Across the world, every culture has its own version of warming drinks to cope with the harsh winter cold. One thing is common among them all: the generous use of spices and herbs that gently stimulate digestion and circulation. In this blog, we will not discuss soups, coffee, chai, hot chocolate, eggnogs and other heavy winter drinks from around the world.
Looking at the winter drinks throughout the world, they can be grouped into few broad categories:
- Spiced Tea
- Fresh herb or flower infusions
- Fruit-based Toddies
- Seed and nut–based Milk preparations
- Fermented grain drinks
Let’s look at them through an Ayurvedic lens.
Drinks that will balance Kapha – Spicy & Stimulating
Kapha individuals have qualities that are cold, heavy, moist, and they are prone to congestion and weight gain, so they benefit from heating, scraping, drying, and stimulating herbs and spices.
- Spiced Tea – Made with herbs like fresh ginger, cumin. Other herbs like clove, cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric are also used as they are warming.
- Ginger lemon tea made with fresh ginger, lemon and honey. Black pepper can also be added to this. Honey is warm and has a scraping quality to it.
- Tulsi-Ginger Tea – where tulsi has a warming and drying effect while fresh ginger, and black pepper are heating.
- Spiced Caffeinated tea where Black Tea is made with ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and honey.
- Fresh Herb Infusion – Warming herbs like Thyme or rosemary steeped with ginger and lemon – similar to the French tisane.
- Nuts based Tea – A popular drink from India known as Kahwa which has almonds, saffron, cardamom – all of them are warming while green tea is drying and bitter in taste.
- Fermented Drink – A popular drink from Rajasthan called Raab or Bajra Raab often prepared with ajwain.
Drinks that will balance Vata – Warming & Grounding
Vata individuals have qualities that are cold, dry, light, and rough. Winter aggravates these qualities further. So they benefit from herbs and spices that are warm, oily, sweet, and have grounding, and nourishing qualities.
- Fruit based toddy made with warming spices. The sweet taste [madhur rasa] of the fruits balance vata which gets easily aggravated in the winter. Few examples are –
- The famous Hot Apple Cider simmered with cinnamon and nutmeg.
- The Black Currant toddy with ginger, cinnamon – from the UK
- Kinderpunsch from Germany.
- Non-alcoholic glögg made with cranberry cherries, apple juice boiled with orange peel, star anise, almonds and black tea leaves.
- Fresh herb infusion. Herbs like chamomile, thyme, rosemary are good for vata individuals. One example of such infusion is the roobibos from Africa.
- Milk based drinks – Warm milk is especially soothing and grounding for the drying rough qualities in Vata individuals. Few examples are –
- Very popular Golden milk made with turmeric.
- Spiced Warm milk with saffron and cardamom.
- Seeds and Nut-based milk – nuts being heavy, and grounding are beneficial to vata as well as the heavy sweet milk. Famous is the
- Hot version of Thandai from India which has poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, melon seeds, watermelon seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds which have been soaked ground and boiled with milk and some ghee and black pepper.
- Dry fruits Tea made with saffron and dry fruits. Very common in Kashmir India which is very nourishing and warming to the Vata individuals.
All the drinks mentioned for Kapha are also suitable for Vata individuals as long as they are not made with the scraping heating drying spices like turmeric, ginger, black pepper and green tea which can be too drying for them if consumed in excess. Instead use warming spices like fennel, dry ginger, cloves, saffron, cinnamon and cardamom.
Avoid excessive use of drying herbs like green tea.
Drinks that will balance Pitta – Cooling Yet Warm
Pitta individuals have qualities that are hot, sharp, and intense. Even in winter, they need warmth without overheating. So, use cooling and slightly warming spices and herbs.
Any of the drinks made for Vata are beneficial for Pitta individuals, but the choice of herbs should be cooling and slightly warming. They cannot tolerate scraping, heating herbs and spices like nutmeg, cumin, black pepper or fresh ginger.
- Spiced tea with coriander, fennel, cardamom, clove, cinnamon, bay leaf. Small amount of dry ginger can be used.
- Herbal Infusion with herbs like licorice, peppermint, spearmint, mint, coriander which are cooling are good for them.
- Flower tea like Karkadé from Egypt which is made from hibiscus flowers which are cooling in nature.
- All the Milk based spiced teas that are listed for Vata are also beneficial for Pitta but replaced with the cooling spices and herbs. Milk is cooling so Pitta individuals will benefit from their use. Few examples in this category
- Rose-Cardamom Milk – Rosewater is cooling and the slightly warm cardamom make a perfect balanced drink for Pitta.
- Fennel-Saffron Milk – where both are slightly warming but not pitta aggravating.
- Milk based drinks with nuts and seeds should be consumed mindfully as the use of poppy seeds, almonds can increase Pitta.
- All the Fruit based toddy made for Vata but replaced with cooling spices and herbs.
- Drinks made from Fermented grains should be used minimally.
In conclusion, most winter drinks can be adapted according to constitution:
For Kapha – Emphasize spices and herbs that are scraping, heating, and drying, while minimizing the use of fruit-based toddy as they may aggravate kapha via the sweet taste [madhur rasa]. Also avoid milk-based drinks as they become guru – heavy to digest which will weaken the agni and increase ama.
For Vata – Drinks with milk, ghee, nuts, and seeds are warming, nourishing, and grounding. The hot toddy with warming spices and the sweet taste [madhur rasa] of the fruits will benefit them. Stay away from heating scraping drying herbs.
For Pitta – Drinks with milk, ghee, and cooling herbs and spices are beneficial for them. The fruit toddy having the sweet taste [madhur rasa] will be calming for them as long as they are prepared with cooling herbs and spices. Avoid heating herbs and spices. They should be careful with fermented drinks and drinks made with nuts and seeds.
When chosen consciously—with attention to grains, herbs, spices, nuts, and seeds—winter drinks become deeply therapeutic, aligning seasonal nourishment with individual constitution.
