The 3 Best Teas for Memory, Focus, Concentration & Brain Health

Every morning I have one cup of a special kind of tea I’ll tell you about below. And almost every afternoon, I drink one cup of matcha tea for its well-proven memory benefits.

In fact, some studies show that this concentrated form of green tea is the gold standard when it comes to an easy to make tea. It’s also highly enjoyable and directly beneficial.

Apart from green tea, black and oolong teas have been shown to work, but on this page, I’ll share with you a few other options.

The question is, will drinking any of the most highly recommended teas also improve your memory?

Maybe.

But you have to be careful.

That’s because a lot of people throw out scientific studies.

You read them and think: “That’s the tea for me.”

But those studies don’t show you all the nuances you need to drink tea safely.

See, various teas for concentration, memory or focus interact with other supplements you might be taking. As a result, you can wind up making things worse. Various teas can also interact with your diet overall creating unwanted effects.

So in this post, we’re going to look at the truth about tea for better memory and brain health.

It’s easy to understand and the information I’ve researched and tested personally will help you make better choices overall.

The Best Tea for Memory, Studying, Focus, and More

Let’s start by approaching the topic counterintuitively:

What’s better?

A tea you add to your daily routine that stimulates focus?

Or a tea that helps remove distractions so that you can focus?

The answer to this question is ultimately something only you can determine. And you arrive at the best possible answer through experimentation.

As I have explained in my book, The Victorious Mind, the easiest way to arrive at an answer is by rotating through various substances while journaling.

By noting down the effects you feel, you can start to track patterns.

Why Do Some Teas Help Memory, Focus and Concentration?

When it comes to the kind of memory benefits you can get from reducing distraction, the answer is simple. Many teas have L-theanine, which studies have shown makes you feel more peaceful.

In other words, L-theanine reduces the feeling of unrest. This clears the way for more focus and concentration, and the leads to better memory because you’re able to pay attention.

In fact, Murray Carpenter reported in his book Caffeinated that Starbucks added L-theanine to its coffee to prevent people from getting too buzzed, which in some contexts means too focused and concentrated.

It’s also possible that the caffeine in some teas can improve your memory because they reverse the effects of sleep deprivation. At least in male mice and in the context of social memory, as this study shows.

Anecdotally, this makes sense to me as I do tend to feel that my memory is much sharper after drinking either tea of coffee.

But how various teas makes you feel is not necessarily the same as being able to focus or concentrate in a way that helps you learn faster and remember more.

Only taking specific actions do that. And that’s again why I suggest you learn about tea for memory through experimentation and thinking about what you add vs. what you take away.

Because the truth is that you can often increase your focus by not drinking any teas at all. Just making sure you’re hydrated by regularly drinking water in combination with proper diet and lots of exercise is also a powerful strategy for better memory.

You can also work on developing concentration as its own practice. For example, here’s a tutorial on activities that improve concentration. And here’s one on some of my favorite memory training activities.

That said, I love my two daily cups of tea and I’ll explain why they have personally been the most effective for me. Let’s get started.

One: Personalized Chinese Herbal Tea

As I mentioned in my study of herbs for memory and focus, everything comes down to removing pain and discomfort.

Since I have chronic pain that leads to brain fog when left untreated, I go to a Chinese Medicine practitioner almost every week.

The specific tea I’m given is personalized based on where my health stands on a week-to-week basis. And my practitioner and I always check that the tea I’m drinking works in conjunction with my diet overall. That way, there are no problematic interactions.

I’ve had interaction issues in the past, such as when two supplements created confusion, so I’m glad I now get help in order to reduce chronic pain issues.

You need to take these things in consideration for yourself as well. And it’s key to check based on every tea you try. Every tea will potentially interact with everything else you eat and drink throughout your day.

Two: Why Matcha Could Be the Best Green Tea for Memory Overall

Many people have cited straight up green tea as a memory booster.

However, I’ve found better results anecdotally from matcha. And although longest term studies have only been done on mice, they prove the basic point that other dietary considerations matter. In brief, the mice showed better memory only when the matcha was combined with other foods in their overall diet.

But why else might matcha be better than green tea for memory?

Matcha has been shown to have more L-theanine than standard green tea. These higher levels are likely brought out during the detailed preparation process proper matcha goes through.

That said, one study has shown that your working memory could potentially benefit from green tea extract on its own. I tried taking green tea extract for a few months to conduct an n=1 test, but I did not experience any positive results with my memory.

But I did suffer bad skin issues as a result of taking green tea extract.

Nonetheless, green tea supplements might work for you without side effects. You’ll just have to experiment and keep track of the results.

I’m very glad I can tolerate green tea in its matcha from because there’a another reason to have some kind of green tea in your daily diet. As this study has shown, amongst many others, green tea reduces inflammation and oxidative stress.

Timing is Key

One thing I’ve found over the years is that I cannot drink matcha after two p.m. Otherwise, I find it difficult to sleep.

I have experimented with drinking it in the morning, but I prefer the benefits of coffee at that time, especially since I usually memorize poetry early in the day.

Then, provided I don’t drink it too late in the day, the cup of matcha provides a focus boost after launch along with a peaceful attentiveness until the workday is through.

Your timing needs may differ, but it’s important to make sure you keep when you ingest tea in mind in the same way you consider possible food interactions.

Is matcha the best green tea for your brain?

There’s one more question you need to consider as you experiment with it.

What About Matcha Late?

Personally, I do not add milk to any teas that I drink.

That’s partly because I don’t digest milk will, and partly because quite a bit of research shows that milk reduces the effectiveness of tea for memory improvement outcomes.

For example, this study found that adding milk prevents some of the protective effects tea provides.

Another study found that milk does not affect other benefits, however.

All the more reason to take into consideration my core suggestion that you need to track your results in order to determine what outcomes your preferred teas provide.

Personally, I do have some dairy each day in the form of yogurt. But I time out when I eat it, waiting usually 2-3 hours after drinking tea in order to give my daily matcha the highest possible opportunity for my body to absorb it.

Three: The Best Tea for Studying (Yerba Mata)

I was first introduced to Yerba Mata while visiting memory expert Jonathan Levi in Tel-Aviv.

We were collaborating on a major project together while also intensively studying various health reports to solve an issue I was having at the time.

When Jonathan noticed I was getting tired looking through mountains of scientific studies, he offered to make me a cup.

Soon, I found myself studying this dense material with much greater focus and concentration.

I was immediately interested in learning more. As I looked into this tea, I found studies that show why Yerba Mata works .

For one thing, Yerba Mata helps reduce the destruction of your neurons as you age.

And it many even help prevent negative memories from distracting you while you’re trying to focus your mind. Although more research needs to be done, this study shows that one reason why people report feeling calmer has to do with the multiple physical benefits this tea provides.

In other words, it all comes back to the principle that anything that clears your mind up so you can pay attention will almost certainly help you remember more. This is a point memory expert Harry Lorayne made repeatedly throughout his career.

And drinking it while working with Jonathan is undoubtedly while I felt so focused while collaborating with Jonathan on a very intense project and a personal health improvement mission for weeks on end.

At the risk of repetition, this point matters: You here again you see a key principle at play:

It’s not so much about what these teas for focus add. It’s about what they take away.

Tea For Brain Health

When it comes to your personal development, you really do have to experiment.

All of the teas I’ve mentioned on this page have been tested by myself personally. And my outcomes match with the research, including one of the biggest studies showing improvements in cognitive function from regular tea consumption.

As mentioned, the biggest consideration I would suggest you make regards interactions between the teas you drink and other substances.

Always remember: there’s a huge difference between foods that are bad for memory and those that are good for it.

And definitely consider staying away from black tea. This study shows that it could lead to suppressing memory formation in living creatures.

A second, major point you need to consider is your sleep in the context of memory improvement. If you constantly fall asleep while reading, tea might not actually help because the teas that help for memory also tend to lead to greater relaxation.

How To Experiment And Find The Best Tea For Concentration And Energy

As I mentioned above, I do a lot of journaling to work out the effects of various teas as I experiment with them. Here’s more detail on how I do it.

As part of how I journal for overall self-improvement, I keep track of what teas I drink and when. That means noting the date and the exact time of day with a final review in the evening.

At the end of the week, I look for patterns in how I’m feeling.

A lot of this is guess work, but I get my blood tested regularly, and as mentioned, see my Chinese Medicine practitioner almost every week. I share my journal with her to get another point of view.

Even if you don’t check in with a health professional frequently, developing pattern recognition around what you’re eating and drinking is key.

Finally, always take timing into account. Humans have a 72 hour digestion cycle, if not longer. Journaling helps with tracking back to what may have been consumed a few days ago, something very helpful for people who have memory issues.

Speaking of memory issues, if you’d like to experience better memory, sign up for my FREE memory improvement course:

It will help you remember details like we discussed today.

So what do you say?

Are you ready to think about teas for memory a bit more critically and make better choices?

Thanks for reading and happy sipping!