Mental Floss

Does Drinking a Hot Drink Really Cool You Down?

It’s counterintuitive, but downing a hot drink on a hot day may actually cool you off. Here’s why.
ByMental Floss UK|
Hot outside? Drink up.
Hot outside? Drink up. | Guido Mieth/Moment/Getty Images

by James Hunt

When it’s hot outside, few things are more refreshing than an ice-cold beverage—unless you’re one of those folks who swears the best way to cool down on a sultry day is to drink a steaming cup of tea.

Common sense suggests that ice water would be the better option. Getting a near-freezing cold beverage into your body should lower your core temperature and offer temporary respite from the blazing heat around you, right?

  1. How Hot Drinks Can Cool You Down
  2. Sweating is the Key to Cooling Off

How Hot Drinks Can Cool You Down

That’s not exactly how the human body reacts to heat. A 2012 study from the University of Ottawa had cyclists drink water at different temperatures while they cruised at moderate speed, and then measured their core body temps. Researchers found that drinking the hot beverage triggered a disproportionately high sweat response without significantly raising the athletes’ core temperature. And since sweating is the body’s primary way of cooling itself, the results showed that a hot drink is actually better at cooling you down than a cold one.

“If you drink a hot drink, it does result in a lower amount of heat stored inside your body, provided the additional sweat produced when you drink the hot drink can evaporate,” Dr. Ollie Jay, senior author of the study, told The Skeptical Enquirer.

Sweating is the Key to Cooling Off

Of course, there are some catches. One is that you won’t feel the effects until your sweat has evaporated fully, contrasting with the instant effect of an ice water hit. The other, much bigger one is that it only works under certain conditions. If it’s humid, if you’re sweating a lot already, or if you’re wearing clothes that trap moisture on your skin, then drinking a hot drink is only going to make you hotter.

So while it seems counterintuitive, having a hot drink on a hot day actually can cool you down. Turns out the people downing boiling coffee in July knew better than all of us.

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A version of this story was published in 2016; it has been updated for 2025.

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