Tulsi Tea Benefits: Why Every Indian Home Swears by Holy Basil

Tulsi tea benefits, in short: holy basil may help with stress, blood sugar and immunity, says a 2017 review of 24 human studies. The trials were small and short. Tulsi (holy basil) grows in almost every Indian home. Your grandmother probably has a tulsi plant on the balcony or in the courtyard. But most people just water it and pray near it. Few actually make tea from it. That is a missed chance. Tulsi tea is one of the easiest herbal drinks you can brew at home, and it takes less than five minutes.

By Saran Reddy · Founder, InstaCuppa | Last updated: 1 November 2026

Tulsi Tea Benefits: What the Research Actually Shows

Tulsi tea is a simple tulsi drink: holy basil leaves steeped in hot water. A 2017 systematic review looked at 24 human studies. It found tulsi may help with blood sugar, blood pressure, blood fats and stress. Fifteen of the 24 studies reported no side effects. Eight did not report on side effects, and one reported mild nausea. Most trials were small and short. The longest ran 13 weeks.

The reviewers call tulsi “a safe herbal intervention that may assist in normalising glucose, blood pressure and lipid profiles” (Jamshidi and Cohen, 2017).

One number is worth knowing. In a trial of adults with type 2 diabetes, holy basil leaves cut fasting blood sugar by 21.0 mg/dl. That is a drop of 17.6 per cent (Agrawal, Rai and Singh, 1996). That trial gave 40 adults 2.5 grams of dried leaf powder each morning before a meal, for five weeks. It did not use a cup of tea. So treat tulsi tea as a daily habit. It is not a medicine. It replaces nothing your doctor has given you.

What Is Tulsi Tea (Holy Basil Tea), and Why Do Indian Homes Trust It?

Tulsi tea, also called holy basil tea, is made from the leaves of the holy basil plant (Ocimum tenuiflorum). Ayurveda calls tulsi "The Queen of Herbs". It has a long history of use for stress, cough, asthma and fever.

Tulsi is not the same as the Italian basil you use in pasta. Indian tulsi has a sharp, peppery taste and a clove-like smell. Three types are common: Rama or Sri tulsi (green leaves), Krishna or Shyama tulsi (purple leaves), and Vana or wild tulsi (dark green leaves). Vana tulsi is a different species, Ocimum gratissimum. All three are used in the same traditional ways, so any of them can go into your tea. Krishna tulsi has more antioxidant compounds than Vana tulsi (Cohen, 2014).

In Indian households, tulsi is more than a herb. It is considered sacred. Modern studies are now testing what Ayurveda has long claimed. Ayurveda treats tulsi as an adaptogen: a herb that may help your body cope with stress.

What Are the Health Benefits of Drinking Tulsi Tea?

Tulsi may help with stress, blood sugar and immunity. Those three have small human trials behind them. Claims for breathing, inflammation and digestion rest mostly on traditional use and animal studies.

• Stress relief: Three human trials found less anxiety and stress with tulsi. Two of them, in people with stress-related health problems, reported 31.6% to 39% fewer stress symptoms than a control group (Jamshidi and Cohen, 2017). Lab and animal work suggests tulsi may lower the stress hormone cortisol. These trials used tulsi extracts, not tea.
• Immunity: In a small trial at AIIMS New Delhi, 22 healthy adults took 300 mg of tulsi leaf extract a day for 4 weeks. Their T-helper and natural killer (NK) immune cells rose, compared with a placebo (Mondal and others, 2011). This does not prove that tulsi tea prevents colds.
• Respiratory health: Tulsi is a traditional remedy for cough, bronchitis and asthma. A 1983 trial in people with asthma found that 500 mg of dried tulsi leaves, three times a day, improved breathing within 3 days. That is one small study, so treat it as a hint, not proof.
• Blood sugar: Several small trials in people with type 2 diabetes found lower fasting blood sugar with tulsi leaf powder or extract. This is promising, but do not replace diabetes medication with tulsi tea.
• Anti-inflammatory: Tulsi is rich in eugenol, the compound behind its clove-like smell. In animal studies, tulsi lowered inflammation, and researchers link this to its eugenol. Human data on pain and swelling is thin.
• Digestion: Ayurveda uses tulsi for indigestion, and tulsi tea has a long history of use for stomach problems. We found no human trial on tulsi tea and bloating.

Important note: tulsi tea may support your health, but it is not a cure for any disease. Think of it as a daily wellness habit, not a medicine.

How Do You Make Tulsi Leaf Tea at Home?

Pick 8-10 fresh tulsi leaves, wash them, and steep in hot water (100°C) for 5 minutes. You can also use dried tulsi leaves or tulsi powder. Add honey and lemon for extra flavour.

Fresh Tulsi Leaves Method

1. Pick 8-10 fresh tulsi leaves. Rinse them gently.
2. Lightly tear or bruise the leaves to release their oils.
3. Place the leaves in the strainer of your InstaCuppa Stainless Steel Teapot with removable steel infuser.
4. Pour boiling water (100°C) over the leaves.
5. Steep for 5 minutes with the lid on.
6. Remove the strainer. Add honey and a squeeze of lemon if you like.

Dried Tulsi Method

If you do not have a fresh plant, dried tulsi works well. Use 1 teaspoon of dried tulsi per cup. Steep for 5-7 minutes. Taste it, and add more next time if you want a stronger cup.

Tulsi with Green Tea

For a lighter, grassy cup, add half a teaspoon of green tea leaves along with the tulsi. Use water at 80°C (not boiling) and steep for 3 minutes. Note that green tea has caffeine, so this blend is not caffeine-free.

Should You Use Fresh or Dried Tulsi for Tea?

Fresh tulsi gives a brighter, more aromatic cup. Dried tulsi is more convenient. Both work. If you have a tulsi plant at home, use fresh. If not, buy dried tulsi from any Ayurvedic store or online.

Use fresh leaves soon after picking, while they still smell strong. Keep dried tulsi in an airtight jar, away from light and damp, and replace it when the smell fades. Buy dried tulsi from a brand you trust. Researchers have reported tulsi products being swapped with sweet basil (Cohen, 2014).

What About Dry Tulsi Sticks?

Dry tulsi sticks are the woody stems of the plant, and they have far less research than the leaves. In traditional use, tulsi roots and stems were used for mosquito bites, snake bites and malaria (Jamshidi and Cohen, 2017). Tulsi wood is also made into mala beads. The human trials in the 2017 review used leaves, leaf extracts or whole-plant extracts, not sticks on their own. So we found no tested benefit of dry tulsi sticks. For tea, use the leaves.

Are There Any Side Effects of Tulsi Tea?

Tulsi looks safe for most adults in the short term. RxList rates holy basil as possibly safe by mouth for up to six weeks, and long-term safety is not known. It may lower blood sugar and slow blood clotting, so people on diabetes or blood-thinning medicine should check with their doctor first.

• Blood sugar: Tulsi may lower blood sugar. If you take diabetes medication, monitor your levels closely.
• Blood clotting: Tulsi may slow blood clotting. RxList advises stopping holy basil at least 2 weeks before a planned surgery.
• Pregnancy: Not enough is known about tulsi in pregnancy or breast-feeding, so RxList advises avoiding it. Check with your doctor.
• Fertility: In a rat study, a tulsi leaf extract (250 mg per kg of body weight for 48 days) lowered sperm count and movement. The effect went away 2 weeks after stopping (Ahmed and others, 2002). We found no study that tested this in men who drink tulsi tea.

For most healthy adults, a cup or two of tulsi tea a day is a reasonable habit. The 2017 review calls daily tulsi likely safe, based on trials of up to 13 weeks and its long traditional use. No trial has tested a number of cups.

What Are Some Easy Tulsi Tea Variations?

Mix tulsi with ginger for a classic cold-season cup, with cinnamon for warmth, with lemon and honey for a morning drink, or with chamomile for a mild bedtime cup.

• Tulsi + ginger: The classic Indian cold remedy. Crush ginger and tulsi together, steep in hot water. Add honey.
• Tulsi + cinnamon: Warming and slightly sweet. Break a cinnamon stick and add it to the infuser with the tulsi leaves.
• Tulsi + lemon + honey: A bright morning drink. Brew tulsi, cool slightly, add lemon juice and honey.
• Tulsi + chamomile: A bedtime blend. The chamomile adds a mild, calming note to the peppery tulsi.
• Tulsi + black pepper: The same pair goes into kadha, the traditional Indian spiced drink (see our kadha guide). Add 3-4 crushed black peppercorns to the infuser with tulsi.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I drink tulsi tea every day?

Probably yes, for most healthy adults. The 2017 review of 24 human studies calls daily tulsi likely safe, but its longest trial ran only 13 weeks. Pure tulsi tea has no tea leaves, so it has no caffeine and you can drink it before bed.

Does tulsi tea taste good on its own?

Tulsi has a strong, peppery, clove-like taste. Some people love it straight. Others prefer it with honey and lemon. Try it plain first and adjust to your taste.

Can children drink tulsi tea?

Ask your paediatrician first. Only one of the 24 trials in the 2017 review included children, and its youngest were 10 years old. So there is no tested amount of tulsi tea for kids.

Tulsi chai ke fayde kya hain?

Research ke hisaab se tulsi tanaav kam karne, blood sugar aur immunity mein madad kar sakti hai. Lekin trials chhote the, aur unmein chai nahi, tulsi powder ya extract diya gaya tha. (In English: the tulsi chai benefits studied so far are help with stress, blood sugar and immunity. But the trials were small, and they used tulsi powder or extract, not tea.)

Is tulsi tea the same as basil tea?

No. Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum) is holy basil, which is different from sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) used in Italian cooking. They taste very different. Most tulsi research uses holy basil, so its results do not carry over to sweet basil.

Where can I buy tulsi tea in India?

You can buy dried tulsi or tulsi tea bags from Ayurvedic stores, Amazon India and Flipkart, or from brands such as Organic India, which sells many tulsi blends. If you have a tulsi plant at home, just pick the leaves fresh.

Is holy basil tea the same as tulsi tea?

Yes. Holy basil is the English name for tulsi, so holy basil tea and tulsi tea are the same drink. Both mean leaves of Ocimum tenuiflorum steeped in hot water.

Are there tulsi tea benefits for women?

The 2017 review found no benefit that is only for women. Its trials included both men and women, and they reported good results and few side effects in both. One small study found that tulsi leaves brought low blood pressure back to normal in women aged 18 to 30. Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding should avoid tulsi, because not enough is known.

Sources

• Jamshidi N, Cohen MM. “The Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Tulsi in Humans: A Systematic Review of the Literature.” Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2017. PMC5376420
• Cohen MM. “Tulsi — Ocimum sanctum: A herb for all reasons.” Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, 2014. PMC4296439
• Agrawal P, Rai V, Singh RB. “Randomized placebo-controlled, single blind trial of holy basil leaves in patients with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.” International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 1996;34(9):406-9. PMID 8880292
• Mondal S and others. “Double-blinded randomized controlled trial for immunomodulatory effects of Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum Linn.) leaf extract on healthy volunteers.” Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2011;136(3):452-6. PMID 21619917
• Ahmed M and others. “Reversible anti-fertility effect of benzene extract of Ocimum sanctum leaves on sperm parameters and fructose content in rats.” Journal of Basic and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology, 2002;13(1):51-9. PMID 12099405
• RxList. “Holy Basil: Health Benefits, Side Effects, Uses, Dose and Precautions.” rxlist.com

Note: Cohen (2014) states that he advises Organic India, a tulsi tea brand.

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