Instant Functional Teas: Your New Afternoon Pick Me Up

If you notice your energy dips in the afternoon, instant functional teas are a smart way to enhance your focus and boost your energy without sharp spikes or crashes.

Many people go from ultra-productive in the morning to feeling like they want to crawl into bed after lunch, and to combat the drowsiness, they reach for a coffee or a sugary snack.

But no more!

If you're new to functional teas, then stick around. We'll cover everything you need to know about them in this post.

What Are Instant Functional Teas?

Functional teas are popular beverages that use a combination of herbs to support different goals. While they contain traditional tea, the functional herbs have additional health benefits, such as steady energy, enhanced focus, and stress relief.

Most functional teas come in powder form, which lets you mix them quickly. What makes these teas unique is their combination of ingredients, which can include vitamins, herbs, and adaptogens depending on the brand you choose.

The Types of Functional Teas

You'll find a range of functional teas available, and the ingredients used depend on the formula. Popular ingredients found in functional teas include green tea extract, vitamins, adaptogenic herbs, amino acids, and botanical extracts.

For example, while some teas are designed to promote relaxation and calm, others focus on energy, immune health, and digestive support:

• Relaxation and Sleep: These blends use calming ingredients such as lavender, chamomile, and valerian root to promote stress relief and induce a state of calm.

• Focus and Energy: Functional teas can be beneficial for clean energy because they use natural ingredients instead of stimulants. These teas blend adaptogens, caffeine, and vitamins to promote calm.

• Immunity: Some teas offer immune system support by blending functional herbs with Vitamin C.

• Digestion and Metabolism: Herbal blends that help your body digest foods and reduce gut issues.

Functional Teas vs Herbal Teas

People often confuse functional and herbal teas as the same thing, but there's a key difference: herbal teas are characterised by which herbs they use, while functional teas are formulated to support a specific use.

Feature	Functional Teas	Herbal Teas
Purpose	Designed to support a health and wellness goal	Enjoyed for flavour or traditional herbal use
Ingredients	Blends of herbs, adaptogens, botanicals, vitamins, fruit, or mushrooms.	Herbs, spices, roots, fruit, and flowers.
Contains Tea Leaves?	Sometimes	No
Main Focus	Benefits such as relaxation, focus, digestion, immunity, or energy	Taste and traditional herbal properties
Examples	Sleep blends, focus teas, gut health teas, collagen teas	Chamomile, peppermint, rooibos, hibiscus

The Benefits of Instant Functional Teas for the Afternoon Slump

Research shows that 65-75% of UK workers feel an afternoon slump between 2:00 and 3:00 PM, with office workers experiencing higher rates than individuals in active roles (Plus One).

The main causes for this include how natural circadian rhythms work, fluctuations in blood sugar, and sleep quality.

While a lot of people turn to coffee or energy drinks for their mid-afternoon pick-me-up, the brief spike in alertness and focus can quickly turn into a crash.

Functional teas work differently, because they're designed to offer a slow and steady release of energy.

Stable Energy

If you find an energy and focus afternoon tea, you can benefit from a stable release rather than a quick spike and crash. Because these blends often use green tea extract, you can benefit from L-theanine, which is an amino acid found in tea leaves.

Research shows that L-theanine can enhance your energy and focus, without causing jitters or drowsiness (NIH), which makes instant functional teas a great choice.

Top Tip: Hate mixing and drinking teas? Our Matcha Energy Gummies combine matcha tea, antioxidants and B vitamins for sustained energy and focus.

Higher Productivity

The post-lunch slump can also impact your productivity, as fatigue can affect mental performance. You might find that you can't concentrate, get irritable, and feel like you need to move around.

Functional teas can enhance concentration and eliminate brain fog, making them excellent options for mood balance. If you struggle to complete tasks, you might find that introducing a functional tea to your post-lunch routine helps you concentrate more.

Stress Relief

Stress impacts people in different ways, but some find that their brain switches off and they lose mental clarity. Because functional tea blends are designed to suit different needs, you can find formulas with a calming effect.

These teas can promote a calm and relaxed state without compromising your cognitive function.

Functional Tea vs Coffee

Coffee is great if you want an instant energy boost, but it usually comes with a slump, which means you'll need more caffeine to remain alert.

If you drink too much coffee, it can upset your stomach and cause jitters.

In contrast, functional teas are a gentler route to increased energy because many blends combine adaptogens and L-theanine for a slow, steady release.

Functional Tea vs Green Tea

Green tea is a powerhouse in terms of antioxidants, and it offers a gentle energy boost thanks to the high L-theanine content. So, in many ways, green tea is functional in its own right, but there's an important distinction: Green tea is great for all-round wellness, but functional teas have a specific purpose.

So, if you want to enhance your overall wellbeing, green tea blends are fine. But functional teas are better if you want to focus on one area.

Functional Tea vs Black Tea

Black tea is the classic option, with blends including English Breakfast Tea and Earl Grey. These teas come from the Camellia sinensis plant and are popular for general usage. They also have the highest caffeine content of traditional tea types.

Black tea offers some health benefits, but the tea bags aren't blended for specific outcomes. Some functional teas may use black tea as a base, but they add herbs, adaptogens, mushrooms, and vitamins for specific outcomes.

The Bottom Line

Instant functional teas are easy to use; you just pour boiling water over the powder, then drink them. Or, you can choose blends that let you create iced tea for a refreshing summer pick-up.

When choosing a functional tea, remember to look at the ingredients and follow the instructions to ensure you choose the perfect blend for your needs.

Remember, if you want all-round health benefits, green teas or supplements containing green tea extract can be excellent alternatives to functional blends.

If you have any questions about functional teas or which alternatives are available, please contact us today. We're happy to help.