blood-sugar lowering from diabetes medicines at high doses. Up to 1 g dried a day is considered safe in pregnancy.
Peppermint's menthol activates cold receptors in the nose and makes breathing feel clearer, a real effect in volunteer studies even though measured nasal airflow does not change. Inhaled menthol also reduced cough reflex sensitivity in a Thorax study, and the steam from a hot cup is a mild way to get some. There is no trial of peppermint tea in people with a cold. It is a pleasant, caffeine-free way to drink hot fluid when your nose is blocked and you have no appetite for sweet things.
- Key evidence
- Eccles R, Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology 1994 (menthol and the sensation of nasal airflow); Morice et al., Thorax 1994
- How to brew it
- 1 tablespoon of dried leaf in 250 ml of water just off the boil, covered, 5 to 7 minutes; breathe the steam from the cup before drinking.
- Best for
- A blocked nose and tickly cough; people who want something unsweetened
- Cautions
- Worsens reflux and heartburn; not for infants and young children (menthol can cause breathing spasm). Otherwise very safe.
Chamomile has no cold or flu trial, but it does have RCT evidence for the thing a sick person most needs: sleep. A 270 mg chamomile extract twice daily improved sleep quality and daytime functioning in an insomnia trial, and 1.1 g a day reduced anxiety scores in generalised anxiety disorder. Its apigenin and bisabolol are anti-inflammatory in laboratory work. Drunk hot with honey at bedtime, it combines the proven heat and honey effects with a mild sedative that helps you sleep through congestion.
- Key evidence
- Zick et al., BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2011 (chamomile for insomnia); laboratory anti-inflammatory data
- How to brew it
- 1 heaped tablespoon of dried flowers (or 2 bags) in 250 ml of water at 90 to 95°C, covered, 5 to 10 minutes; with honey, an hour before bed.
- Best for
- Bedtime during a cold; children over 1 (weak brew) and most adults
- Cautions
- Avoid with ragweed or daisy-family allergy. Mild blood-thinning effect (care with warfarin) and additive sedation with benzodiazepines, sleep medicines and the sedating antihistamines in many cold-and-flu remedies.
How to choose
- First day of a cold: hot lemon-ginger with honey every 2 to 3 hours, and start elderberry or andrographis if you want an herb with treatment data; both were studied starting within 48 hours.
- Flu with fever and aches: hot fluids above all (fever increases water loss), ginger for nausea, chamomile at night; in a high-risk person, call a clinician about antivirals the same day.
- Blocked nose: peppermint, or any tea you breathe over; the congestion guide covers steam, saline and menthol in detail.
- You keep catching colds: green tea daily through the season has the best prevention data, with echinacea a reasonable second; neither is a reason to skip the flu vaccine.
- Pregnant: hot lemon and honey, chamomile (if no ragweed allergy) and ginger up to 1 g a day are the safe choices; avoid andrographis, licorice and medicinal-dose echinacea, and skip elderberry for lack of data.
- Children 1 to 5: warm honey-lemon or weak chamomile with honey; no peppermint, andrographis or elderberry; under 1, fluids only and a clinician's advice.
What to skip
Vitamin C tea or megadose lemon
The Cochrane review of 29 trials found regular vitamin C shortens colds by about 8% in adults, but starting it once you are sick does nothing. A lemon has about 30 mg; the trials used 200 mg or more daily, beforehand.
'Immune boosting' cleanse teas
Senna-based cleanse blends cause diarrhoea and dehydration, the opposite of what a feverish body needs. No tea boosts the immune system in a measurable way; sleep and the flu vaccine do.
Hot toddies with whisky
The heat and honey help; the alcohol does not. It disrupts sleep, dehydrates, and interacts with paracetamol, antihistamines and cough medicines. Make the toddy without the whisky.
Safety and when to see a clinician
- Honey is unsafe under 12 months; elderberry must be cooked and never made from raw berries, leaves or stems; menthol and andrographis are not for young children.
- Pregnancy: avoid andrographis (possible abortifacient), licorice and high-dose echinacea; elderberry lacks safety data; ginger to 1 g a day, chamomile and honey-lemon are considered safe.
- Blood thinners: ginger, chamomile, green tea (large amounts) and andrographis all have mild effects on clotting or vitamin K; keep intake steady and modest if you take warfarin or clopidogrel.
- Echinacea, elderberry and andrographis stimulate immune signalling: check with your prescriber if you take immunosuppressants, have an autoimmune disease or a transplant.
- Many cold-and-flu tablets contain paracetamol, decongestants and sedating antihistamines; chamomile adds to the sedation, and pseudoephedrine plus caffeine from green tea can raise heart rate and blood pressure.
- See a clinician the same day for trouble breathing, chest pain, confusion, fever above 39.4°C or beyond 3 days, symptoms that improve then suddenly worsen, dehydration, a stiff neck or rash, or any flu in a person under 3 months, over 65, pregnant or with chronic lung, heart or immune disease.
What matters as much as the tea
- Zinc lozenges (zinc acetate or gluconate, 75 mg or more a day in divided doses, started within 24 hours) shortened colds by about a third in a meta-analysis; they taste bad and can cause nausea, but the evidence is better than any tea.
- Sleep: people sleeping under 6 hours were about four times as likely to catch a cold after viral exposure in a 164-person study; tea at bedtime, screens off.
- Fluids: 2 to 3 litres a day while feverish, more if sweating; any warm fluid counts, tea included.
- Saline nasal rinse or spray for congestion, and a humidifier at night.
- Stay home for the first 3 to 5 days, wash hands, and get the annual flu vaccine; it prevents more flu than every herb on this page combined.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best tea for a cold?
Any hot tea helps more than the same drink cold, so start with hot lemon-ginger and honey, which combines the proven heat effect with honey's Cochrane-reviewed benefit for cough. For an herb with treatment data, elderberry (taken early) and andrographis have the best trials. Green tea is for prevention rather than treatment.
What tea is best for the flu?
Elderberry has the only RCT in confirmed influenza, where symptoms resolved about 4 days earlier, though a later trial found no benefit. Hot ginger-lemon-honey covers chills, nausea and sore throat. If you are over 65, pregnant, or have asthma, diabetes, heart or lung disease, see a clinician within 48 hours about antiviral medicine rather than relying on tea.
Does elderberry tea really work?
The evidence is encouraging but small: a 60-patient RCT and a 4-trial meta-analysis found shorter, milder illness, while an 87-patient trial found nothing. Most trials used a standardised syrup, so a tea from dried berries is a weaker version. Always cook the berries; raw elderberry causes vomiting.
Is green tea good when you have a cold?
It is fine as a warm, low-caffeine fluid, but its real strength is prevention: catechin capsules and gargles reduced influenza infection in trials of healthcare workers and care-home residents. Once you are sick, the theanine and modest caffeine can help you function, but drink it before mid-afternoon so it does not cost you sleep.
Should I drink tea hot or cold when sick?
Hot. In the Cardiff crossover trial, a hot drink relieved six cold symptoms immediately and for about 30 minutes; the same drink at room temperature relieved only three. Comfortably hot (55 to 65°C), not scalding, since very hot drinks injure the throat lining.
Can tea shorten a cold?
Elderberry and andrographis are the only teas with trials showing a shorter illness, and both work best started within the first 2 days. Zinc lozenges have stronger evidence for shortening a cold than any tea. Everything else on this page makes you more comfortable while the cold runs its 7 to 10 days.
What tea is safe for a cold during pregnancy?
Hot lemon and honey, ginger up to about 1 g of dried ginger a day, and chamomile if you are not allergic to ragweed. Avoid andrographis, licorice and medicinal-dose echinacea, and skip elderberry for lack of safety data. Pregnant women with flu symptoms should call their clinician promptly because antivirals are recommended.
References
- Sanu A, Eccles R. The effects of a hot drink on nasal airflow and symptoms of common cold and flu. Rhinology (2008)
- Oduwole O, Udoh EE, Oyo-Ita A, Meremikwu MM. Honey for acute cough in children. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2018)View source
- Zakay-Rones Z, Thom E, Wollan T, Wadstein J. Randomized study of the efficacy and safety of oral elderberry extract in the treatment of influenza A and B virus infections. Journal of International Medical Research (2004)
- Hawkins J, Baker C, Cherry L, Dunne E. Black elderberry (Sambucus nigra) supplementation effectively treats upper respiratory symptoms: a meta-analysis of randomized, controlled clinical trials. Complementary Therapies in Medicine (2019)
- Macknin M, Wolski K, Negrey J, Mace S. Elderberry extract outpatient influenza treatment for emergency room patients ages 5 and above: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Journal of General Internal Medicine (2020)
- Matsumoto K, Yamada H, Takuma N, Niino H, Sagesaka YM. Effects of green tea catechins and theanine on preventing influenza infection among healthcare workers: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2011)
- Furushima D, Ide K, Yamada H. Effect of tea catechins on influenza infection and the common cold with a focus on epidemiological/clinical studies. Molecules (2018)
- Karsch-Völk M, Barrett B, Kiefer D, et al.. Echinacea for preventing and treating the common cold. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2014)
- Hu XY, Wu RH, Logue M, et al.. Andrographis paniculata (Chuan Xin Lian) for symptomatic relief of acute respiratory tract infections in adults and children: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS ONE (2017)
- Hemilä H, Chalker E. Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2013)
- Hemilä H. Zinc lozenges may shorten the duration of colds: a systematic review. Open Respiratory Medicine Journal (2011)
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Elderberry (2020)View source
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Ask about tea for cold and fluThis guide is educational and is not medical advice. Herbal teas can interact with prescription medicines. Talk with a clinician or pharmacist before relying on any of them, especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, have a chronic condition, or take medication.