The Flavors and Health Benefits of Chai Spices

Traditional chai tea recipes use black tea as a base and add spices including cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and star anise. Other recipes add additional herbs and spices to enhance the chai flavor. Each of these spices adds a different flavor to the overall profile of the tea. Some spices, like cardamom, can quickly become overwhelming, while others, like ginger, can define a blend.

Just as each spice has its own flavor, the spices in chai tea also have various health benefits. The effects listed below, while not tested by the FDA, all come from peer reviewed medical studies. The health benefits of chai tea include:

Cinnamon

Cinnamon adds a sweet flavor that helps give chai its distinctive, rich, savory taste.

In addition to its wonderful flavor, cinnamon is a great dietary addition for a number of possible benefits. As reported in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, "...evidence suggests that Cinnamon has anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumor, cardiovascular, and cholesterol lowering effects." Specific to the anti-oxidant effects, a comprehensive database of over 3100 various foods and beverages published in the Nutrition Journal showed dried herbs and spices on average have more antioxidants than fruits, berries, teas, legumes, and any other food sources. Within, the category of spices, cinnamon (and mint, available in our Mint Chai) had some of the highest anti-oxidant counts.

However, Cinnamon might have a dark side, or certain types of cinnamon. Cassia Cinnamon, also known as Chinese Cinnamon, contains coumarin which "may be toxic to the liver" at levels higher than "a daily teaspoon." Fortunately, Ceylon Cinnamon (used in Chai Hous teas) does not contain "significant amounts" of the possibly toxic compound, coumarin. There is currently no data on the safety of Vietnamese and Indonesian Cinnamons.

Ginger

Ginger is a spicy root that Chai Hous tests have found becomes more flavorful with the addition of sweetener, going from pure spice to more of a crystalized ginger-candy flavor.

In addition to its great taste that forms the core of our Spicy Ginger Chai, ginger can have beneficial effects for people in all states of health. One study compared blood sugar levels of people after eating a slice of white bread with and without an accompanying tablespoon of ginger. The study found those who had consumed ginger along with their slice of bread showed less of a blood sugar spike than those without ginger.

Another study that fed diabetics a teaspoon of ginger per day for 8 weeks found that ginger reduced LDL (bad) cholesterol levels in the diabetic test subjects by an average of 13.7%. It is worth noting that LDL cholesterol increases the risk of heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in diabetics. While this particular study did not see the blunting effect on spiking blood sugar, two follow up studies, one that went for 12 weeks instead of 8 and the other using 1.5 teaspoons instead of 1 teaspoon, both found ginger resulted in reduced blood sugar levels in diabetics after all.

So, some studies have found that ginger can be helpful to diabetics, but what about athletes? For many athletes, controlling inflammation to reduce muscle cramps has become a major practice, typically with the use of drugs like aspirin or ibuprofen, if the athletes themselves are to be believed. In one survey, 95.7% of colligate athletes self reported their use of anti-inflammatory medications (starting at 45.6% in junior high). Another survey where 3913 participants of the 2010 Bonn Marathon responded, found "5 times the rate of organ damage" after use of medication (including 9 hospitalizations) compared to athletes competing without pre-dosing on medication. The researchers also found that there was no significant difference in performance between those who had used medication and those who had not.

Meanwhile, 8 different studies all found ginger to be as effective or better than respective pain killer drugs at controlling pain from a variety of sources including inflammation, migraine headaches, and arthritis. Specifically regarding inflammation from exercise, anti inflammatory drugs work by inhibiting the cyclooxygenases enzymes (COX-1 and COX-2). COX-2 triggers inflammation, but COX-1 protects the lining of the stomach and intestines. Unlike anti inflammatory drugs which inhibit both COX-1 and COX-2, ginger only inhibits the inflammation causing COX-2 while having no effect on COX-1. The only stipulation to using ginger for inflammation control is that its effects occur over time (usually seen to need at least 5 days before effects kick in) rather than immediately. Further, another study performed a side by side comparison of 10 different spices effects on white blood cell Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) response to oxidized cholesterol. TNF is another highly inflammatory compound. Of the spices tested, ginger showed the 2nd largest decrease in inflammation causing TNF.

Thus, ginger can help to control inflammatory pain, excellent! But what about people who live in areas or work in jobs that expose them to higher levels of ionizing radiation? Good news, an in-vitro study found that a compound from cooked ginger provided 150 times stronger radio protective effects than the leading radiation sickness drug. Other studies found that drinking an herbal tea before being exposed to radiation increased blood antioxidant levels, reducing free radical damage from radiation sources.

Cardamom

Cardamom adds a cool earthy flavor that expands the complexity and richness of the blend. However, cardamom can quickly become overpowering, leaving the brew with a smooth but bitter-earthy flavor.

Cutting edge research into new antibiotic treatments have turned to cardamom which shows evidence of natural antibacterial properties as well as evidence of anti-fungal properties. One particular study found cardamom essential oil, "to be highly effective in controlling multi drug resistant E. coli and MRSA in vitro without showing any signs of toxicity to human cells." Granted, while this last study used nanoparticles to deliver the essential oils, but it is exciting to see a possible antibiotic that is effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Another in-vitro study found cardamom to be a booster to "Natural Killer Cells" (NKC) effectiveness in killing cancer cells. In this study, cardamom alone showed no anti-carcinogenic effects, but NKCs with cardamom were able to kill off up to 10 times more cancer cells than NKCs without cardamom.

Star Anise

Although star anise is traditionally considered a spice and included in many spice mixes, it is actually a dehydrated fruit. However, it still tastes like a spice with a flavor similar to cinnamon plus a hint of natural sweetness. Star anise, like cardamom, has a strong flavor that can quickly become overpowering.

Also like cardamom, star anise has shown evidence of antibacterial and antifungal properties including against antibacterial-resistant bacteria.

Black Tea

Tea leaves when harvested are allowed to oxidize to various degrees resulting in the different flavors of tea starting at white, then moving to green with oxidation, on to oolong, and then to the most oxidized, black. Tea has a complex blend of flavors on its own, and these flavors add to the complexity and richness of chai. However, Chai Hous tests have found that tea leaves steeped for more than 10 minutes have a noticeably more bitter flavor from released tannins.

Black tea, like coffee, espresso, cola, and energy drinks, contains caffeine, the world's favorite drug consumed by more than 80% of the population. As a stimulant, caffeine speeds up the messaging between the brain and body, resulting in the feeling of higher energy levels and increased focus. Even though black tea has less caffeine than most other caffeinated drinks, it should be noted that too much caffeine can cause irritability, restlessness, and can increase risk of complications during pregnancy.

In addition to caffeine, tea is often held up as a good source of antioxidants, however, the database of 3100 foods and beverages mentioned previously found tea to be sorely lacking in antioxidants compared to other chai spices. Black tea still beat out grains, beans, meats, and even some fruits and vegetables like oranges and broccoli. Still, the reported 1 mmol of antioxidants per 100g of black tea or even the 1.5 mmol per 100g of green tea (both reported by the study to be "antioxidant rich") are negligible compared to ginger's 20, cinnamon's 77, or mint's 116 mmol/100g.

So what is tea good for (other than caffeine)? Could tea have a positive effect on heart health? Two studies found daily tea consumption to result in "strongly decreased" LDL cholesterol levels. One of these studies also noted finding evidence that black tea has an effect on colorectal cancer. Another study found "reduced risk for coronary heart disease" and concluded this was due to "improved antioxidant ... intake" from black tea. Furthermore, two other studies found consumption of black tea to be correlated with lower risk of stroke.

A final note about the aluminum content in tea. Tea leaves are high in aluminum and aluminum consumption has been linked to Alzheimer's. However, the aluminum in tea seems to be bound up in other chemicals, as studies have determined that the bioavailability of aluminum in tea to be absorbed into the body is less than 10% of the total aluminum content, requiring one to drink over 40 cups of tea a day to approach the World Health Organization's safe daily aluminum limit.

Chamomile

A mild flavor, chamomile has been described as slightly apple-sweet.

Chamomile, a core ingredient in Chai Hous' Night Night Chai Blend, has long been regarded as the best tea for sleep, but is there any science behind this folk remedy? A meta-analysis comparing 12 different medical studies of chamomile's effects found "a significant improvement in sleep quality after chamomile administration," and that, "Chamomile appears to be effective and safe for sleep quality." The researchers also noted that chamomile showed no effects for anxiety nor insomnia, only for sleep.

But why does chamomile appear to help with sleep? It may be due to the apigenin molecule found in chamomile. Apigenin is an antioxidant as well as acting as a sedative.

Additionally, apigenin has been shown in studies to have growth inhibitory effects on cancer cells, specifically, skin, prostate, breast, and ovarian cancers. Another study found "Chamomile exposure resulted in apoptosis (cell death) in cancer cells," but not in healthy cells exposed to the same dosage of chamomile. While studies are quick to point out that more research is needed, chamomile's anti-carcinogenic properties look promising.

Similar to chamomile's alleged anti-carcinogenic effects, chamomile has been shown to help with osteoporosis, inflammation, autoimmune diseases, ulcers, and even to have antiviral properties that can help alleviate cold symptoms. Again, while research is promising, all of these effects require further studies to confirm.

Summary

Of all the benefits discussed, possibly the most important is that chai is delicious! Further, it is exciting to find scientific publications are discussing the anti inflammatory, cholesterol lowering, and even anti cancer effects of tea and chai spices. We encourage you to do your own research into the health benefits of chai tea. Our references are available linked throughout this article for review, or if you would like to indulge yourself with a delicious cup of organic chai, please consider checking out our store page. Thank you for visiting Chai Hous.

About the Author

As a chemical engineer, Spencer Lane, Chai Hous’ Chief Brewing Officer, is fascinated with the chemistry of health. Researching what causes sickness led him to understand how nutrition plays a critical role in every day health. Based on his research on chai spices, he feels he has discovered the alchemical elixir of life, or, as a sci fi fan, the Spice. “The most precious substance in the universe is the spice mélange… The spice extends life.” – Frank Herbert, Dune