Warm liquids like tea and broth, cold drinks like ice water, and honey-sweetened beverages are all effective choices for soothing a sore throat. The best option depends on what feels good to you, since warm and cold drinks relieve pain through different mechanisms. More important than temperature, though, is simply drinking enough fluid to keep your throat moist and your mucus thin.
Why Fluids Matter When Your Throat Hurts
When you’re sick, your body loses more water than usual through fever, faster breathing, and reduced appetite. That lost fluid needs replacing, but hydration also directly affects how your throat feels. Fluids reduce the thickness of mucus coating your throat and airways, making it easier to clear and less likely to trigger coughing. Keeping the respiratory tract moist also maintains comfort and supports healing.
If swallowing hurts, you may instinctively drink less, which makes everything worse. Sipping small amounts frequently is easier than forcing down a full glass at once.
Warm Drinks: Tea, Broth, and Warm Water
Warm liquids open up blood vessels in the throat, improving circulation to the inflamed tissue. They also relax the muscles around the throat, which can ease that tight, scratchy feeling and reduce coughing by soothing the back of the throat. Warm drinks help loosen mucus so you can clear it more easily.
The best warm options include:
- Chamomile tea. Chamomile has genuine anti-inflammatory properties. A meta-analysis of clinical trials found it significantly reduces both pain and mucosal inflammation. Its active compounds lower the production of inflammatory molecules in your body, which translates to less swelling and less tenderness in the throat.
- Chicken broth or soup. Research from the University of Nebraska Medical Center showed that chicken soup inhibits the movement of white blood cells called neutrophils in a dose-dependent way. That’s significant because neutrophil activity drives much of the inflammation you feel during a cold. Both the chicken and the vegetables in the soup contributed to this mild anti-inflammatory effect.
- Warm water with honey. Plain warm water works on its own, but adding honey makes it more effective (more on honey below).
- Peppermint tea. The menthol creates a cooling sensation that can temporarily distract from pain, even though the liquid itself is warm.
Keep your drinks warm, not scalding. If it’s too hot to sip comfortably, it can irritate already-inflamed tissue.
Cold Drinks: Ice Water and Chilled Tea
Cold beverages work differently. They narrow blood vessels in the throat, which reduces swelling and inflammation. Cold also numbs sore tissue, providing more immediate pain relief than warm drinks typically do. Think of it like icing a sprained ankle, just on the inside of your throat.
Ice water, chilled herbal tea, and smoothies are all good choices. Ice chips or frozen fruit pops work too if swallowing liquid feels difficult. Some people find cold drinks more soothing than warm ones, especially if the throat is severely swollen. There’s no medical reason to avoid cold drinks when you’re sick. Try both temperatures and go with whatever feels better.
Honey: The Best Thing to Stir In
Honey is one of the most well-supported natural remedies for upper respiratory symptoms. A systematic review and meta-analysis published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine found honey was superior to usual care for improving symptoms of upper respiratory infections. It reduced cough frequency, cough severity, and overall symptom scores compared to standard treatment.
Honey coats and soothes the throat lining, and it has natural antimicrobial properties. Stir a spoonful into warm tea, warm water, or warm lemon water (just go easy on the lemon if your throat is very raw). One important caveat: honey should never be given to children under one year old due to the risk of botulism.
Salt Water Gargle
This isn’t a drink you swallow, but it belongs on the list because it’s one of the simplest and most effective throat remedies. Mix half a teaspoon of salt into one cup (8 ounces) of warm water, gargle for 15 to 30 seconds, and spit it out. The salt draws moisture out of swollen tissue, reducing inflammation and helping to clear pathogens from the mouth and throat. You can repeat this several times a day. Adding two teaspoons of baking soda to the mixture may provide additional soothing benefits.
What to Avoid Drinking
Some beverages will make a sore throat worse. Acidic drinks like orange juice, lemonade, and tomato juice irritate inflamed tissue. The acid can cause additional inflammation in the throat lining, which is the opposite of what you want. If you’re craving vitamin C, a supplement or a non-citrus source is a better choice while your throat heals.
Alcohol irritates an already inflamed throat and can prolong the healing process. It’s also dehydrating, which works against the fluid intake your body needs. Coffee and other caffeinated drinks are mildly dehydrating as well. If you can’t skip your morning coffee, balance it with extra water or herbal tea throughout the day. Very hot beverages of any kind can also burn sensitive, swollen tissue, so let drinks cool to a comfortable temperature before sipping.
Putting It Together
The ideal approach is to drink frequently throughout the day, alternating between whatever feels best. A cup of chamomile tea with honey in the morning, broth with lunch, ice water in the afternoon, and another warm tea before bed covers all the bases. The specific drink matters less than the habit of staying hydrated and keeping your throat moist. Most sore throats from viral infections resolve within a week.
If your sore throat lasts longer than a week, comes with a fever above 101°F, makes it hard to swallow or breathe, or makes it difficult to open your mouth, those are signs of something that needs medical attention beyond home remedies.