Functional teas contain healing ingredients to boost your mental or physical wellbeing

Wouldn’t it be fabulous if a beverage had the power to change your mood? Functional tea can! Whether it’s relaxation, focus, or relief from a headache, the right ingredients in a warm (or iced) cup can turn your whole day around. 

Of course, everyone responds to tea ingredients differently. There are no guarantees that a specific tea will help you get better sleep or improve your focus, but it’s an easy, tasty way to get started.

In this blog we’ll explore functional teas and how different ingredients can stimulate different responses in our mind and body. 

What are functional teas?

Functional teas contain ingredients to boost your mental or physical wellbeing. Functional teas are usually most helpful when warm, but many can also be enjoyed as iced tea!

Their ingredients are specially chosen not just for their flavour profiles but to counter physical or psychological symptoms of stress or illness. A good cup of tea can help us feel better when we’re sick or boost our immune systems to help fight off colds. 

Not only do the ingredients in functional tea have healing benefits for our body, but the act of sitting down with a warm cup of tea can also have a strong psychologically calming effect for some people. Drinking tea is generally accepted as a relaxing activity in general.  

Psychological benefits of tea

Functional tea ingredients often include calming chamomile and lavender, or energizing peppermint and ginseng

How exactly do certain ingredients help us calm our mind and body? Here are some common functional tea effects and what ingredients can help put us in that state: 

• Relaxation: Many teas can help you relax and unwind, especially ones with chamomile or lavender. Chamomile is widely regarded as a relaxing scent, and it contains flavoring, which act as a mild sedative and sleep-inducer. Lavender is often recommended for sleep products as it affects your parasympathetic system, which helps lower heart rate, adrenaline levels, and slows your breath.
• Energy: Many of us turn to coffee when we want a boost of energy, but tea can also be effective in helping you feel more energized too. For example, green tea contains 23-35 mg of caffeine, and black tea has about 60 mg per cup. Earl Grey (and its key ingredient, bergamot) is a good blend for the morning as it helps give you that boost of energy, similar to coffee, without the coffee’s side effects.  
• Focus: The right tea can help improve your ability to focus. Focus teas usually use black tea as the base and add additional, perky ingredients like peppermint, yerba mate, guarana, and ginseng.  
• Sleep: In today’s loud and busy world, the routine of having nighttime tea before bed can help you relax your mind and body. You’ll find many ingredients in nighttime teas, including chamomile, lemongrass, spearmint, rosebuds, orange blossoms, and hawthorn. These teas are usually herbal and don’t include green, black, or white tea leaves due to their naturally caffeinated makeup.

How to drink loose leaf functional teas

You can use loose leaf tea blends to make a great-tasting cup of tea. Here’s what you need to brew that perfect cup: 

• Water temperature: Boiling (100^oC)
• Water quality: Fresh or filtered water
• Tea leaves: 1 tsp per 236 ml of water (use more leaves if using bigger or chunkier ingredients)

To brew functional, herbal teas:

• Boil your water and add 2-3 grams (about 1 tsp) of loose leaf tea. 
• Let it steep for 5 minutes (steep it longer for more robust flavours)
• Strain the tea leaves from the hot water completely and serve. 
• You can use the leaves more than once, but you will lose some flavour every time. 

Shelf life of herbal, functional tea leaves

Herbal teas are best enjoyed as fresh as possible. Once opened, they are best used within 18 months but can stay fresh for ten years if sealed and stored correctly in a cool, moisture-free environment.

Healthy functional tea blends

Need a boost or pick-me-up? Here are Natteas specially curated blends of functional teas you may enjoy this season:

Functional Tea – Beauty + Skin: Golden Glow

Functional Tea – Cold + Flu: Flu Fighter

Functional Tea – Digestion: Belly BeCalm

Functional Tea – Relaxation: Raspberry Lemon Verbena

Functional Tea: Restorative Mindful Moringa

Functional Tea – Sleep: Lullaby

Functional Tea: Well Being Winter Cherry

Functional Tea – Headache Relief: Head Harmony

Functional Tea – Energy: Power Up Citrus Twist

How to choose good quality tea

As we enter the cold and flu season again, now is the time to stock up on warming, functional teas that will help keep your energy and health up. Whether you need to relax, need an energy burst, increase focus, or help you sleep, there is a herbal, functional tea blend made for you. 

Browse the functional tea blends from Natteas today, and you’re sure to find a flavour you’ll love!