Your Singing Voice and… Tea!

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I kind of love tea. A lot. I am constantly trying new kinds, experimenting with flavor combinations, and appropriating it for summer by pouring it over ice (try living in Texas without drinking iced tea!). As always the most important thing you can do for your vocal health is to keep a healthy body–get plenty of sleep, drink enough water, eat nourishing foods, and find ways to move your body. Here are some ways tea can enhance your mental and physical health.

Tea for Hoarseness:

1. Throat Coat: At least in the US, every singer or actor I know keep the Traditional Medicinals blend on hand. It contains slippery elm bark, an herb that relieves inflammation. It soothes without numbing like a menthol cough drop might (only take things with menthol if you’re not going to be using your voice)
2. Malva Nut Tea: If the taste of throat coat is not to your liking, you may try this East Asian remedy! Also known as pang da hai, this herb is used in traditional Chinese medicine to soothe the voice and help get rid of a sore throat.

Tea for Sore Throat and Congestion:

1. Honey, lemon, and cayenne pepper: Sore throats, when caused by cold or allergies, are usually the cause of bacteria. Honey and lemon are traditional cold cures because they have antibacterial properties. I like to put a good squeeze of lemon and honey in everything I drink, whether it is just hot water, green tea, or throat coat. Cayenne pepper will also help to kill the bacteria. This combination is great to help loosen up phlegm. I have been known to put honey, lemon, and cayenne pepper into my throat coat.
2. Anything with Eucalyptus:
   Speaking of phlegm (a singer’s favorite thing to talk about!), an herbal tea with a bit of eucalyptus added will help loosen up the congestion. Hanging some in your shower or using some essential oils in your bath or diffuser may also help!

Tea for Inflammation/Menstrual Health:

1. Chai tea with turmeric
   If you menstruate, you may notice your voice feels a little funny when it’s that time of the month. This is because the vocal folds often will swell a little bit. Maybe for other health related reasons, you are dealing with more inflammation than you’d like. For this, I’d recommend adding anti-inflammatory teas to your routine. Anything that contains turmeric will do! My preference is to make a cup of herbal chai tea (my personal favorite is this one from Numi), add fresh ginger and black pepper (also anti-inflammatory), a good spoonful of turmeric, honey, and milk (esp. plant-based!). This is not only delicious, but if people see you making or drinking it, they will think you are very fancy.
2. Raspberry Leaf Tea
   Also for your your vocal menstrual health, I have noticed so much benefit from drinking raspberry leaf tea. It can really help to minimize the symptoms such as cramps. This one tastes pretty pleasant (not super medicinal!) and can work as an iced tea too if it is summer and the thought of hot tea is unbearable. I bet that adding some fresh fruit would be really nice.

Tea for Your Mental Health/Performance Anxiety

No specific recommendations here, but I am such an advocate for finding a ritual. Whatever time you are feeling anxious, whether it is the practice room, a lesson, or a performance, try making yourself a cup of tea first. The routine is soothing and grounding and having a small treat can really help face the thing you are dreading. In undergrad, I began making a cup of tea before every trip to the practice rooms and found it made the activity that brought up the most anxiety for me much more peaceful.

Recommendations for what to Avoid

This is 100% up to you and how things affect your body. I know that some scented teas tend to make my throat swell a little–notice things like this! You also may find that drinking black tea before an audition isn’t ideal as it may dry out your throat (I learned this the absolute hard way). On the topic of your mental health, notice if your anxiety is more present after drinking something caffeinated and root out caffeine from your life altogether if you need to. I personally really like this herbal coffee as a way of preserving the ritual without the caffeine!