Ashwagandha tea: what it is and how it compares to capsules

Ashwagandha tea is dried, ground ashwagandha root steeped in hot water or hot milk, sometimes blended with other herbs like turmeric or ginger. It's a home preparation with no standard strength — unlike a supplement label, a tea bag or a teaspoon of root doesn't state a milligram amount, and no published trial has tested the tea itself.

How it's made

Most recipes steep 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of dried, ground ashwagandha root (or a commercial tea bag containing it) in a cup of hot water or hot milk for 5 to 10 minutes, then strain. The traditional Ayurvedic version simmers the root in milk for longer, sometimes with a sweetener to offset the taste — ashwagandha root is bitter and slightly earthy, which is why it's often paired with turmeric, ginger or cinnamon in tea blends. None of that changes what's actually in the cup: a variable, unmeasured amount of root compounds, steeped for a variable amount of time.

Tea vs. capsules and powder

The difference that matters most is dose. A capsule states a milligram amount per serving; a tea bag or a spoonful of loose root doesn't. How much of the root's compounds actually end up in the water also depends on how finely the root is ground, how long it steeps, and whether it's steeped in water or milk — none of which is standardized between one box of tea and the next. Water doesn't necessarily draw out the same compounds, in the same amount, as the alcohol or water-alcohol extraction methods used to make many commercial ashwagandha extracts. A study that tested a lab-made extract at a stated dose isn't describing what a cup of tea delivers, and neither is a study of root powder taken as capsules. There's no research that measures what a cup of ashwagandha tea actually contains or does.

What our capsule is, instead

Electric Tiger Ashwagandha is organic ashwagandha root powder in capsule form — not a tea, and not an extract. Each capsule contains 650 mg of organic ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) root, whole ground, with 5 mg of organic black pepper fruit powder. Label directions are one capsule twice a day, for 1,300 mg of root powder a day. The panel states no withanolide percentage, because this is unstandardized whole root, not a standardized extract — the same is true of loose root sold for tea. Vegan, gluten-free and allergen-free, 60 capsules a bottle at label directions.

Is ashwagandha tea safe?

The same cautions apply to ashwagandha in tea as in any other form. It isn't for use during pregnancy or nursing. It's a nightshade-family plant — the same family as tomato, potato and eggplant — so anyone with a known nightshade sensitivity should use caution. Anyone on thyroid medication, sedatives, sleep medication or immune-suppressing medication should ask a doctor before adding ashwagandha, in tea or any other form. Ashwagandha's most commonly reported side effects — stomach upset, loose stools, drowsiness — apply here too. Because tea has no stated dose, there's no way to know how a given cup compares to any dose tested in a trial, which makes "how much is too much" even harder to answer for tea than for a labeled capsule.

Questions people ask

What does ashwagandha tea do?

Nothing has been measured directly, because no trial has tested the tea itself. Research on ashwagandha generally has used capsules or extracts at stated doses — see what the research does and doesn't show for what those trials found and didn't find. None of it tells you what a cup of tea, at an unmeasured dose, would do.

What are the benefits of ashwagandha tea?

The same answer applies: there's no dedicated research on tea, so there's nothing specific to report. The broader ingredient research is summarized in what ashwagandha is and the evidence review on benefits, with the reminder that most trials used extracts or high-dose root powder, not tea.

How much ashwagandha root should I use for tea?

There's no established amount, because no trial has standardized or tested a tea dose. A capsule at least tells you the amount in milligrams; a teaspoon of loose root in a cup of water doesn't translate to a comparable figure.

Can I add ashwagandha to green tea or turmeric tea?

People do, mainly for taste. There's no research on ashwagandha combined with green tea or turmeric specifically, and combining herbs doesn't change any of the individual cautions above.

Related reading: what is ashwagandha, root powder vs. extract, compared, who shouldn't take ashwagandha, and Electric Tiger Ashwagandha.