So many people’s favourite tea is the “chai latte” from Starbucks, but is chai tea really good for you? Well, obviously not the latté syrup but regular chai tea (from a tea bag) IS VERY GOOD FOR YOU!
Chai tea is essentially black tea but with additional spices/ herbs and milk. What many do not know though, is that black tea is very good for you… and with the added benefits of the spices in chai tea, it makes for a very healthy tea! If you want to read more about the health benefits of black tea, refer to our earlier article here.
Black Tea Benefits
Overall, black tea is rich in antioxidants, after all, it’s a cousin of green tea- specifically catechins and polyphenols. Antioxidants prevent free radical formation and cellular damage. If you read Eco-Savy’s article on Black Tea Health Benefits, we even referenced study that correlated women drinking black tea to a lower risks of ovarian cancer. Furthermore, black tea lowers cholesterol and is thus good for the heart.
Chai Tea Health Benefits
On top of the black tea ingredients in Chai tea, there are a series of series of spices, which are also very good for you. These spices include ginger, cloves, fennel seeds, allspice, cardamom and black pepper. Overall these spices help stimulate and support digestion, calm the stomach and combat nausea and diarrhea. Chai tea’s herbs also help with reducing inflammation in the body (i.e. the ginger does this). Also, an added bonus is that chai tea has less caffeine than coffee! Having chai instead of coffee provides health benefits and satisfies the taste buds.
Below you will find an infographic of the benefits of chai tea’s spices for your health.
