Several herbal teas can genuinely help with stomach aches, and the best choice depends on what’s causing your discomfort. Ginger tea works best for nausea, peppermint tea targets cramping and gas, chamomile soothes inflammation, and fennel tea relieves bloating. Here’s what each one does, how it works, and how to get the most out of it.
Ginger Tea for Nausea and Slow Digestion
If your stomach ache comes with nausea or that heavy, “food sitting like a rock” feeling, ginger tea is your best option. Gingerol, the main active compound in ginger root, speeds up the rate at which food leaves your stomach and moves through your digestive tract. When food lingers too long in the stomach, it creates that uncomfortable fullness, bloating, and queasiness. Ginger helps clear the backlog.
The nausea relief is well supported. A meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that ginger reduced post-surgical nausea by 35% and vomiting by 38% compared to placebo, with doses of 1 gram or more showing clear effectiveness. That’s roughly a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger sliced into hot water, or about half a teaspoon of dried ginger. Women have used it for morning sickness for generations, and oncologists note it can take the edge off chemotherapy-related nausea without the side effects of standard anti-nausea drugs.
To make it, slice fresh ginger root into thin coins and simmer them in water for 10 to 20 minutes. Simmering (rather than just steeping) matters here because ginger is a hard root, and the longer cooking time pulls more of the active compounds into the water. You can add honey or lemon to taste.
Peppermint Tea for Cramps and Spasms
Peppermint tea is the go-to for stomach aches that feel like cramping, tightening, or spasming, especially in the lower abdomen. Menthol, the primary compound in peppermint, works by blocking the calcium signals that tell your intestinal muscles to contract. Without those signals, the muscles relax, and the cramping eases. This is the same mechanism behind some prescription medications used for irritable bowel syndrome, just in a milder, natural form.
Peppermint also helps with gas and bloating by relaxing the smooth muscle throughout your digestive tract, which lets trapped gas pass more easily. If your stomach ache is the kind that makes you feel like you need to burp or pass gas but can’t, peppermint tea is a strong choice.
One caution: because peppermint relaxes the muscle at the top of your stomach too, it can sometimes worsen acid reflux. If your stomach ache feels more like burning in your upper chest or throat, skip the peppermint and try chamomile instead.
Chamomile Tea for Inflammation and Stress
Chamomile is the most versatile option on this list. It contains compounds called chamazulene and flavonoids that reduce inflammation in the digestive tract, which makes it useful for acid-related stomach pain, mild gastritis, and the kind of stomach ache that shows up when you’re stressed or anxious. It also has mild antispasmodic properties, so it helps with cramping too, though not as powerfully as peppermint.
Chamomile is particularly well suited for children. It’s one of the most widely used medicinal herbs in pediatrics, considered safe and effective for colic in infants and stress-related abdominal pain in older kids. Allergic reactions are rare. If you’re looking for something gentle enough for a child with a stomach ache, chamomile tea (cooled to a comfortable temperature) is the safest starting point.
Steep chamomile in just-boiled water for at least 10 to 15 minutes with a lid on. Covering the cup matters because it traps the volatile oils that would otherwise evaporate, and those oils are part of what makes it work.
Fennel Tea for Bloating and Gas
Fennel tea has a mild licorice-like flavor and targets bloating specifically. Research published in Neurogastroenterology and Motility found that fennel tea has a region-specific effect on the stomach: it relaxes the upper portion (reducing that tight, overfull sensation) while maintaining normal movement in the lower portion (helping food continue its journey). It achieves this by blocking certain calcium channels in the smooth muscle of the stomach’s upper regions.
This makes fennel a good pick when your stomach ache is mainly a bloated, distended feeling after eating. It’s been used as a carminative (a fancy word for “anti-gas remedy”) for centuries across multiple cultures. You can buy fennel tea bags, or crush a teaspoon of fennel seeds and steep them in boiling water for 10 minutes.
Licorice Root Tea for Burning Pain
If your stomach ache feels like burning or raw irritation, particularly in the upper stomach, licorice root tea may help. It works by stimulating mucus production in the stomach lining, creating a protective barrier between your stomach tissue and acid. A 2014 study showed that this extra mucus not only buffers against acid but can also help damaged tissue heal.
However, licorice tea comes with a real safety concern. Standard licorice root contains glycyrrhizin, a compound that raises blood pressure with regular use. European and World Health Organization guidelines cap safe intake at 100 milligrams of glycyrrhizin per day, and a single cup of licorice tea contains roughly 31 milligrams. Three or four cups a day could push you over the limit, and some people are sensitive to even lower amounts. If you have high blood pressure or heart disease, avoid licorice tea entirely. For everyone else, keep it occasional rather than daily.
The safer alternative is DGL (deglycyrrhizinated licorice), which has the glycyrrhizin removed. DGL supplements are widely available in chewable tablets, though the tea form is harder to find.
Lemon Balm Tea for Nervous Stomachs
Sometimes a stomach ache isn’t really about your stomach. Anxiety and stress can trigger real abdominal pain, nausea, and cramping through the gut-brain connection. Lemon balm tea is effective for this type of discomfort. It’s a mild, lemony herb from the mint family that calms both nervousness and the digestive symptoms that come with it, including heartburn, nausea, and general queasiness. It’s also safe for children, making it a good option for kids who get stomach aches before school or stressful events.
How to Brew for Maximum Benefit
The way you prepare herbal tea significantly affects how much of the active compounds end up in your cup. For leaf and flower teas like chamomile, peppermint, and lemon balm, pour just-boiled water over the herbs and steep for 10 to 15 minutes with a lid on. Longer steeping (up to 30 minutes) produces a stronger, more medicinal brew. If the taste gets too intense, you’ve successfully extracted more of the good stuff, so just dilute it slightly.
For roots and seeds like ginger and fennel, steeping alone isn’t enough. These harder materials need a gentle simmer on the stove for 15 to 20 minutes to fully release their compounds. This method, called a decoction, is worth the extra effort when you’re using tea medicinally rather than just for flavor. Use about one to two teaspoons of material per four cups of water.
For the strongest possible extraction, you can make an overnight infusion: place your herbs in a jar, fill with boiling water, seal it, and let it sit for eight hours or more. This is overkill for a simple stomach ache, but useful if you want to keep a batch in the fridge for repeated use over a day or two.
Matching Your Tea to Your Symptoms
- Nausea or feeling overly full: ginger tea
- Cramping or spasming pain: peppermint tea
- Bloating and trapped gas: fennel or peppermint tea
- Burning or acid-related pain: chamomile or licorice root tea
- Stress-related stomach ache: chamomile or lemon balm tea
- A child’s stomach ache: chamomile, lemon balm, or peppermint tea
You can also combine teas. Ginger and peppermint work well together for nausea with bloating. Chamomile and lemon balm make a calming blend for stress-related discomfort. Start with one cup and see how your stomach responds before drinking more.