Plain water is the safest and most effective drink for relieving indigestion. It helps break down food, moves things through your digestive tract, and won’t irritate an already upset stomach. Beyond water, several other drinks can calm digestive discomfort depending on what’s causing it, though some popular remedies work better than others.
Water: The Simplest Fix
Water aids digestion by helping break down food so your body can absorb nutrients. Despite a common belief that drinking water with meals dilutes stomach acid, the Mayo Clinic confirms that water doesn’t thin digestive fluids or interfere with digestion. A glass of room-temperature or warm water is often enough to ease mild bloating or that heavy, uncomfortable feeling after eating.
Cold water can sometimes tighten muscles in the digestive tract, so lukewarm or warm water tends to be more soothing when your stomach is already irritated. Sipping slowly rather than gulping a full glass at once also helps, since swallowing air in large gulps can add to bloating.
Peppermint Tea for Bloating and Cramps
Peppermint tea is one of the most widely recommended drinks for indigestion, and the science behind it is solid. The active ingredient, menthol, blocks calcium channels in the smooth muscle lining your digestive tract. This causes the muscle to relax, which relieves cramping, gas pain, and that tight, overfull sensation in your upper abdomen.
There’s an important catch: that same muscle-relaxing effect doesn’t stop at your intestines. Menthol also relaxes the valve between your esophagus and stomach. When that valve loosens, stomach acid can creep upward and cause heartburn. If your indigestion involves acid reflux, burning in your chest, or a sour taste in your mouth, peppermint tea will likely make things worse. It’s best suited for bloating, gas, and stomach cramps without any reflux symptoms.
Ginger Tea for Nausea and Slow Digestion
Ginger has a long track record for settling nausea and speeding up the rate at which your stomach empties. When food sits in your stomach too long, it creates that heavy, uncomfortable pressure that many people describe as indigestion. Ginger encourages the stomach to move food along into the small intestine more efficiently.
You can make ginger tea by steeping a few thin slices of fresh ginger root in hot water for five to ten minutes. Store-bought ginger tea bags work too, though fresh ginger tends to be more potent. A small amount of honey can make it more palatable without adding enough sugar to trigger further discomfort. Avoid ginger ale, which is carbonated and usually contains very little actual ginger.
Baking Soda Water for Acid Relief
Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is a true antacid. It directly neutralizes stomach acid on contact, which can bring fast relief from that burning, acidic type of indigestion. The recommended ratio is half a level teaspoon dissolved completely in four ounces of water.
This is a short-term fix, not a daily habit. Adults under 60 should not exceed six half-teaspoon doses in 24 hours. Adults 60 and older should limit it to three doses per day. Baking soda is extremely high in sodium, so it’s not appropriate if you’re watching your salt intake or managing high blood pressure. It also produces carbon dioxide when it reacts with acid, which can cause belching and additional bloating in some people.
Licorice Root Tea for Stomach Irritation
Licorice root contains over 300 flavonoids and around 20 triterpenoids that work together to protect and repair the mucous lining of your stomach. This makes it particularly useful when indigestion feels more like a raw, irritated sensation than simple bloating. Flavonoid-rich licorice extracts have been shown in clinical studies to reduce symptoms of functional dyspepsia, including heartburn and regurgitation.
Look for deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL) tea or supplements. Regular licorice contains a compound called glycyrrhizin that can raise blood pressure and lower potassium levels when consumed frequently. DGL products have this compound removed, making them much safer for regular use.
Chamomile Tea for Stress-Related Indigestion
Stress and anxiety are common triggers for indigestion, and chamomile works on both fronts. It has mild anti-inflammatory properties that can soothe an irritated stomach lining, and its calming effect on the nervous system helps reduce the gut tension that stress creates. A warm cup after a meal or before bed is a gentle option with very few downsides for most people.
Drinks That Make Indigestion Worse
Knowing what to avoid matters just as much as knowing what to drink. Several popular beverages actively worsen indigestion:
- Carbonated drinks. Carbon dioxide dissolves in liquid and rapidly converts to gas once it warms up inside your stomach. This expands the stomach wall and increases pressure, which triggers belching and can push acid upward. Symptoms from gastric distension tend to appear after drinking more than about 300 ml (roughly 10 ounces) of a carbonated beverage.
- Coffee. Both caffeinated and decaf coffee stimulate acid production and can relax the valve at the top of the stomach, making reflux more likely.
- Alcohol. It irritates the stomach lining directly and slows the rate at which your stomach empties, prolonging that heavy, uncomfortable feeling.
- Citrus juices. Orange juice and lemon juice have a pH around 3, making them highly acidic. Some sources claim lemon water has an alkalizing effect once metabolized, but this is not supported by research. Drinking acidic beverages on an already irritated stomach typically adds to the discomfort.
- Apple cider vinegar. Despite its popularity online, there are no published clinical trials supporting apple cider vinegar for heartburn or indigestion. Harvard Health Publishing notes the complete absence of medical evidence for this remedy and suggests sticking to proven options.
Matching the Drink to Your Symptoms
Indigestion isn’t one condition. It’s an umbrella term for several different types of stomach discomfort, and the best drink depends on what you’re actually feeling. If you’re bloated and crampy without any chest burning, peppermint or ginger tea is a strong choice. If you feel a burning sensation in your upper stomach or chest, baking soda water or licorice root tea targets the acid directly. If your stomach just feels heavy and sluggish after a large meal, warm water or ginger tea helps move things along.
Temperature matters too. Warm drinks tend to relax the digestive tract and are generally better tolerated than ice-cold beverages when your stomach is already upset. Whatever you choose, sip it slowly. Drinking any liquid too quickly introduces extra air into your stomach and can amplify bloating and discomfort.