Warm Drinks for Cough Relief: Best Choices

Sipping a steaming mug of tea is a simple comfort we can all enjoy, especially on a cold, stormy day. But did you know that a warm beverage can also comfort a cough? That’s right—the combination of steam and warm liquid soothes irritated airways and loosens lingering mucus, helping to keep that cough at bay.

Let’s explore some of the best warm drinks for a cough, including various tea varieties, lemon water, broth, and more.

Why Warm Drinks Help Soothe a Cough

Warm drinks help soothe a cough by moistening dry throat tissue, thinning excess mucus, and boosting hydration.

• If you’re dealing with a dry cough, inhaling the steam from a warm drink and sipping the liquid itself can hydrate irritated airways, preventing the urge to cough.
• If you’re managing a wet cough, drinking warm liquid can help thin and break up excess mucus, making it easier to expel.

So along with other must-have essentials when you have a chronic cough, keep your favorite warm drinks on hand to calm your throat.

Top Warm Drinks to Ease Cough Symptoms

Searching for warm liquids for a cough? You have many options. Here are our top picks:

Chamomile Tea

As one of our top warm beverages for a cough, chamomile tea can help soothe your throat as you wind down before bed. Chamomile is related to the daisy family and has been used for centuries as a medicinal herb. It’s one of the most popular types of herbal tea, with benefits ranging from natural relaxation to antioxidant properties and potential anti-inflammatory effects.¹

Peppermint Tea

Peppermint tea has a delightfully minty flavor, but that’s not all: It also provides health benefits, including relief from gastrointestinal discomfort and headaches.² It also contains menthol, a compound with natural cooling properties that can help calm an irritated throat.³

Ginger Tea

You might reach for a ginger ale when you’re dealing with a stomach bug. But did you know that sipping ginger tea when you have a cough may help prevent that uncomfortable hacking? Ginger is rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, making it one of the best warm fluids for a cough.⁴

Hibiscus Tea

Hibiscus tea has a vivid magenta hue and a tarty, fruity flavor that’s similar to cranberries. But there’s more than meets the eye—hibiscus is packed with antioxidants and can even lower blood pressure.⁵ While it’s often served iced, sipping on warm hibiscus tea can help calm your throat as you recover from a cough. 

Aside from their cough-soothing benefits, teas can serve as home remedies for chest congestion, as the steam helps open up your airways and the liquid helps thin excess mucus. Together, these effects can help naturally break up congestion.

Honey and Lemon Water

If you don’t have tea bags in your cabinet, a warm mug of water with lemon and honey can help soothe your cough. With its viscous texture, honey coats your throat to help quell irritation, preventing the urge to cough. It also has natural antimicrobial properties, meaning it helps kill bacteria.⁶

Lemon provides benefits of its own: It’s rich in immune-boosting vitamin C and can help loosen excess mucus, making it easier to cough up.⁷ While lemon juice is acidic, when a small amount is stirred into warm water with lemon, the acid is unlikely to irritate your throat.

Warm Broth or Soup

In your search for the best hot drinks for a cough, your options aren’t confined to tea and water. Savory sips like broth and soup provide the same benefits of steam and warm liquid. They’re also packed with nutrients—bone broth, for example, contains amino acids and minerals that support overall wellness.⁸

Warm broth and soup are also excellent options if a cough limits your meal options, since they’re easy to consume and digest.

Warm Apple Cider with Spices

If you need a hot drink to help with a cough in the autumn or winter, you might reach for a festive favorite: warm spiced apple cider. Apple cider is unfiltered apple juice, and along with its naturally sweet flavor, it contains vitamin C, potassium, and polyphenols, a type of antioxidant.⁹ Adding spices like cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and ginger can deepen the flavor and provide additional benefits ranging from antioxidant protection to antimicrobial properties.¹⁰

Along with other winter cough remedies, warm apple cider can help keep your throat calm as you recover from a cough.

Turmeric Milk

Turmeric is a root with a vibrant golden hue that’s commonly ground up and used as a spice. “Golden milk”, which is turmeric stirred into warm milk, has gained popularity as a soothing drink with impressive health benefits. For one, turmeric contains curcumin (the compound that gives it its bright golden color), which offers antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties.¹¹

Many golden milk recipes call for additional ingredients, like honey, cinnamon, and even vanilla extract. You can select ingredients, including the type of milk, to suit your palate.

Final Thoughts

When a nagging tickle in your throat threatens to slow you down, reach for warm drinks to soothe a cough. While you can’t go wrong with a simple mug of herbal tea, you can also switch things up with warm broth, apple cider, or golden milk. But if your cough doesn’t improve after a week or so with home remedies like these warm drinks, contact your doctor for further guidance.

Resources

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2. Silva, H. (2020). A Descriptive Overview of the Medical Uses Given to Mentha Aromatic Herbs throughout History. Biology, 9(12), 484.
3. Wise, P. M., Breslin, P. A., & Dalton, P. (2012). Sweet Taste and Menthol Increase Cough Reflex Thresholds. Pulmonary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 25(3), 236.
4. Slattery E. Ginger Benefits. Johns Hopkins Medicine. Published 2023.
5. Ellis, L. R., Zulfiqar, S., Holmes, M., Marshall, L., Dye, L., & Boesch, C. (2022). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of Hibiscus sabdariffa on blood pressure and cardiometabolic markers. Nutrition Reviews, 80(6), 1723.
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7. Sadikan, Muhammad Zulfiqah & Mohamad Asri, Muhammad Naeim & Ahmad Hairi, Haryati & Singar, Saiful Anuar. (2023). Relevance and Use of Honey and Lemon Water for Cough
8. Matar A, Abdelnaem N, Camilleri M. Bone Broth Benefits: How Its Nutrients Fortify Gut Barrier in Health and Disease. Dig Dis Sci. 2025 Jun;70(6):1951-1961. Epub 2025 Apr 3. PMID: 40180691.
9. Wruss, J., Lanzerstorfer, P., Huemer, S. et al. Differences in pharmacokinetics of apple polyphenols after standardized oral consumption of unprocessed apple juice. Nutr J 14, 32 (2015).
10. Vázquez-Fresno, R., R Rosana, A. R., Sajed, T., Onookome-Okome, T., Wishart, N. A., & Wishart, D. S. (2019). Herbs and Spices- Biomarkers of Intake Based on Human Intervention Studies – A Systematic Review. Genes & Nutrition, 14, 18.
11. Adamczak, A., Ożarowski, M., & Karpiński, T. M. (2020). Curcumin, a Natural Antimicrobial Agent with Strain-Specific Activity. Pharmaceuticals, 13(7), 153.