That bloated feeling in your stomach after finishing a meal is not just uncomfortable, it’s unflattering. To return your stomach to its natural size, de-bloated, you’ll need to wait hours and pass gas. Or, you could try a delicious cup of tea for bloating. It can ease the symptoms quickly and help you feel back to normal!
What Causes Bloating?
Bloating is that very-full, round, uncomfortable feeling in your stomach after you finish a meal. Sometimes it’s just a feeling of discomfort at being so full, other times your stomach can visually swell and appear bigger.
This is usually caused by excess gas that builds up as your body digests food. As the muscles move in your digestive system, gas moves around and your stomach swells to accommodate it. You might even hear the gas moving around and gurgling.
Bloating is uncomfortable but it’s rarely dangerous. Sooner or later, the gas will pass and your bloating will go down.
If you’re intolerant to certain foods, like dairy (lactose intolerance), it’s best to avoid them as they can cause bloating. Other foods that are common causes of bloating include carbonated soft drinks, beans, onions and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage.
There are some other issues that can mimic the symptoms of bloating, including liver and gallbladder disease or gallstones. But these are unlikely. It’s far more likely that your digestive system is just having a little trouble digesting!
Before you go to your doctor worry about the causes of your bloating, it’s worth trying a nice warming cup of tea. If it’s just a case of eating the wrong foods, a cup of tea can solve your bloating problems very quickly.
How Can Tea Help?
Drinking a warm drink when you’re feeling bloated is a great way to relax. The warmth soothes your muscles inside and out, which can ease any pain you’re feeling. It also rehydrates your body and could soften up any dry, hard food you ate that’s causing the bloating.
Tea in general is a good drink to try when you’re bloated (don’t add sugar or milk though) as it is calming and relaxing on your body. This is thanks to the l-theanine amino acid that helps you feel relaxed yet focused and alert.
Combined with stretching, yoga poses, and a nice warm bath, your bloating will soon go down.
Best Tea for Bloating
Different teas have different properties, yet they all have a few things in common:
- They’re mostly water, which will rehydrate your system.
- They’re all warming and can soothe internal muscles.
- They have almost 0 calories and are unlikely to cause further bloating unless you add milk or sugar.
When you’re picking a tea for bloating, look for ingredients that reduce inflammation or have a soothing property. Menthol, for example, is good for soothing.
Below are our top 10 teas to try when you’re feeling bloated.
Green Tea for Bloating
Green tea is a great drink for the evenings when you’re feeling bloated and uncomfortable. The l-theanine works on your mental state, helping you feel relaxed and calm. A small amount of caffeine can also ease stomach cramps – green tea only contains around 30mg of caffeine, so it is an ideal drink for cramps.
Furthermore, green tea contains catechins that stimulate digestive enzymes. These enzymes break down your food more efficiently and help your body absorb more nutrients than usual. Speedy digestion will ease your bloating quickly!
Brew 1 teaspoon of loose leaf green tea, or 1 tea bag, in 80°C water for 2 -3 minutes. Then strain out the tea and serve.
Peppermint Tea for Bloating
Peppermint relaxes your gut and eases bloating. It’s great for soothing discomfort and pain in your stomach. Spasms in your intestines and conditions like IBS are helped greatly by a warm cup of peppermint tea. The fresh minty flavor will also settle your stomach and flush away any lingering flavors of dinner from your mouth. It’s best as an after-dinner or late-night tea, as the menthol can skew the flavors of any foods you drink after it – just like toothpaste.
To make peppermint tea, boil a handful of fresh leaves or a teaspoon of dried in leaves in boiling water for 5 minutes. Strain out the peppermint and serve.
Chamomile Tea for Bloating
Chamomile tea relaxes the gastro-intestinal muscles, preventing cramps and aiding digestion. Any sort of stomach discomfort, whether it’s bloating or menstrual cramps, can be soothed by chamomile. Just bear in mind that it can make you feel sleepy too!
To make chamomile tea, use 1 tea bag, 1 teaspoon of dried flowers or 2 teaspoons of fresh flowers for 1 mug of boiling water. Let them steep for 5 minutes, then strain them out and sip the tea. It will have a gentle honey and hay aroma and flavor that doesn’t need sweetening at all.
Fennel Tea for Bloating
Fennel seed tea soothes the muscles and can even act as a diuretic. It calms down your inflamed or overworked intestines, helping them to digest your food smoothly and easily. This will also help trapped wind and water pass through your system quickly, thus reducing bloating.
Fennel seeds have a sweet, aniseed-like flavor that’s similar to licorice. If you’re making your own herbal bloating blend (tips below) you can add fennel seeds to naturally sweeten it.
Brew 1 teaspoon of dried fennel seeds in boiling water for at least 5 minutes. Then strain the seeds out and serve the tea.
Dandelion Tea for Bloating
Dandelion root tea can be a good remedy for bloating if you’ve taken on excess water. Dandelion root tea, like caffeine, can make you urinate more frequently than usual. If your bloated and full of water as well as gas, dandelion tea is a good remedy to help you expel it.
Just be careful not to become dehydrated from drinking too much dandelion root tea. Furthermore, be extra careful to thoroughly clean the dandelion root if you’re digging it up yourself. If not, you can find dried dandelion root and dandelion tea bags from many popular herbal tea brands.
Simmer the chopped dandelion root in boiling water for 10 minutes, then strain and serve.
More: Dandelion Tea Benefits
Ginger Tea for Bloating
Ginger is fantastic at reducing nausea, but it’s also good for bloating even when you don’t feel sick. Ginger is a natural anti-inflammatory root – it soothes the lining of your stomach and intestines, reducing redness and inflammation that could be there because of digestive problems. Ginger also stimulates the digestive enzymes, helping them to break down your food so it can pass quickly and take the bloated feeling away with it.
To brew ginger tea, slice 1cm of ginger root thinly or use 1 teaspoon of dried ginger. Infuse the ginger in boiling water for at least 5 minutes.
Hibiscus Tea for Bloating
Unlike many herbal blends on our list that stimulate enzymes or reduce inflammation to combat bloating, hibiscus affects hormones instead. Flavonoids in hibiscus have an effect on aldosterone, the hormone that regulates the balance of electrolytes and water in our bodies.
That matters because excess bloating can be caused by too much water being released from the kidneys. The flavonoids in hibiscus can manage that and keep you balanced.
To make hibiscus tea, brew 1 teaspoon of dried hibiscus flowers or several teaspoons of fresh flowers in boiling water for 5 minutes. Strain and serve immediately.
Star Anise Tea for Bloating
Star anise is similar to fennel in flavor – they both have the aniseed/licorice taste. They’re often used to sweeten herbal tea blends. Besides flavor, they also have medicinal benefits in common. Star anise can get rid of excess gas that builds up when you’re feeling bloated. Like ginger, it can also relieve stomach aches and even ease menstrual cramps. If you often feel bloated when menstruating, this tea could do the trick.
To make star anise tea, crush approximately 1 tablespoon of star anise into smaller pieces. Brew the spice in boiling water for 5 minutes, then strain and serve.
Cilantro Tea for Bloating
Cilantro tea, also known as coriander, made from the seeds or leaves of the cilantro herb, is excellent for indigestion and bloating. Firstly, cilantro is a great source of fiber so if you’re struggling to pass gas or are feeling painfully constipated, cilantro tea can help food pass more swiftly through your system.
Cilantro seeds encourage and promote the enzymes in your system to break down food quickly and easily – they can also relieve cramps and heartburn. Cilantro tea is one of the best to drink immediately after dinner to help your food go down smoothly.
Brew 2 teaspoons of cilantro seeds for 5 minutes in boiling water.
Turmeric Tea for Bloating
Turmeric is known to combat bloating, gas and indigestion. Adding a teaspoon or more of ground turmeric to your dinner might be a good way to prevent bloating, but otherwise, a cup of turmeric tea after dinner can do a trick.
The key ingredient in turmeric is curcumin, which is a known anti-inflammatory substance that also encourages your gallbladder to produce more bile. That bile will help food pass more swiftly and smoothly through your intestines, reducing pain and discomfort.
Brew 2 teaspoons of ground or powdered turmeric in boiling water for 10 minutes, then strain.
Herbal Tea Brands to Check Out
If you’re looking for a super-easy way to create an herbal tea that can ease your bloating, tea bags are the way forward. Here’s a selection of some of the best herbal tea blends you can buy for bloating:
- Yogi DeTox – contains ginger, dandelion, and burdock to soothe your stomach.
- Yogi Stomach Ease – contains fennel seed, peppermint, and ginger to aid digestion.
- Heather’s Tummy Teas – a range of different teas all designed for stomach relief using many of the herbs we recommend.
- Gaia Herbs Gas & Bloating Tea – a blend of chamomile, fennel seed and peppermint to help you pass gas.
- Pukka After Dinner – fennel seed, licorice and ginger root to calm digestion after your meal.
- Twinings Digest – spearmint, apple, and baobab soothe with sweetness and warmth.
- Traditional Medicinals Gas Relief – relieves gas and bloating with chamomile, lemon balm, and peppermint.
- T2 Tummy Tea – peppermint, licorice, and fennel seed create a very bright, menthol and anise-flavored digestive tea.
Single blends like chamomile, spearmint, and dandelion are fairly easy to find by yourself as loose herbs or in tea bags. You can easily mix and match these teas to create your own, palatable, bloating tea.
You should also be aware that many of these herbal blends contain a lot of licorice, which you should avoid in large quantities if you suffer from hypertension.
How to Make Your Own Herbal Bloating Tea
Blending your own herbal tea is simple, but there are a few rules you should follow:
- Stick to safe herbs. Fresh herbs that you’ve grown from seed, fresh herbs from the supermarket, and dried herbs are all fine to use. Avoid picking wild herbs or plants you aren’t 100% sure of.
- You’ll need to use approximately twice the amount of herbs if they’re fresh. For example, 4 tbsp of fresh chamomile flowers OR 2 tbsp of dried flowers OR 1 tea bag of crushed/compressed chamomile flowers.
- Use boiling water for herbs and black tea, or 80°C water for blends that contain green tea.
- Boil the herbs over the stove for a stronger infusion.
- Store your herbs in airtight containers away from the light – storing them in cleaned out jam jars in the back of your cupboard is perfect.
To create your own blend, place your chosen herbs in a tea infuser or tea bag. If the herbs are large enough, you might be able to strain them out with a sieve instead.
Some herbs are stronger than others. Fennel seeds, peppermint and anise-flavored ingredients (like licorice and star anise) are quite pungent. Chamomile, fresh ginger, and dandelion can take a little longer to infuse.
You can use smaller amounts of the strong herbs or just add them for the last minute or so of brewing.
Bloating Be Gone!
Any one of these teas can help you digest your food easily. Whether you’re at home with your own herbal blend, or at a restaurant ordering a green tea after dessert, tea can soothe your stomach and restore some balance!
We have one final tip for you: add a squeeze of lemon to any of the teas listed to freshen up the flavor and aid digestion even further.