Grapefruit Tea – Home Cough Remedy

This grapefruit tea is a wonderful home cough remedy that is a warm, soothing way to help get rid of your cough!  A little bitter, it’s sweetened with honey and flavored with grapefruit, cinnamon and fresh ginger which are amazingly healthy foods to help get rid of a cough! It’s also paleo-friendly.

So I’m doing something just a little different today, a home remedy.  In the fall we had a pretty average cold that ended with a cough that lasted forever.  It wasn’t worth seeing a doctor over it was just annoying more than anything.  So of course, I googled home cough remedies.  I came across this post with a few different cough remedies and decided to try my own. 

All the ingredients in this grapefruit tea are helpful in getting rid of a cough.  In particular, fresh ginger is one of my absolute favorite ingredients when I’m feeling sick.  It’s naturally anti-inflammatory , and let me tell you, I can tell a difference when I use it. 

Don’t skip this ingredient unless you really have to, and use as much of it as you can stand.  It does add a spiciness to the tea if you add enough or too much depending on how you feel about it.

Speaking of how this grapefruit tea tastes, yes it is bitter.  My 3 year old loves it, and asks for it even when she isn’t sick.  My 8 year old however, does not like it and can’t stand the bitterness so I have to substantially change the recipe for him. 

So you’ll have to see what works for you.  You can always sub a lemon or one and a half lemons for one of the grapefruits as lemon is also very good for a cough and that will hopefully reduce the bitterness just a little bit. 

I’ve also heard that fresh pineapple juice is great for a cough, although I haven’t tried it, you could try using fresh pineapple juice in the mix and that would reduce the bitterness as well.  You can also water this down much more than I recommend and add more honey if need be.  When you’re sick, drinking more water is never a bad idea so feel free to add as much or as little of this concentrate to your cup as you like and drink up!

Now, of course I need to leave a disclaimer.  If you are very sick, please see a doctor.  Especially if your cough is accompanied by a fever. 

Home remedies are great, but sometimes you do need antibiotics or other medications.  Please also be careful that these foods don’t interfere with any medications you’re already taking.

That being said, I really hope you’ll give this a try next time you have a stubborn, nagging cough that won’t go away though.  Now that I’ve tried this and have experienced first hand how immune-boosting these ingredients are, I will be making this every time we get sick! 

I only drank one batch of this grapefruit tea over two days and a cough that had been bothering me for a month was completely gone.  I hope this tea can help you too! 

If you’re interested, I also have a recipe for Feel Better Green Juice here on the blog which I have to say, helps immensely when you’re feeling sick and need a pick me up 🙂  Please tell me in the comments below if you have any home remedies that you swear by 🙂

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Grapefruit Tea - Home Cough Remedy

Prep Time

2 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Total Time

12 mins

 

Servings: 4 servings

Author: Heidi @ Food Doodles

Ingredients

• 2 large grapefruits
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 large knob of ginger. thinly sliced
• 1 cup of water
• 1/4 cup of honey

Instructions

1. Slice grapefruits in half and squeeze out as much juice as you can into a medium sized pot. Throw the grapefruits into the pot as well. Add the cinnamon, sliced ginger and water.
2. Bring to a boil then turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from the heat and strain to remove the grapefruit peels and ginger. Stir in the honey.
4. Store this concentrate in the fridge and add about a 1/4 of the recipe to a large mug and top with hot water. Add more honey as needed and feel better soon! 🙂

Recipe Notes

if sensitive to the bitter taste sub 1 or 1 and a half large lemon(s) for one of the grapefruits