# Tea seems to soothe heartburn. Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 6, 2006, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-seems-to-soothe-heartburn-why/343208 "2006-02-06T07:32:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-seems-to-soothe-heartburn-why/343208/1 "2006-02-06T07:32:54Z")
Every once in a blue moon I’ll get heartburn. Tonight was one of those times. Every time I’ve had it, I find antacids do next to nothing, be it chewy ones, pills, liquid, whatever. But I do find that drinking a cup of ordinary, orange pekoe tea seems to bring about immediate and lasting relief. I’ve tried drinking other things; water (nothing), pop (bad idea), and milk (blurrgh). But tea always works. What could this tea have in it that relieves heartburn? ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-seems-to-soothe-heartburn-why/343208/2 "2006-02-06T11:09:09Z")
Tea should not help heartburn- the tannins irritate the stomach, so it shouldn’t make thingss better! ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-seems-to-soothe-heartburn-why/343208/3 "2006-02-06T15:48:18Z")
Well, everytime I’ve had some while experiencing heartburn, it’s definitely calmed the acids down. So there must be something in it that has a neutralizing effect. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-seems-to-soothe-heartburn-why/343208/4 "2006-02-06T16:15:21Z")
I wonder if the problem feels like heartburn but is actually a\* lack\* of acid-- a “base” problem, in other words. Drinking the tea would then balance out the acid/base content. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-seems-to-soothe-heartburn-why/343208/5 "2006-02-06T16:26:11Z")
I don’t know. Can lack of acid cause similar symptoms to heartburn (pain and burning sensation in the upper chest region)? I would maybe consider this being the case since antacids don’t seem to work on it, but now that I think about it I don’t think that would be the problem. Last night I was having a little bit of discomfort and thought I was just hungry, so I ate an orange and that made the problem 10X worse. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-seems-to-soothe-heartburn-why/343208/6 "2006-02-06T16:27:38Z")
Oh, and I do add milk to the tea, but I don’t think the milk is what’s helping, since drinking milk on its own just made me feel oogier. Perhaps the combination of the milk and tea has something to it? ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-seems-to-soothe-heartburn-why/343208/7 "2006-02-06T18:37:09Z")
Could it be that the experience of drinking the tea is relaxing you? I am prone to hearburn and acid reflux. Years ago I was having some chest pains and the cardiologist said it was not cardiac, but an esphogeal spasm. It was caused primarily by stress. So maybe, just maybe, sitting down with a nice cup of tea gets you relaxed enough that a muscle cramp eases and things can start going in the right direction, digestively speaking? Obviously, IANAD and this is just a WAG.