What Happens When You Add Black Pepper to Your Tea in Winter?

However, to boost your tea drinking experience, you must focus on adding important spices and ingredients like honey, ginger, or the evergreen black pepper.

Black pepper – also known as black gold, since ancient times owing to its medicinal benefits and distinct flavour- is super beneficial for your health, especially in the cold weather, as it treats cold and cough-related disorders. So, what happens to your body when you add kaali mirch to your daily tea?

Benefits of adding black pepper to your tea

Your cup of chai gets a big boost with kaali mirch, and a few benefits you can reap include:

Antioxidant boost

Black pepper is packed with antioxidants that help your body get rid of free radicals, which are unstable molecules that damage your cells. A few free radicals are created naturally, like when you exercise and digest food. However, excessive free radicals are formed with exposure to things like pollution, cigarette smoke, and even sun rays. During winter, these begin to create havoc in your body, leading to major health issues like heart diseases and even certain cancers.

Black pepper is loaded with a plant compound known as piperine, which has potent antioxidant properties. And so, adding a pinch of this spice to your tea can help prevent or delay the damaging effects of free radicals.

Reduces inflammation

Chronic inflammation is an underlying factor in many conditions, such as arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer. According to experts, piperine is effective in fighting inflammation. These help reduce the symptoms of conditions like arthritis with less joint swelling and suppress the blockage of airways that cause asthma and breathing trouble.

Improves blood sugar levels

Piperine improves blood sugar metabolism and insulin sensitivity – a measure of how well the hormone insulin removes glucose from the bloodstream.

Lowers cholesterol

High blood cholesterol is common during winter months and is a major trigger for heart diseases, including heart attacks, a leading cause of death worldwide. Black pepper extract has been studied in animals for its potential to reduce LDL or bad cholesterol levels.

How to make your own black pepper tea?

Apart from adding it to your milk tea, making basic black pepper tea at home is also quick and easy. Here’s how.

Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• Half a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of honey, which is optional
• 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

How to make:

• Bring the water to a boil.
• Add all other ingredients and turn off the heat.
• Allow to steep for three to five minutes.
• Strain into two mugs and drink while hot.

If you want a stronger black pepper tea, you can let all the ingredients except the honey simmer for a few minutes, then turn off the heat and steep. Add the honey after you turn off the heat or after straining.