Spearmint and Cinnamon Tea for PCOS: What One Cup Can Do
Verdict: a cup of spearmint and cinnamon tea is a pleasant, near-zero-calorie drink with a small, early hint of help for PCOS hair symptoms from the spearmint, and very little proof for the cinnamon. It won’t fix your cycle or make you lose weight, and it’s no substitute for the tests and plan PCOS actually needs.
Before you start
- Per cup: 1 heaped tsp dried spearmint (about 1 to 1.5 g) and a small pinch of Ceylon dalchini in 250 ml hot water.
- Calories: under 5 kcal without sugar.
- The honest evidence: small, short trials for spearmint and androgens; weak, mixed evidence for cinnamon and blood sugar.
- Take care: pregnancy or trying to conceive, diabetes medicines, heartburn, cassia cinnamon.
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“PCOS tea: 2 cups a day, periods regular in a month.” That’s how the recipe usually travels. It’s worth being clear from the start about what a cup of leaves in hot water can and can’t do, because women with PCOS get sold a lot of hope. Our peppermint vs spearmint guide already explains how to tell the two mints apart and the basics of mint tea; this piece focuses on the mix and the PCOS claims. It’s part of our Desi Remedies series.
What one cup of spearmint cinnamon tea actually contains
Almost nothing. That’s fine. A cup is roughly 1.25 g of dried leaf and a pinch (about 0.3 g) of cinnamon steeped in water. Most of the leaf stays in the strainer.
| What | Per cup (approx.) | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | under 5 kcal | a free drink, until you add sugar or honey |
| Sugar, fat, protein | close to zero | nothing to count |
| Minerals and vitamins | traces | not a source of anything |
| Plant compounds | mint polyphenols, a little cinnamon aroma | the part the PCOS interest is about |
A teaspoon of sugar adds about 20 kcal and a spoon of honey about 60. If PCOS weight or insulin resistance is your worry, drink it plain or with a slice of lemon.
What spearmint might do for PCOS, honestly
A handful of small trials, each lasting about a month and involving a few dozen women, gave spearmint tea to women with PCOS or unwanted facial hair. They recorded lower free testosterone (the active androgen, or male-type hormone) in the tea group. Women in one trial felt their hair growth had eased a little, though measured hair scores barely changed, which makes sense because a hair cycle takes months.
Interesting? Yes. It’s also thin, because the groups were small, the trials ran for weeks rather than years, nobody followed the women up afterwards to see whether any change lasted, and none of it tells us whether periods, acne or fertility actually improve. So the fair summary is “might slightly help androgen levels, not yet shown to change hair, acne or periods in a lasting way”.
What cinnamon might do, and why a pinch is too little
Cinnamon has been tested for fasting sugar in type 2 diabetes and for insulin resistance and cycles in PCOS. Results swing both ways, and the amounts tested were far larger than a pinch in tea. At kitchen amounts, dalchini here is flavour. That’s a perfectly good reason to add it; just don’t count on it for your sugar. For which cinnamon to buy, see our Ceylon vs cassia guide.
A tea that tastes good and costs nothing is worth drinking. It just isn’t a PCOS treatment plan.
What the tea can’t do
- Weight loss: no tea makes fat disappear. A calorie gap, protein, fibre and movement do. Our PCOS weight loss desi diet lays that out with real food.
- Regular periods: a month of tea won’t reset ovulation. Losing even a small amount of weight, where needed, and a doctor’s plan do far more.
- Fertility: not a fertility aid. If you’re trying to conceive, see below.
- Blood sugar: not a replacement for testing. Fasting sugar of 126 mg/dL or more, or HbA1c of 6.5% or more, points to diabetes and needs a doctor.
How to brew it properly
- Bring 250 ml water to the boil, then let it rest for about 30 seconds.
- Put 1 heaped tsp dried spearmint (or 8 to 10 fresh leaves, lightly bruised) and a small pinch of Ceylon cinnamon, or a 1 cm piece of Ceylon stick, in a cup or pot.
- Pour the water over, cover, and steep for 5 to 7 minutes. Covering keeps the mint oils in the cup.
- Strain. Drink.
- Store dried mint in an airtight, dark jar and use it within 3 to 4 months, while it still smells strongly of mint when rubbed.
Did you know? Spearmint’s sweet smell comes mostly from carvone, the same compound that gives caraway its aroma. Peppermint gets its cool bite from menthol, which spearmint has only a little of.
What if you change the amounts?
- More spearmint: a stronger, grassier taste and more heartburn for some people. There’s no good reason to go beyond a couple of cups a day.
- More cinnamon: with Ceylon, more flavour and little else. With cassia, more coumarin, a natural compound that can strain the liver in large, regular amounts.
- Swapping in peppermint: a different plant. The small PCOS trials used spearmint.
- Adding green tea: adds caffeine, roughly 30 mg per cup; count it if you’re keeping caffeine low.
A cassia rule of thumb
Most dalchini sold loose in Pakistan and India is cassia: thick, hard, single-layered bark. Its coumarin content is high enough that a daily teaspoon of the powder can pass the safe limit for a small adult. A small pinch in one cup is fine; if you plan a daily habit, choose Ceylon, which is thin, papery and rolled in many layers.
You’re pregnant or trying to conceive: an occasional cup of mint tea is a normal drink, but a daily “anti-androgen” routine isn’t something to start without your doctor, because hormone effects are the whole point of it. Ask at your antenatal or fertility visit. You take diabetes medicines: cinnamon may add slightly to their effect. Keep testing as advised, know the signs of low sugar (shaking, sweating, confusion), and never start, stop or change a medicine because of a tea.
Heartburn or reflux: mint relaxes the valve at the top of the stomach and can make burning worse; drink it earlier in the day, not at bedtime. Liver disease: avoid cassia entirely. Blood thinners: mention a daily cinnamon habit to your doctor. PCOS symptoms changing fast (sudden deep voice, rapid new hair growth, no periods for 3 months or more): see a doctor, because these need tests, not tea.
Cheaper habits that do more for PCOS
A daily 30-minute walk, meals built around daal, vegetables and a palm-sized portion of protein, fewer sugary drinks and packaged snacks, and going to bed and waking at roughly the same time every day will all do more for insulin resistance, and often for periods and skin as well, than any tea you could brew, however carefully you pick the leaves. The tea’s best job may be replacing a sweet drink: swap one cup of sugary chai or a soft drink for it and you’ve cut real sugar without missing a ritual.
Questions people ask about spearmint tea for PCOS
Does spearmint tea help PCOS?
It may slightly lower free testosterone, based on small, short trials. It hasn’t been shown to fix periods, fertility or weight, so treat it as a pleasant extra alongside proper care.
How many cups of spearmint tea a day for PCOS?
The small trials used about two cups a day. There’s no reason to drink more, and more can bring on heartburn.
Can spearmint tea reduce facial hair?
Not quickly, if at all. Hair grows in slow cycles, and a month is far too short to see much. Your doctor can discuss options that do work.
Does cinnamon tea lower blood sugar?
A pinch in tea doesn’t reliably change blood sugar. Evidence even at much larger amounts is mixed, so don’t use it in place of testing or medicine.
Can spearmint tea help me lose weight?
No. It has almost no calories, which helps only if it replaces a sugary drink. Weight change comes from diet and activity.
Can I drink spearmint tea while pregnant?
An occasional cup as a drink is generally considered fine. A daily routine aimed at hormones is different, so check with your doctor first.
Can I drink PCOS tea while trying to conceive?
Ask first. A drink meant to shift hormones isn’t something to add on your own during that time.
Is spearmint the same as pudina?
Most garden pudina in South Asia is a spearmint type, though mixes and hybrids are common. The difference from peppermint is explained in our mint guide.
Which cinnamon is safe for daily tea?
Ceylon cinnamon, because its coumarin is very low. Cassia is fine as an occasional pinch, not as a daily habit in larger amounts.
Can I add honey to spearmint tea?
You can. Each spoon adds about 60 kcal of sugar, though. With PCOS and insulin resistance, plain or with lemon is the better habit.