Warm fluids are the most consistently supported drinks for cold relief, and the reason is surprisingly straightforward: hot liquids speed up the movement of nasal mucus and make you feel less congested, even when objective airflow measurements barely change. Beyond temperature, a handful of specific ingredients like honey, certain herbs, and the classic chicken soup have earned varying degrees of scientific backing. But some popular choices people reach for are less helpful than their reputation suggests, and a few common beliefs about drinks and colds are flat-out wrong.
Why Hot Drinks Help More Than Cold Ones
A study published in Chest measured nasal mucus velocity before and after participants drank hot water, cold water, and chicken soup. Hot water sipped from a cup increased mucus velocity from about 6.2 to 8.4 millimeters per minute, a meaningful boost that helps your nose drain and clear irritants. Cold water, by contrast, actually slowed mucus velocity down, dropping it from 7.3 to 4.5 millimeters per minute. The improvement from hot fluids lasted about 30 minutes before returning to baseline, but during that window, breathing felt noticeably easier.1PubMed. Effects of drinking hot water, cold water, and chicken soup on nasal mucus velocity and nasal airflow resistance
A later trial looking specifically at hot fruit drinks during active colds found something interesting: the hot drink did not change objective nasal airflow when measured with instruments, but people reported significantly improved subjective feelings of nasal airflow and less congestion.2PubMed. The effects of a hot drink on nasal airflow and symptoms of common cold and flu That might sound like a placebo effect, and in a narrow sense it is. But when you have a cold, feeling like you can breathe better genuinely matters for comfort, sleep quality, and your ability to function. The steam rising from a hot mug also delivers warm, moist air to your nasal passages, which helps loosen thick mucus even if the liquid itself never touches your sinuses.
The practical takeaway is simple: if you are choosing between a cold drink and a warm one during a cold, go warm. Tea, broth, warm water with lemon, even just hot water on its own all count. Temperature is doing real work here, independent of whatever else is in the cup.
Chicken Soup Earns Its Reputation
Chicken soup outperformed plain hot water in the mucus-velocity study mentioned above, pushing nasal mucus velocity up to 9.2 millimeters per minute when sipped from a cup, higher than hot water alone. The researchers concluded that something beyond just steam and heat was contributing, possibly the aroma sensed at the back of the nose or a taste-related mechanism.1PubMed. Effects of drinking hot water, cold water, and chicken soup on nasal mucus velocity and nasal airflow resistance
A separate lab study looked at whether chicken soup might have anti-inflammatory properties. When researchers tested traditional chicken soup against neutrophils (the white blood cells that rush to sites of infection and cause much of the swelling, stuffiness, and mucus production you experience during a cold), the soup significantly inhibited their movement in a concentration-dependent way. The researchers proposed that this mild anti-inflammatory effect could help explain why soup seems to ease upper respiratory symptoms better than other hot liquids.3PubMed. Chicken soup inhibits neutrophil chemotaxis in vitro
The effect was demonstrated in a lab dish rather than inside a human body, so you should not expect chicken soup to act like an anti-inflammatory drug. But combined with its heat, salt content that encourages fluid intake, and the fact that it provides calories and electrolytes when your appetite is low, chicken soup is one of the most well-rounded drinks you can have during a cold. Bone broth functions similarly: it contains amino acids like glutamine and glycine along with minerals, and research has documented benefits for gut barrier function and reduced intestinal inflammation.4Springer Link / Springer Nature. Bone Broth Benefits: How Its Nutrients Fortify Gut Barrier in Health and Disease When you are sick and barely eating, that nutritional support matters.
Honey in Warm Drinks
If you are going to stir something into your tea, honey is the ingredient with the strongest evidence behind it. A systematic review and meta-analysis pooling data from multiple studies found that honey reduced cough frequency, cough severity, and overall symptom scores compared to usual care for upper respiratory infections.5PubMed. Effectiveness of honey for symptomatic relief in upper respiratory tract infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis The effect is not dramatic, but it is consistent across studies, and honey is cheap, widely available, and safe for most people.
The mechanism is not entirely pinned down, but honey coats the throat and has antimicrobial properties that likely work together with its thick texture to soothe irritation and suppress the cough reflex. Dissolving a tablespoon in warm water or tea is the traditional approach, and it is a reasonable one. Just keep honey away from children under one year old due to the risk of botulism, a limitation that applies regardless of whether the child has a cold.
Herbal Teas Worth Trying
Peppermint tea is a popular cold remedy, and the science behind menthol, peppermint’s active component, offers some support. Menthol activates a cold-sensing receptor called TRPM8, which creates that familiar cooling sensation in your airways and may help reduce the urge to cough by dampening respiratory irritation signals.6PubMed Central. Modulation of transient receptor potential (TRP) channels by plant derived substances used in over-the-counter cough and cold remedies Menthol does not actually open your airways in a measurable way, but the subjective sensation of easier breathing is strong enough that menthol has been a staple in cough drops and decongestant rubs for over a century. As a hot tea, peppermint combines the menthol effect with the steam and warmth benefits of any hot liquid.
Echinacea tea is another common choice, and a randomized, placebo-controlled study found that drinking an echinacea compound tea preparation at the early onset of cold or flu symptoms shortened the duration and reduced the severity of those symptoms compared to placebo.7PubMed. The efficacy of echinacea compound herbal tea preparation on the severity and duration of upper respiratory and flu symptoms: a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study Lab and animal studies also support anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects of echinacea species.8Pharmacological Research – Modern Chinese Medicine. Echinacea spp.: The cold-fighter herbal remedy? The evidence is encouraging but not as strong as what exists for honey. If you enjoy the taste, echinacea tea is a reasonable addition to your cold-fighting routine, especially when started at the first sign of symptoms. Just do not expect it to cure your cold overnight.
Elderberry Drinks
Elderberry has been used for centuries in folk medicine for colds and flu, and modern research provides some interesting support. In a randomized, double-blind trial of air travelers, those taking elderberry extract experienced colds that lasted about two days shorter on average than the placebo group, with significantly lower symptom severity scores.9PubMed Central. Elderberry Supplementation Reduces Cold Duration and Symptoms in Air-Travellers: A Randomized, Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial A separate trial during an influenza B outbreak found that people treated with a standardized elderberry extract saw symptoms relieved about four days earlier than the placebo group, and a complete cure was achieved within two to three days in nearly 90% of the elderberry group compared to at least six days in the placebo group.10PubMed. Inhibition of several strains of influenza virus in vitro and reduction of symptoms by an elderberry extract (Sambucus nigra L.) during an outbreak of influenza B Panama
Those numbers are impressive, but the studies are small and most elderberry research has been conducted with standardized extracts rather than the elderberry teas, syrups, and juice blends you find at grocery stores. The concentration of active compounds varies enormously between products. If you want to try elderberry, a standardized extract dissolved in hot water or taken as a syrup is closer to what was actually tested. The researchers themselves noted that findings should be confirmed in larger studies.11PubMed. Randomized study of the efficacy and safety of oral elderberry extract in the treatment of influenza A and B virus infections Also note that most of the strongest elderberry evidence relates to influenza rather than rhinovirus colds, so the benefits for a typical cold may be more modest.
Coffee and Caffeinated Tea
When you are sick, a cold can leave you foggy, sluggish, and mentally slow. Research has shown that caffeine can restore the alertness and mental performance of cold sufferers to the same level as healthy people. Interestingly, decaffeinated coffee also led to some improvement, suggesting that the sensory experience of drinking coffee, the warmth, aroma, and flavor, contributes to feeling better beyond caffeine’s pharmacological effect.12PubMed. Caffeine and the common cold
That said, caffeine is a mild diuretic, which means it increases urine output. When you are already losing fluids through a runny nose, sweating from a fever, or simply not drinking enough because you feel terrible, you want to be careful about the balance. A cup or two of coffee or black tea is unlikely to dehydrate you, since the fluid in the drink more than compensates for the diuretic effect at moderate doses. But relying on caffeine as your primary fluid source during a cold is not ideal. Use it for the alertness boost and the comfort factor, but pair it with plenty of water, broth, or herbal tea.
What About Orange Juice?
Orange juice is probably the single most reflexive drink people reach for when they feel a cold coming on, largely because of its association with vitamin C. The reality is more nuanced than the marketing suggests. Research on vitamin C supplementation broadly shows modest effects on cold duration when taken regularly, but megadosing once you are already sick has not proven particularly effective. The amount of vitamin C in a glass of orange juice is meaningful for general nutrition, but it is not going to shorten your cold in any noticeable way.
Orange juice does have some interesting properties beyond vitamin C, though. A narrative review of citrus fruit juices found that orange juice does not provoke the inflammatory response that pure glucose does. When added to a meal, orange juice actually reduced post-meal production of reactive oxygen species by immune cells and blunted several molecular markers of inflammation compared to water or glucose drinks.13Frontiers in Immunology. Effects of Citrus Fruit Juices and Their Bioactive Components on Inflammation and Immunity: A Narrative Review That is promising from a general immune standpoint, but it does not translate into “drink OJ to cure your cold.” The sugar content is also worth considering. A standard glass contains roughly as much sugar as a soft drink, and when your appetite is suppressed, those calories from sugar may crowd out more useful nutrition from soups and broths.
If you enjoy orange juice, go ahead and have some. Just do not treat it as medicine, and do not choose it over warm fluids that have better evidence for symptom relief.
The Milk-Mucus Myth
Many people avoid dairy when they are sick because they believe milk increases mucus production. This is one of the most persistent myths in cold care, and controlled research has debunked it cleanly. In one study, participants drank either cow’s milk or a soy-based drink that was designed to be indistinguishable. About 39% reported a sensation of coating in the mouth and throat, and roughly 42% said their saliva felt thicker and harder to swallow. But here is the key finding: there was no difference between the milk and soy groups.14PubMed. Milk, mucus and myths
The uncomfortable sensation is about the physical texture and mouthfeel of creamy liquids, not a physiological increase in mucus production. No difference was observed at four hours or 24 hours later. Even people who believed in the milk-mucus theory beforehand showed the same results. So if warm milk or a latte sounds comforting when you are sick, there is no evidence-based reason to avoid it. The “coating” sensation dissipates quickly and does not reflect what is happening in your respiratory tract.
Saltwater Gargling
Gargling is not technically a drink, since you spit it out, but it is close enough to the topic that it deserves mention. A randomized trial examining saline gargling and nasal rinsing found significantly lower hospitalization rates among participants using saline regimens compared to a reference group during SARS-CoV-2 infection, though the study noted no significant differences in some other outcomes.15PubMed Central. Double-blind randomised trial of saline solution for gargling and nasal rinsing in SARS-CoV-2 infection That study focused on COVID-19 rather than colds, and the results should not be extrapolated too broadly. But the general principle of gargling warm salt water for a sore throat is well-supported by clinical practice and is recommended by most physicians as a low-risk comfort measure. Half a teaspoon of salt dissolved in a cup of warm water is the standard recipe.
What About Alcohol?
The “hot toddy” (whiskey, honey, lemon, and hot water) is a beloved folk remedy, but the evidence for alcohol as a cold treatment is essentially nonexistent. Alcohol is a vasodilator that may temporarily make you feel warmer, but it impairs immune function, disrupts sleep architecture, and dehydrates you. Whatever short-term comfort a warm alcoholic drink provides is likely coming from the hot water and honey components, not the alcohol itself. If you want the hot-toddy experience without the downsides, warm water with honey and lemon gets you the same soothing effect without suppressing the immune response your body is counting on.
Zinc Lozenges Dissolved in the Mouth
Zinc lozenges are not a drink, but they dissolve in the mouth and interact with the same tissues that drinks do, so they often come up in the same conversation. The rationale is that ionic zinc competes with cold viruses for binding sites on nasal cells. Most colds are caused by rhinoviruses that attach to cells through a specific receptor, and zinc appears to have an affinity for the same receptor, potentially blocking viral entry.16PubMed Central. Efficacy of zinc against common cold viruses: an overview The evidence across trials has been mixed, partly because zinc formulations vary widely and the type of zinc compound matters for how much free ionic zinc is actually released. If you try zinc lozenges, start within 24 hours of symptom onset for the best chance of benefit, and be aware that they can cause nausea and leave a bad taste.
Hydration Matters, but More Is Not Always Better
You have probably heard the advice to “push fluids” when you are sick. Staying hydrated during a cold is genuinely important: fever, sweating, and increased mucus production all raise your fluid needs, and dehydration thickens mucus, making congestion worse. But “push fluids” sometimes gets interpreted as “drink as much water as humanly possible,” and that can actually be dangerous. A healthy adult’s kidneys can process roughly 800 to 1,000 milliliters per hour. Exceeding that rate over a sustained period risks dilutional hyponatremia, a dangerous drop in blood sodium levels.17PubMed Central. Hyponatremia caused by excessive intake of water as a form of child abuse
In practice, the risk of overhydration during a cold is low for most adults. But for young children, older adults, and people with kidney problems, the warning is more relevant. A reasonable goal is to sip fluids steadily throughout the day rather than forcing large volumes at once. If your urine is pale yellow, you are hydrated enough. Clear and copious means you can ease up.
Putting a Sick-Day Drink Plan Together
If you want to optimize what you drink during a cold based on the available evidence, the approach is layered. Start with warm fluids as your base: hot water, broth, or herbal tea. Add honey to your tea for cough relief. Have chicken soup for meals, since it combines heat, salt, fluids, calories, and possibly mild anti-inflammatory properties. Use coffee or caffeinated tea strategically if you need to function, but balance it with non-caffeinated fluids. Consider echinacea tea or elderberry extract if you catch symptoms early. Gargle warm salt water for a sore throat. Skip the alcohol, and do not force-feed yourself orange juice expecting it to be medicine.
None of these drinks will cure a cold. Colds are self-limiting viral infections that your immune system resolves on its own, usually within a week or two. What the right drinks do is make that week considerably more bearable, help your body do its job without extra obstacles like dehydration or inflamed airways, and in some cases modestly shorten the duration. The unglamorous truth is that the most evidence-backed cold drink in the world is hot water. Everything else is a useful addition to that foundation.