Pine Needle Tea Is Like Green Tea’s Earthy, Vitamin C-Rich Cousin—and It’s Packed With Benefits

Preserve studying for the fundamentals on pine needle tea—together with what it tastes like, its major well being advantages, and how you can make it.

What’s pine needle tea?

Pine needle tea is precisely what it feels like: tea made by steeping edible pine needles in scorching water. Many Indigenous cultures in North America (significantly in what’s now Canada) drank teas comprised of pine needles or different conifers for medicinal functions², however it’s also generally consumed in Japan, Korea, China, and Russia.

You may make pine needle tea from many alternative styles of pine, says Kate Spurgin, RDN, LDN, a dietitian based mostly in Portland, Oregon. She says edible varieties embody jap white pines, Douglas firs, and Japanese crimson pines. Nonetheless, she warns that not all pine bushes are edible, together with ponderosa pines and yew bushes (which might simply be confused with pine bushes). To be on the protected facet, go for the shop purchased stuff–or carry an skilled particular person together with you should you select to forage.

What does pine needle tea style like?

In line with Spurgin, pine needle tea comprised of mature needles tastes gentle and is mildly candy. “It’s an earthy tea with inexperienced tea undertones and a pine taste that lingers after every sip,” she explains. In the meantime, pine needle tea brewed from youthful spring suggestions of pine bushes has a brighter taste and a extra floral aroma. “It’s extra advanced, with notes of citrus and a barely bitter style along with pine,” she says.

4 pine needle tea advantages

1. It’s a nice supply of vitamin C

At the beginning, pine needle tea is a superb supply of vitamin C. In actual fact, Spurgin says that pine needle tea was reportedly used to remedy scurvy³, a type of vitamin C deficiency, earlier than meals sources of vitamin C grew to become accessible year-round. “This essential nutrient is an antioxidant that helps us heal from accidents and type bodily tissues and bones,” she shares.

2. It’s wealthy in antioxidants

Pine needle tea can also be a very good supply of vitamin A, “an antioxidant that helps wholesome imaginative and prescient, immune techniques, and organ perform,” Spurgin says.

You possibly can get pleasure from different antioxidants and flavonoids (science-speak for health-promoting plant compounds) in pine needle tea, Spurgin says. These overachieving micronutrients “can scale back the injury to our cells attributable to oxidation, which lowers our danger of sicknesses like most cancers and coronary heart illness.” (Older analysis⁴ in mice additionally means that pine needle tea might supply anticancer results.)

The quantity of those useful plant compounds you get in your tea will range based mostly on which bushes are used, Spurgin says. As an example, per a 2023 examine⁵ printed in NFS Journal, Japanese crimson pine (Pinus densiflora) tea has the next content material of catechins—potent plant compounds linked to a wholesome intestine microbiome and longevity—in comparison with inexperienced tea.

3. It’s anti-inflammatory

“Pine needle tea has many potential advantages that researchers are nonetheless exploring,” says Spurgin. One examine from 2021 discovered that extracts of a particular sort of pine (P. taiwanensis) have vital anti-inflammatory (and doubtlessly anti-aging) properties⁶. Extra analysis is required to know the implications of those properties; Spurgen hopes specialists look into how the anti-inflammatory nature of the tea might be used to cut back ache, stave off persistent illness, regulate metabolism, and extra.

4. It might enhance coronary heart and mind well being

Different attainable advantages of pine needle tea come courtesy of its various flavonoid content material. These plant compounds work their magic to decrease blood strain and maintain the center and mind wholesome, says Spurgin.

The best way to make pine needle tea

The simplest method to make pine needle tea—and drink your method to its protecting well being advantages—is to buy a mix on-line or at choose tea outlets. Spurgin says that the perfect pine needle teas can be sourced from wild areas (i.e., within the thick of nature versus denser, extra populated environs) as they’re much less prone to accumulate PFAS, artificial chemical substances related to critical well being issues. (Crops like pine bushes can take up PFAS from contaminated soil and groundwater.) “These chemical substances⁷ have been linked to immune system issues, beginning defects, most cancers, and different well being points,” she warns. As such she advises selecting respected sellers to make sure your tea is as protected and high-quality as attainable.

Feeling adventurous? You can too go into the wild and forage your individual pine needles. Nonetheless, newbies can be all of the wiser to take action below the steering of knowledgeable or an area foraging group as a result of once more, not all pines are edible or protected for people.

Irrespective of which route you are taking, when you’re able to brew, purpose to make use of scorching (slightly than boiling) water to retain pine needle tea’s protecting potential. In case you’re utilizing free pine needles, the Ohio Division of Pure Assets recommends steeping a half-cup to a 3/4-cup of pine needles in 4 cups of water for as much as 10 to fifteen minutes. (The longer you steep, the stronger it’ll be, however it’ll be good to go as soon as the tea turns into pale yellow.)

Spurgin affords just a few parting tricks to customise the style of your pine needle tea. (In spite of everything, the extra you get pleasure from it, the extra you’ll eat it, thus maximizing its well being advantages.) “To make pine needle tea’s taste extra delicate, get pleasure from it iced,” she shares. “For a extra acquainted style, attempt it blended together with your favourite teas,” whether or not that’s an energizing natural tea or a winter natural tea to enhance pine’s inherent cold-weather seasonal vibes. In fact, you may all the time improve the flavour with frequent components akin to honey, lemon, or milk.

Who shouldn’t drink pine needle tea?

You’ll wish to avoid pine needle tea when you have a pine or conifer allergy. “For others, extra analysis is required to find out attainable uncomfortable side effects,” says Spurgin. Since research on the results of pine needle tea on people are sparse, she says you’re finest off consulting your health-care crew when you have any medical circumstances, take medicines to handle them, or are pregnant or breastfeeding.