I’m obsessed with tea. There’s something about a cup of tea that makes everything better. I reach for one of the best teas for concentration and focus whenever I have a looming deadline or feel like I need an extra push. They never let me down.
I feel invincible when I’ve got a cup of focus tea by my side.
Aside from being one of the best work fuels, tea is also the perfect excuse to take a break. Taking regular breaks is particularly important when you work from home. Without the distractions of the office, it can be easy to stare at your screen for way too long.
Tea breaks are nothing new. In fact, tea breaks have been around for approximately 200 years.
It’s crazy to think that a drink first created more than 5,000 years ago is more popular than ever. Over 25,000 cups of tea are drunk around the world per second. That’s around 2.16 billion cups of tea each day!
Unsurprisingly, workers make up a decent chunk of global tea consumption. The average worker will drink 25,000 cups of tea over the course of their career. 25,000!
With us drinking so much tea to help get through working life, we had better make sure we’re drinking the best tasting teas!
I’ve hunted high and low to bring you the best teas for concentration and focus. Whether you love a caffeine hit or prefer herbal teas, I’ve got you covered!
What are the best teas for focus and concentration?
I’ve picked out twelve of the best teas for mental clarity and providing an energy boost. I’ve selected the very best flavours you can find on the internet all while having those all important energy- and concentration-boosting properties.
If you like caffeinated teas, you can choose from a selection of green, black, white and oolong teas.
If herbal teas are more your thing, I’ve picked out a tasty range of zesty, energising flavours.
Enjoy!
DISCLOSURE
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Best caffeinated teas for focus
Caffeinated teas have long been a go-to for those looking for a pick-me-up, particularly first thing in the morning.
Caffeine is a stimulant that occurs naturally in tea in varying degrees depending on the type you choose. Brewing tea for longer draws out more caffeine, which is why black and oolong teas have higher caffeine content than green and white teas.
While caffeine is known to improve focus, enhance mood and make you feel alert, be careful not to overdo it. Research suggests that the average adult can safely consume up to 3-4 cups per day.
With that, here are the best caffeinated teas for focus.
HAN-CHIGA Focus Tea
Han-Chiga is an amazing ethical brand founded by a couple after spending time with an indigenous tribe in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.
The Focus tea is part of their collection of saffron-based blends. It combines unprocessed saffron stigmas, evergreen shrubs and natural bioactive compounds with green tea to enhance energy levels, reduce fatigue and provide a neuroprotective boost for the brain and eyes.
‘Focus’ is rich in vitamins and minerals, including manganese, copper, and vitamins C, E, and K1, which can help improve focus and enhance mental clarity.
With the added benefits of mint, lemongrass and turmeric, it has a cool, zesty and slightly spicy taste with a floral aroma.
It’s a little pricey at £18 but worth it for an excellent focus tea.
Super U Magic Matcha
Magic Matcha is a seriously impressive concentration tea.
Matcha is amazing in its own right with its high antioxidant content that helps to cleanse the body of damaging free radicals.
What is special about Super U Magic Matcha is the addition of nootropics, a.k.a. brain-boosting ingredients. They have a wide range of reported benefits, including improved thinking and focus.
One of these is Lion’s Mane Mushroom, which is an ancient mushroom that has been added to Magic Matcha to help support memory, cognitive function and brain health. Another one of the ingredients is Ashwagandha, a natural medicinal herb that helps to fight stress and anxiety.
You can’t go wrong with this matcha. And at just 59p a cup, it’s amazing value for such a high quality product.
Twinings Superblends Boost
Part of the Twinings Superblends range, this is a mandarin and apple-flavoured green tea with added guarana and vitamin B6.
Green tea is widely praised for its health benefits. Not only is it an excellent source of antioxidants, but it also has many other properties that can boost brain function and overall health.
When you add gurana and vitamin B6 into the mix, you end up with one of the best energy-boosting teas around!
Guarana is a powerhouse ingredient in its own right. It has been found to help reduce fatigue, enhance energy levels and improve learning and memory.
This is a delicious tea with a tangy and slightly tart flavour that is great for giving you a pep up when you need it.
The Wee Tea Company Pai Mu Tan White Tea
Pai Mu Tan White Tea, otherwise known as Bai Mudan Tea, translates as White Peony. It is one of the fuller-flavoured white teas and is loved by tea drinkers who are looking for a bit more punch from their white tea.
Pai Mu Tan is made by picking off one leaf shoot and the two young leaves immediately next to it. This is what gives it the potency that some softer white teas sometimes lack.
White tea is the least processed of the Camellia sinensis plant (which is the same plant green and black teas are made from). This means it is extremely high in antioxidants, which could even help to lower the risk of heart disease.
This Pai Mu Tan is a delicious, delicate and decadent tea that you have to give a try. Its lower caffeine content than green and black teas make it a great option for helping to improve focus in the afternoons.
The Wee Tea Company Milky Oolong
My first experience of milk oolong tea was when I was doing a year abroad in Moscow. I became instantly hooked on its silky, creamy and indulgent flavour. I used to make a special trip to the famous GUM department store on Red Square to get my fix!
Luckily, you don’t need to take a trip to Russia to get your hands on top-quality milk oolong. The Wee Tea Company stocks a delicious blend that’s available as both loose leaf and as tea bags (I would definitely recommend you go for the loose leaf).
For me, milk oolong is best enjoyed with an afternoon treat. A slice of cake complements the creaminess of the tea perfectly! What’s more, the properties of milk oolong can make you feel a little less guilty about indulging in a sugary snack. As well as improving mental alertness, milk oolong can help to regulate sugar levels, boost metabolism and even prevent tooth decay!
Lab Tonica POW Tea
If you’re looking for a tea that really packs a punch, look no further than Lab Tonica’s POW Tea.
Lab Tonica – a plant-powered wellness brand – has developed its POW blend to deliver a natural hit of energy when your mind needs a bit of a boost. It combines some of nature’s best energy-enhancing ingredients – including ginger, yerba mate, lemongrass, beetroot, rosemary, lemon peel and chilli – to create a delicious tea that will help you breeze through the day.
For the uninitiated, yerba mate is a powerhouse tea that is gaining in popularity. Native to South America, yerba mate is “said to have the strength of coffee, the health benefits of tea, and the joy of chocolate.” What more could you want!
At £9 for a box of 15 biodegradable tea bags, POW is a little on the pricey side. However, the cost is totally worth it if you’re looking for one of the best yerba mate teas around. Let’s face it, 15 cans of Red Bull would cost you more, so why not invest in yourself and fill your body with natural energy.
The Wee Tea Company Afternoon Rose Tea
Rose-flavoured tea is one of my go-to concentration teas. My husband once bought me some for my birthday and ever since then, it’s been known as my ‘lucky tea’. Whenever I’m struggling to focus and can’t seem to find the goddamn words for that report I’m on a deadline for, ‘lucky tea’ always comes to the rescue.
The black tea gives you a caffeine boost while the rose petals add a touch of sophistication to evoke afternoon tea vibes. There’s always a danger that rose can taste a bit soapy if it’s overdone, but fear not! This blend from The Wee Tea Company is perfectly balanced to bring you a delicate yet complex flavour.
This is a beautiful focus tea that will help you keep on track with those deadlines.
Best caffeine-free herbal teas for concentration
Despite caffeine’s reputation as a tiredness killer, you don’t always need caffeine to feel the energy-boosting benefits of a cup of tea. Caffeine isn’t for everyone and should only be enjoyed in the first half of the day if you want to prevent your sleep from being affected.
There are many herbal teas that can help improve focus and clarity without relying on caffeine. Made from a combination of herbs, spices, dried fruits and even flowers, herbal teas are reported to have many benefits not just for cognitive power, but also for digestion, the immune system and anxiety levels.
If you’re looking for the best herbal teas for energy, read on to discover some delicious blends!
Twinings Inner Strength
Inner Strength, created “for all the jugglers out there,” is a delicious honey and chai flavoured rooibos infusion with maca root.
Native to South America, rooibos – otherwise known as ‘red bush’ or ‘red tea’ – has many amazing properties. Rich in antioxidants, studies have shown that rooibos can be a mind booster. According to the Rooibos Council, rooibos reduces the effects that free radicals have on neural pathways, which stimulates concentration and focus.
It’s no coincidence that Twinings has paired rooibos with maca root. Packed with vitamins and minerals, maca is known to have energy-boosting qualities. Athletes even use maca to help enhance their performance and improve recovery.
Inner Strength combines focus-enhancing ingredients without compromising on taste. This is the perfect tea to reach for when you need to take a quick break and recharge your brain.
Neal's Yard Fired Up Tea
Famous for its blue-bottled essential oils, Neal’s Yard has a range of organic herbal teas that are specially formulated to help preserve the therapeutic qualities of the ingredients.
Fired Up is the perfect drink for giving you a little boost at any time of day. Fired Up blends feisty ginger, earthy turmeric and sweet licorice with rooibos, orange peel and rosehips to create a delicious yet 100% natural energy drink. A beautifully balanced tea, it has the fire you would expect from ginger and turmeric without being overly spicy.
While Neal’s Yard teas are only available in bag form, this doesn’t detract from the taste at all. Plus, they are environmentally friendly. All Neal’s Yard tea bags are chlorine-free and made from natural abaca (a plant from the banana family), meaning they are fully biodegradable.
Twinings Superblends Focus
Another tea in Twinings Superblends range, Focus is a mango, pineapple and ginseng infusion with added vitamin B6 to help fight fatigue.
This is a great-tasting tea for anyone looking for a caffeine-free energy hit. The mango and pineapple bring tropical vibes, while the ginseng adds earthy notes.
Aside from its great taste, ginseng is renowned for its health benefits. As well as having anti-inflammatory properties, ginseng could help to improve brain functions, including mood and memory. Some components found in ginseng are also linked to lower oxidative stress, and this has been shown to help contribute towards increased energy and lower levels of fatigue.
Due to the added vitamin B6, it’s best to stick to just one cup a day of this super tea.
The Wee Tea Company Peppermint Tea
I am totally obsessed with peppermint tea. I have at least three cups of it every day without fail.
Aside from its digestive benefits, peppermint is in fact considered to be a concentration tea. An International Journal of Neuroscience study found that peppermint tea can boost focus and concentration.
Further studies by the University of Cincinnati found that the smell of peppermint was even more important than the consumption of the tea for enhancing alertness, as the menthol scent stimulates the brain’s hippocampus. So make sure you give your peppermint tea plenty of time to brew and take in the amazing, fresh scent before gulping it down!
As with all their blends, The Wee Tea Company works hard to source the best ingredients, so you can be sure you’re enjoying one of the best peppermint teas around.
Twinings Cold Infuse Clarity
While not strictly a tea, I couldn’t finish this post without giving a shout-out to Twinings’ Clarity cold infusion.
Twinings launched their Cold Infuse range a few years ago to make cold water infusions as easy to prepare as a cup of tea. While it’s fair to say cold infusions aren’t going to replace the traditional cuppa any time soon, they should definitely not be overlooked when looking for a caffeine-free energy boost.
Clarity combines mandarin, rosemary and lemon with stevia leaves to create a deliciously refreshing drink that can be enjoyed any time you’re looking to regain your focus. With added vitamin C that’s equivalent to 75% of your recommended daily dose, Clarity also contributes to the reduction of fatigue.
Conclusion: the best teas for focus and concentration
There are so many different types of tea that it can be difficult to choose the best for you. I hope this post has given you a sense of the best teas for concentration and focus and highlighted some of the top energy-enhancing ingredients to watch out for.
Focus teas don’t always need to give you a caffeine hit. Caffeine is definitely not the only way to get the boost you need when you’re running on empty. There are many herbal teas that are great for promoting focus and concentration without giving you that caffeine high.
Give some of these blends a try and let me know what you think! I’d also love to hear your recommendations. I’m British so always on the look out for new teas to try!
