Ashwagandha Tea: What Research Shows About the Tea, Safety and Cautions

Check before you drink: avoid ashwagandha in pregnancy and while breastfeeding, and ask a clinician first if you have liver, thyroid or autoimmune problems, are having surgery, or take sedatives or other regular medicines. NIH says it should be avoided in pregnancy and not used while breastfeeding. [1] NIH also reports liver injury cases linked to ashwagandha supplements and does not recommend it before surgery or with thyroid or autoimmune disorders. [1] Ashwagandha tea is a herbal infusion (a tisane) of the root, not a tea from the tea plant. This page is about the tea itself and keeps it apart from capsules and extracts, where nearly all the trials were done.

What ashwagandha tea is

Ashwagandha is Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal, a shrub in the nightshade family (Solanaceae). [2] Supplements typically contain the root, the leaf, or root and leaf extracts, and the plant has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years. [1] Teas are usually made from the dried root. We did not find a source that describes how the tea is made or how it tastes, so those details are not stated here. Plant parts can be mixed up on labels, so check which part is listed. The supplement-level page is the ashwagandha guide.

Taste, caffeine and how to brew

Memorial Sloan Kettering says it is generally safe to use ashwagandha in food and tea, and that supplements are much stronger than culinary use. [3] That is a general statement from a cancer center, not a trial.

What research found about the tea itself

Evidence strength words: Promising but limited, Mixed, Insufficient evidence, Extract only.

Limits: the tea studied in India was a blend, so it cannot be credited to ashwagandha alone. The extract trials were small, short and varied in product, and the reviews report wide differences between trials. A lab marker such as immune cell activity is not the same as fewer colds. We did not read funding statements for every trial.

Check before you drink

• Pregnancy and breastfeeding. NIH says avoid in pregnancy and do not use while breastfeeding. [1] Memorial Sloan Kettering says pregnant people should avoid it because it may raise miscarriage risk. [3] See pregnancy and herbal tea.
• Babies and children. Not described in the sources we read for tea. Herbal teas are generally not advised for infants; see herbal tea for babies and children. Not described is not proof of safety.
• Liver. NIH says there have been a number of cases linking liver injury to ashwagandha supplements. [1] A US and Iceland case series of five people described jaundice 2 to 12 weeks after starting, with liver tests returning to normal in most within 1 to 5 months. [8] A case series from India described 8 people with injury from single-ingredient products, and some with existing liver disease did badly. [9] These reports involve supplements; we found no report naming a tea, and no source says tea is exempt. Yellow skin or eyes needs prompt medical care. See liver safety and herbal tea, liver and kidney cautions.
• Thyroid. Memorial Sloan Kettering reports thyrotoxicosis with supplement use that resolved after stopping, and that ashwagandha may raise thyroxine levels in lab tests. [3] Case reports describe painless thyroiditis and a fast heartbeat with overactive thyroid. [10][11] See ashwagandha and thyroid conditions.
• Medicines. NIH lists possible interactions with diabetes and blood pressure medicines, immunosuppressants, sedatives, anticonvulsants and thyroid hormone medicines. [1] Memorial Sloan Kettering says it may add to drowsiness from prescription medicines. [3] See ashwagandha and medicines and herbal tea and medicine interactions.
• Surgery, autoimmune disease and hormone-sensitive cancer. NIH does not recommend it before surgery or for people with autoimmune or thyroid disorders, and says to avoid it with hormone-sensitive prostate cancer because it may raise testosterone. [1] See supplements and surgery.
• Side effects. NIH lists drowsiness, stomach upset, diarrhea and vomiting in some people, and says it may be safe short term (up to 3 months) with unknown long-term safety. [1]
• Quality. Memorial Sloan Kettering reports a case of anemia and abdominal pain after ashwagandha pills that contained high amounts of lead. [3] We found no measurements of metals in ashwagandha tea.
• Allergy, kidney, iron: not described in the sources we read.

Tea, capsule or extract?

Almost all the stress and sleep results above come from standardized extracts, which are stronger and more consistent than a cup made from root. We did not find a source that compares the two. A trial of an extract cannot be assumed to apply to a cup of tea. See the ashwagandha guide and tea, tincture or capsule.

Buying and storing

• Look for the Latin name Withania somnifera and the plant part (root, leaf or both) on the label. [1] See reading an herbal tea label.
• Memorial Sloan Kettering's lead report above is a reason to buy from sellers who can show testing. [3]
• For storage, see storing herbal tea.

Related pages

• Ashwagandha (guide)
• Ashwagandha side effects and liver injury reports
• Ashwagandha, pregnancy, breastfeeding and children
• Adaptogen teas and infusions
• Herbal tea and medicine interactions
• Tulsi tea