5 Hot drinks that will help you keep warm in the Japanese winter! | Guidable - Your Guide to a Sustainable, Wellbeing-centred Life in Japan

5 Hot drinks that will help you keep warm in the Japanese winter!

By Guidable Writers Feb 20, 2018

This post is also available in: Russian

How to survive the Japanese winter? Are you wearing enough warm? When your body temperature drops just 1 degree, your immunity drops by 30 percent. This means that you can easily get sick and even get influenza! At such a time, hot drinks help keep warm! But I have to tell you, there are some hot drinks that actually can cool your body! So here are 5 hot drinks that I recommend to you that are good for keeping warm!


    • Tea (Koucha紅茶)

 

It is believed that tea lowers the temperature of your body because it contains caffeine, however, this is vice versa; it raises our body temperature, as it is actually fermented. It also increases your metabolism and helps to break down carbohydrates, so this is the best drink in the morning! However, it still contains caffeine, that’s why you should avoid drinking it before going to bed.

<The best way to drink>

  • Preheat the kettle in advance
  • Place one teaspoon of tea leaves in a kettle
  • Heat the water to about 95 ℃ (turn off the burner before reaching the boiling point)
  • Pour the heated water into the pot and wait a few minutes.
  • If you prefer, add ginger (ginger tea), lemon (lemon tea) or cinnamon (tea with cinnamon) to make it even more effective.                                    You should drink it without adding sweeteners (in fact, sugar lowers the temperature! Therefore, try to avoid eating sweets!)

 

Hojicha Tea (Hojichaほうじ茶)

This is one of the most popular tea types in Japan, because it smells of fried tea leaves, as the tea leaves are fried and dried. It is also known as one of the types of tea with a lower caffeine content, which means that you can drink it before bed. “Pyrazine”, found in Hodzic’s tea, improves blood circulation and warms your body. In addition, because of its smell, you feel relaxed, so it is sometimes used for patients in hospitals.

<Best way to drink>

  • Put 4 tablespoons of Hojicha tea petals into the teapot
  • Pour water heated to 100 ℃ into the kettle
  • Wait for 30 seconds
  • Pour Hojicha into tea mugs (until the last drop!)

 

  • Black Soybean Tea (Kuromamecha黒豆茶)

This tea does not contain caffeine and includes polyphenol, which promotes blood circulation. In addition, it makes your blood flow smoother and cleaner and lowers your blood pressure. It also regulates the balance of hormones, so it is good for women! It tastes like Oolong tea, but with the smell of fried beans.

<Best way to drink>

-Making tea from soybeans-

  • Remove moisture from the beans
  • Prepare soybeans in a tea bag on a medium heat
  • Continue cooking until its skin begins to open, and the inner part turns yellow
  • Pour boiling water and reach for 3 minutes

-form the bag-

Boil 1L of water

  • Put 1 tea bag of the soybean tea into the boiling water
  • Remove in 4 minutes at a low temperature

※If you leave the tea bag in the kettle for a few hours, the taste will become stronger!

 

Hot water (Sayu白湯)

It has as a name in Japanese, but in fa, t it’s just hot water. You just need to boil the water and cool it to 50 ℃, which is a bit warmer than the temperature of your body. So, this is the simplest and cheapest hot drink that can make you warm in winter! This makes your stomach and intestines more active and makes your metabolic rate higher. Heated internal organs work very well and strengthen your immune system. In addition, it helps to remove slags! It is said that if you experience bitterness when you drink it, it is a sign that waste is formed in your body. But if it’s delicious, then the opposite is true!

<Best ways to drink>

  • Boil the water
  • Cooldown till 50-60℃

※Dont drink too much, since it can rinse the nutrients needed for your body! (can be a maximum of 800 L per day)

 

Ginger Tea (Shogayu生姜湯)

It is also a hot drink, which is hot water and ginger. In fact, ginger is well known for influencing the heating of the body. Shogaol is one of the acute components of ginger, and the main effect is to heat up your body. In addition, gingerol is a polyphenol, and also one of the sharp components, but it’s more in raw ginger. It has bactericidal action and has improved immunity, however, it is easy to oxidize, so you should eat it as soon as possible!

<Best way to drink>

  • pound 1 pcs. Ginger
  • Put in hot water (do not boil!)
  • Mix (add honey if the taste is too strong or bitter for you!)

Did you know about them? Remember, just because it’s “Hot drink”, it does not mean that it will help you warm up! The main things are – the ingredients! For example, hot green tea is classified into a group of teas that cause your body to cool down because it is not fermented tea, but it’s actually an enzyme made from fermented foods that increase your metabolism and make you feel warmer. In addition, you should also avoid hot coffee, as it includes caffeine, and even though it improves blood circulation, it also causes your body to lose heat. However, this is just advice! You can feel the warmth of any hot drink! But try to choose one that is more effective for warming you up!