The Best Teas for a Sore Throat

Licorice and fennel, with warm spice

Yogi builds Throat Comfort on the same two herbs as Throat Coat, licorice root and slippery elm bark, and says on its listing that both are used in Western herbalism for minor throat irritation. Then it adds nine more: fennel, wild cherry bark, cinnamon, orange peel, cardamom, ginger, mullein, clove and black pepper. Yogi calls the flavor herbaceous and sweet.

That's how people who drink it describe it too: mild and herbal, naturally sweet, with licorice and fennel you can clearly taste. One of them warns that if you don't like licorice, this isn't your tea. Another finds it slightly more bitter than the throat tea they usually buy. Yogi says to steep a bag for 7 minutes in boiling water, or use two bags for a stronger cup, and to sip it through the day.

It doesn't have a trial of its own. Its ingredients overlap enough with Throat Coat's that I think of it as the same idea with more spice around the edges. Reach for it when Throat Coat is out of stock, or when you want the warmth of clove and pepper.

The warning on the box

Yogi prints more caution than anyone else here: not recommended if you're pregnant or nursing, and ask a health care provider first if you take medication, have a medical condition, or plan to drink it daily for more than four to six weeks. The link is to the four-pack, about $4.50 a box and 28 cents a cup.

Cool mint in a hot cup

Every other tea here is made to feel warm and thick. Celestial Seasonings went the other way: peppermint, spearmint, lemongrass, chamomile, eucalyptus, licorice root, a natural menthol flavor, a natural mint flavor, and slippery elm at the very end of the list. Celestial's page gives 0 mg of caffeine, a steep of 4 to 6 minutes in boiling water, and 16 bags a box.

Pour the water over the bag and a cool, minty smell comes up out of the mug before you've taken a sip. Then each sip feels cold going down, the way a cough drop does, even though the tea is hot. It's a funny trick, and one I'd happily fall for on day three of a cold. People who drink it describe a gentle, sweet mint, closer to spearmint than to sharp peppermint. One buyer kept it close through a hard recovery from having their tonsils out, as a change from glass after glass of plain water. No agency or trial ranks menthol tea, so this pick is about how it feels.

The listing has its own allergy line: don't drink it if you're allergic to menthol, peppermint or eucalyptus. It also contains licorice, sixth of nine ingredients, so it isn't the licorice-free option some people expect from a mint tea.

Plain chamomile, for anyone skipping licorice

The ingredient list is two words: organic chamomile. That's the whole reason it's here. Licorice is the ingredient that keeps coming up when you ask who shouldn't drink what, and this is the simplest way around it.

Traditional Medicinals describes the taste as fragrant and floral with notes of honey, and people who drink it say it's naturally sweet, with a hint of apple, and never bitter. A longtime fan says to follow the box and let it steep longer than you would most teas, because it makes a real difference in the cup. Drink it hot, with a spoonful of honey.

The evidence is thin. NCCIH, the federal agency that studies herbal remedies, says studies of chamomile "have not produced sufficient reliable evidence to rate clinical usefulness," and calls it likely safe in the amounts found in teas. Mayo Clinic's advice for a sore throat is warm liquids such as caffeine-free tea, which is exactly what a cup of this is. So you're buying a safe, warm drink, not a remedy, and for many people that's the right buy.

Plain ginger, all warmth

Also a single ingredient, organic ginger root, and no caffeine. Where chamomile is quiet, ginger is loud. Traditional Medicinals calls the taste pleasantly spicy and warming, which is fresh ginger's heat, in a mug. Most people either want that badly when they're sick or can't stand it.

NCCIH's research on ginger is mostly about nausea, and its page lists mouth and throat irritation among ginger's possible side effects. I still like it here, because many people find the heat comforting and it has no licorice. But if your throat feels raw rather than scratchy, make it weak at first and see how it goes down. The Amazon listing adds a pregnancy note: don't use it while pregnant or breastfeeding without advice from a practitioner trained in herbal medicine.

A spoonful of honey, in any of them

Of everything on this page, honey is the one the CDC itself mentions: its sore throat page suggests honey to relieve cough for adults and for children at least 1 year old. NCCIH puts honey as a nighttime cough remedy for children among the approaches that "have shown some promise" for colds. Mayo Clinic suggests warm water with honey among its soothing drinks.

The age limit is not a formality: Mayo Clinic says don't give honey to children younger than 1.

This is Nature Nate's raw and unfiltered honey, one ingredient, 16 ounces in a squeeze bottle, at about 50 cents an ounce at the current price. Nate's says it only warms the honey enough to pour and doesn't filter it. When you feel awful, a bottle you can squeeze with one hand, without hunting for a clean spoon, is a small kindness. Let the tea steep first, then stir the honey in.