Can You Meditate While Drinking Tea?

Meditation can be done in combination with many things, for instance, coffee, which I’ve discussed here. However, can the same be said for drinking tea? Not everyone is keen on the idea of a warm cup of coffee, for that purpose, tea is a great replacement. 

Now can you do meditation while drinking tea? Absolutely, just be mindful of every sit, drink it slowly, and keep your attention on the act of drinking the tea. 

This will be less of a commitment if you want to start with meditation but just want to get your toes wet. Deep meditation is the one that moves the needle for positive life changes, but in the beginning, what’s more important is to not give up and practice it routinely. For that purpose, if you’re an avid tea drinker, you can use meditation to your benefit. 

How and When To Do Meditation While Drinking Tea

It’s best to do meditation in conjunction with drinking tea in the morning, which also tends to be the best time to meditate to start off your day fully recharged and ready to devote your entire focus to anything you do. 

However, it can be done at any time during the day. Now, mindfulness and meditation are often used interchangeably, and because meditation is about focus and can be done while doing virtually anything, this is how you specifically meditate while drinking tea:

1. Focus on the temperature of the tea, feel that warmth.
2. Embrace the smell of the tea.
3. Drink slowly, feeling your lips touching the liquid of the tea.

This will keep your focus entirely on drinking tea mindfully. Which could technically qualify as a short meditation that can be done in 5-10 minutes a day, which later on, can help you expand. If that made you feel good, it’s just a preview of what would be about to come if you extended the practice. 

Drinking tea while meditating is a great way to introduce yourself to the world of meditation. 

Another alternative to using meditation and tea together is doing one before the other. Depending on which tea you drink, you may be able to sustain your focus longer. This is especially helpful if you plan to do a long session of immersive meditation. If you have green tea, it’s likely to keep your mind alert, thus, aiding you. If you plan to do a shorter session though, you may want to drink tea while meditating. 

However, generally speaking, while I don’t recommend meditations that are less than 20 minutes, there are exceptions, especially considering how different everyone is and how different everyone’s commitment to meditation is. 

So I say, whatever gets you started is what you should continue doing. But if your goal is to keep yourself focused throughout the entire time, losing the notion of time as you’re meant to, drinking green tea or black tea as an alternative to coffee may help you. Both of these teas contain caffeine and are likely to keep you alert and present you with fewer obstacles for you to be able to do the meditation practice without interruptions. 

Tea vs. Coffee For Meditation

Depending on which tea you drink, it can sometimes have an opposite effect to coffee, but assuming you’re drinking green tea or black tea for meditation, you’re likely to feel similar effects. 

However, you may choose a tea that relaxes you instead, which in turn, also can be beneficial for meditation. There are two sides to meditation, one where the mind is highly alert and another one where the mind is in a deeply relaxed state and you let thoughts pass you through without any labels attached to those thoughts. 

While coffee and tea can perfectly go hand in hand for meditation, you’ll want to stay away from eating or drinking alcohol in conjunction with meditation. The more your mind is clear from distractions or busy with the process of digestion, the fewer problems you’re likely to face while meditating. 

The Long-Term Goal of Drinking Tea While Meditating

This isn’t just the long-term goal with tea but with meditation in general. When you drink tea while being mindful about it, you get a taste of what it’s like to be in a meditative state. But this state will often be temporary, and once you’re done with drinking the tea, you no longer have something to be mindful of. 

However, by practicing these small steps of mindfulness every morning, you could train yourself to sustain that mindful activity towards other things you’re doing throughout the day, which in turn, creates a domino effect making it less likely for your mind to slip off elsewhere or start zoning out while meditating. 

When your mind isn’t used to something like meditation, and it’s a sudden change, it can be hard to adapt, but tea can be that bridge that subtly normalizes the idea of mindfulness for your mind. In short, being in a mindful state by default should be the long-term goal – once you’re able to interact with the present you have more control of your day-to-day. 

Should You Drink Tea While Meditating?

Drinking tea gives your mind something to focus on, if you’re finding it hard to just observe your thoughts and not let your mind slip away, or if you’re having a hard time focusing on your breath. 

While drinking tea, you’re engaging more of your senses, such as your sense of smell, touch and feel at the same time, and while not meditating to the same depth as a meditation where you sit down focusing on your breath, is still a great way to start you out with the habit. But the same thing can be said for coffee. 

However, if you rather not depend on anything and just want to start meditating on your own, that’s understandable. There are benefits such as improved sleep quality and reduced stress by standalone drinking green tea. This, combined with meditation makes a potent that’s mutually complementary. 

So the answer on whether you should drink tea while meditating would be: if you want and if you feel it keeps your attention locked. 

Now, I do think meditation is a practice you can do independently without relying on anything else in the long term, so there, the answer changes, because you first need to get through the barriers established by the mind, where I think tea can be helpful. However, there’s nothing wrong with using either tea or coffee for long-term meditation practice. 

Monks Drink Tea For Meditation

It’s not often talked about that monks are able to meditate for long, not only because of their desire to achieve enlightenment but because their practice of meditation is aided by drinking tea to remain focused. Monks are often perceived as peaceful, stress-free, and able to go about their day without the burden of what’s about to come or what’s already happened. Often, they’re able to meditate for hours at a time. 

It’s not only the regular person that meets obstacles when meditating, it can happen to anyone, therefore, drinking tea is a great way to prevent the mind from bouncing to different places. 

Monks don’t have a special gift you don’t have, they simply devote a significant portion of their time to meditation but overcome the hurdles that the average Dan would’ve given up long ago. Plus, you don’t have to become a monk to reap the same rewards.