Basking in the summer sun not only feels good, it’s good for you. But too much warmth from the sun can exaggerate the Ayurvedic pitta dosha, the bio-elemental energy of fire, which can produce symptoms of anxiety, restlessness, anger, irritability, heartburn, constipation, excessive bleeding or dry skin. To keep pitta balanced during the warm summer months, drink a variety of cooling and calming herbal teas. Not only is this an easy way to incorporate more balance, it’s enjoyable.
Prepare your tea depending on the time of day and how much excessive pitta you feel. The cooler mornings and late evenings of summer will be more appropriate for drinking hot or warm tea. It’s best to avoid piping hot liquids during the peak of summer, so allow your tea to cool down a bit before sipping. During midday, drinking room temperature or cool tea is best. Avoid adding ice, and if drinking refrigerated tea swish and savor the tea in your mouth to warm it up before swallowing. The more excessive your pitta symptoms are the colder the temperature of the tea you can consume. Try to minimize highly caffeinated teas, choosing instead some of our delicious summertime blends we’ve found to be the best for yogis.
Hanami Tea: Queen of Heaven
This beautiful purple colored infusion is deeply meditative and centering, perfect when one feels “hot-headed” due to summer’s fiery heat. Sipping on this heavenly blend of lavender, lemongrass, hibiscus, and butterfly pea flower might indeed make you feel like a queen.
Art of Tea: Chill Out Tea
While not especially cooling in nature, this tea was formulated specifically to create a potent calming effect on the mind and nerves. Licorice and cinnamon give this tea a slightly sweet taste, and fennel and lemon myrtle help balance the unusual flavor of this root heavy blend. Yogis will especially appreciate the addition of valerian root with its strong ability to reduce anxiety and promote deep relaxation.
Organic India: Sweet Rose Tulsi & Peppermint Tulsi
Tulsi (holy basil) tea is an amazing herb for yogis—it is highly sattvic and adaptogenic, both of which promote calmness and increase your ability to cope with stress. Tulsi is also thought to cultivate ojas and prana, which increases the amount of joy, radiance, and “juiciness” in your life.
While tulsi is warming, pairing it with other cooling herbs makes it suitable for a soothing summertime tea. Sweet Rose Tulsi has a lovely floral taste of rose petals that calms the mind and nourishes the blood. This blend also contains cooling peppermint and calming chamomile. Peppermint Tulsi is a simple blend of three varieties of tulsi leaves and flowers with the leaves of peppermint. This delightful cooling tea brings an invigorating feeling to the body and mind—perfect for sipping on a hot summer afternoon.
PositiviTea: Imagine
This blend is formulated to awaken and activate the third eye or sixth chakra (ajna). This chakra governs insight, intuition, perception, and spiritual awareness. This powerful and delightful bouquet of sweet summer berries and flower petals contains gotu kola—a brain tonic used by yogis to improve meditation. White tea, elderflower, and eyebright are also added to stimulate the area of the sixth chakra.
Chopra Organic Herbal Tea: Soothing
Formulated specifically to balance pitta dosha, this is the most cooling tea in our list. This blend’s spearmint leaves are deeply cooling and help with digestion. Its chamomile flowers are mildly sedating and can help relax muscles and reduce inflammation. Coriander, hibiscus, lemongrass, and fennel also contribute to this tea’s unique taste and strong cooling action.
Good Earth Tea Co: Lemon-Kissed Cucumber
This lovely caffeinated green tea blend will provide a pleasing and cooling perk on a warm day. Dried cucumber and lemon peel give this tea its lightly astringent and cooling properties—perfect to soothe and calm the pitta dosha.
Choice Organic: Earl Grey Lavender
This black tea flavored with bergamot and lavender is a great way to wake up to the energy of a radiant summer morning. Add steamed milk and vanilla and refrigerate for a delicious afternoon “London fog” iced latte. Its cooling lavender blossoms help relieve stress, improve mood, and promote restful sleep. Oil of bergamot is considered to have antioxidant and antidepressant properties and the ability to improve digestion.
Teatulia: Hibiscus Berry Iced Tea
Blended specifically for iced tea, this simple blend has the perfect balance of tart and sweet—both flavors that help cool down pitta. Not only does this tea have great flavor and beautiful color, but the rose hips are high in Vitamin C and Vitamin A and are rich with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties.
All of these cooling and calming teas will be best for the pitta dosha if brewed using the sun tea method. Sun brewed tea uses the power of the sun’s rays to create a mellow infusion. While it takes longer to brew than using boiling water, it is just as easy to make, is eco-conscious and will bring out more subtle flavors from the tea.
What teas do you drink to stay cool and calm in the summer?
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