Teas that are good for Allergies/Sinuses?
It’s that dreadful time of year again where my nose is always on the fritz. I have sinus issues all year long, and medicine doesn’t help at all. I was wondering if anyone knew of teas that would be good to help congestion?
I’ve heard rooibos are generally good for allergies, but I’m a little skeptical. I’ve done searches online and still couldn’t find anything particularly informative, so I’m turning to you steepsterites for some ideas!
I know that eucalyptus is a great decongestant, but I’ve never heard of any tea that has eucalyptus in it. [I’ve looked at the tea on Karmablends, which seems perfect, but for some reason I can’t seem to place an order with them—It doesn’t like my address.]
I’ve also read that licorice, peppermint, and ginger are good herbs for sinus congestion but I really don’t like the taste of licorice.
Anyone else in a similar situation with sinus problems? does tea help you? what teas, or what was blended in the teas?
No teas with eucalyptus? That can’t be right. I’m pretty sure Yogi has some teas with it… Or was that echinacea…
No! Both Breathe Deep and Cold Season have eucalyptus. My local Superstore sells Yogi teas, so I don’t think they should be THAT hard to find.
oh wow thanks, those two look perfect :) Next time I go shopping i’ll have to keep an eye out for them :)
My local natural/organic grocery carries tons of Yogi teas. Let me know if either of those help since I’m having bad allergies this year too. I’ve never tried any Yogi teas since I drink tea for first for taste and not health benefits. But I’m trying to find tasty herbals for at night. Any you recommend AJ?
I’ve heard the same thing about rooibos – no idea if it’s true either. It might be one of those things where you have to drink five gallons a day to have an effect. :D
For eucalyptus the most common way I’ve heard of it being used is putting a few drops of oil in a bowl of steaming water and breathing in the steam.
It may just be a placeabo effect but my allergies are usually alot worse this time of year and I think the rooibos has helped as I’ve only had one or two bad days. I usually have bad weeks so I’m thinking it could be all the coconut custard rooibos I’ve been drinking.
I’ve heard the eucalyptus thing, and i’ve done it before, but I don’t have the convenience of having a kitchen to do that with. I used to have eucalyptus coughdrop things that were amazing, so i was wondering if a tea would have a similar effect?
I have horrible allergies and find that the days I consume five cups or more of any variety of teas the allergies seem better. I did some research online and all teas have something in them that stops the body from creating the histamine when an allergen is present. It could just be in my head but I seem less sneezy and stuffy after several cups of tea.
Interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed that myself, but I don’t really know whether I have allergies or not. I guess I’ll just have to try drinking more tea! :)
That is interesting about teas decreasing the body’s histamine production. Good excuse to drink more tea today!
Some say oolong can release allergy, because many oolong teas have the fragrant molecules same or similar to those in flowers and fruits (that’s where their fruity aroma is from) but in much smaller doses. So the tea kind of help your body system get accustomed to the fragrant molecules. I heard of some studies on it, but there doesn’t seem any solid evidence yet. Besides, I don’t think it’s instant cure. My husband has medium degree allergy, and I know sometimes it just seems nothing works.
To me, I’ve found honey worked well for me (but my allergy sydrome is very light). Some people say local honey helps you get accustomed to local plant chemical components. I think it makes sense. But it may not be instant cure either. Whether or not it works for allergy, I love having a cup of honey water every day.
One aspect drinking tea may help is all the water with tea. In modern society most people don’t drink enough water. In addition, soda and coffee deplete the body water. Tea has more water content than coffee (especially when you brew multiple infusions), so the water gained is more than water depleted due to caffeine.
On local honey – I haven’t noticed a difference. I got a huge jar of honey from my Mom’s coworker’s honeybees (so, LOCAL stuff) and using that instead of store stuff (who knows where it’s from) or The Bee Folks (and I believe when I talked to them they said theirs is mostly from PA; I’m in MD).
shrugs I also hop in and out of the east coast a lot for work, so that may be affecting me.
They’re going to be in MD this weekend! We don’t need any more honey (my husband has a compulsion where he buys honey all of the time) but we don’t have any creamed honey… hmm.
creamed honey on english muffin = win! i have 2 jars i grabbed from them last time – i also have one of their jars of sticks, if you bring it back you get a discount on the sticks!
We just had tupelo on our english muffins this weekend (because, really… too much honey in the house!) but liquid honey is pretty messy for toast; creamed honey is essential for toast.
Hmmmm….
Okay, we can probably stop thread jacking now….
I’ve actually heard the same thing about honey. I have a jar that I helped harvest with my friends grandfather, but I’m just not a huge honey in tea person. Also, I don’t really live near where the honey was harvested, so that probably wouldn’t make much of a difference.
I’ve never heard that about oolong though. I drink a lot of oolong too, so that’s a good thing I guess!
One note here… it’s important that the tea be raw honey. I also think that locally harvested honey is important because it will have the pollens in it that are causing the allergic reactions and will therefore help you build an immunity to those pollens.
But even more important than locally harvested is raw honey. Most store bought – unless it specifically says “raw” on the jar – is not going to be raw, and the heating process will destroy much of what you’re looking to honey to assist you with…
On another note… I carry an Allergi-TEA blend that contains nettle, lime blossoms, mullein, and elder, as well as peppermint and rosehips. I’ve been using it about this time of the year for several years now, and it is so comforting and helps to alleviate my symptoms quickly… much faster than an OTC med.
I’ve heard the same thing about local honey and allergies. I get ours from the farmer’s market when it’s on. I don’t think it’s heated but I’ll ask next time. Now I’m craving creamed honey on toast. I have some cinnamon creamed honey in the pantry that I got from the monastery shop at an abbey not too far away. I don’t think it’s local though. I think they sell it but it was made by another order of monks. I already had toast this morning so no more toast for me today.
Hi Chrine: If you get it from the local farmer’s market, it’s most likely raw, but you should ask to be sure. Generally, if you’re shopping in the supermarket, if it doesn’t say it’s raw honey, it most likely is not raw.
For me, it works wonders for my allergies. I didn’t used to get allergies – until I moved to the pacific northwest. With everything as GREEN as it is here, the allergies attack! UGH!!!
Whether or not it has any active ingredient for allergy, honey is believed in Chinese traditional medicine to sooth and moisturized one’s respiratory tract (but I don’t think there is any modern science study about it). Sometimes when nasal cavity and throat are moisturized, one may feel to some degree released from allergy. Drinking a lot of water may help too.
I checked my tupelo honey when I was in the kitchen a bit ago and it said 100% natural but not raw so I don’t think it is. I had bad allergies where I went to college. But none here until last year.
I’ll second the raw honey! I get locally grown raw honey from a farmer’s market and it has done wonders for both my allergies and my sister’s.
Poor Terri HarpLady! Her seasonal allergies have kicked in! Alas, she is probably neither the first nor the last. Since I’m going to be on that list soon, her recent post about Nettles tea inspired me to resurrect this thread. Anyone have additional suggestions for relieving allergies?
I tried the local honey trick last year and it had no noticeable impact.
Pollen count is over 4,000 here today, joyous.
I went to an allergist last year and the honey thing is totally bunk. If you have seasonal allergies, it’s a product of trees, weeds, and grasses, molds, etc and not wildflowers or most other pollens used for honey. So there is very little of these pollens in honey and it’s not going to do anything more than maybe have a placebo effect on you if that. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/health/10really.html?ref=health&_r=0
I made a joke about how I never get sick because of all the tea I drink, and she told me there’s actually a lot of research going on in some Chinese herbs that may help. She didn’t say what exactly but searching led me to these: http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/chinese/how-to-treat-allergies-with-traditional-chinese-medicine.htm
I drink Yerba Mate. I actually found this out on accident as the first time I tried it was during allergy season. My allergies went away and I turned to google to find that indeed, some use yerba mate as an allergy remedy. Worth a shot!
Not tea related, but I came across this article today on foods that help with allergies. Not sure how scientific it is.
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/storm_watch_stories3&stormfile=Top_5_Spring_allergy_super_foods_21_04_2013?ref=ccbox_weather_category3
According to WebMD black tea and apples act as anti-histamines and anti-inflammatories. If you are stuffed up any thing with strong caffeine can help to make it easier to breathe as it can help to open your bronchioles. At a job I once had we sometimes had Asthmatics ask for strong coffee if they were having mild symptoms and they didn’t want to use their medication. I sometimes have hives in reaction to something that comes through the air over the great lakes and believe it or not strawberries helped to reduce my tendency to react. So maybe a strawberry or apple black tea ;)
I just drink any tea I can get my hands on during allergy season, my throat is currently dry and scratchy to the point where if I’m not drinking something, I’m almost gagging. I don’t notice that the tea helps my stuffy nose though…however I have popping ears and a scratchy throat that can attest to the wonders of tea!
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