Discomfort and cramping

The Mate Factor Digestive Tea with Prebiotics

A caffeine-free eight-herb tea of fennel, peppermint, burdock root, chicory root, ginger, cardamom, licorice root and coriander, sold as a digestive tea after meals.

Format

Tea

Type

Herbal and prebiotic

Cost

$0.32 per cup on the brand’s store ($6.47 for 20 bags); $0.40 on Amazon; the box says to drink it whenever desired

Customer rating

4.5 out of 5 from 345 ratings from Amazon

What customers consistently report

• Calming an upset stomach
• A mild flavor that needs no sugar
• Helping digestion after a meal

Those are the themes that recur across the reviews. Moderate review confidence — 4.5 from 345 Amazon ratings, with 5.0 from 6 at Swanson and 5.0 from 3 at Walmart, and no review widget on the brand’s page or Trustpilot profile.

The mechanism, as the brand describes it

Fennel, peppermint, cardamom, coriander and ginger are traditional carminatives, herbs used to ease gas and stomach upset, and ginger speeds stomach emptying in small human studies. Chicory and burdock roots contain inulin, a fermentable fiber that feeds gut bacteria, which is the basis of the brand’s prebiotic claim and can also loosen stool. Licorice root is in the blend for a soothing reputation and carries a glycyrrhizin content that, in large or long-term amounts, can raise blood pressure and lower potassium. A steeped bag releases an unmeasured share of each herb, so the box shows the herb list, not how much reaches the cup.

What has actually been tested

No trial of this tea was found. The nearest evidence is for single ingredients at much higher doses: 12 g a day of chicory inulin increased stool frequency in two small crossover trials of constipated adults (44 and 39 people, 4 weeks), 1.2 g of ginger in capsules sped stomach emptying in 11 people with dyspepsia without changing symptoms, and a 5 g cup of fennel tea twice a day shortened the time to first flatus after gynecologic cancer surgery. No adult gut trial of burdock, cardamom or coriander was found, and a 2006 review found no trials of peppermint tea. One 3.5 g bag holds all eight herbs together, so each is far below those doses.

What the panel prints, and what it leaves out

The panel prints a single 3,500 mg proprietary blend with eight organic herbs in descending order and no per-herb amounts, so the share of ginger, chicory or licorice cannot be checked. The brand states USDA organic certification (QCS) and gives no testing laboratory or certificate. The box warns to consult a provider if pregnant or nursing, on any medication or with a medical condition, and does not mention licorice.

Herb entries for what is in it: Fennel, Peppermint, Burdock, Ginger, Cardamom, Licorice. Each one gives the plant, what the traditions use it for, the trials, doses and the safety record.

When it makes sense

Its symptom profile covers general abdominal discomfort, symptoms that follow particular foods and gas. It fits someone whose priority is day-to-day comfort or handling meals. Digestive Tea with Prebiotics can match on symptoms and still lose to something else once your history, your format and your medicines are in.

Where it falls short of the brief

The dietary claims the label makes are no added sweeteners. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding or taking prescription medication, the quiz leaves this product out of your results. The flag is about who should make that decision, not about the product itself. A tea only works if you will take it as often as the label directs.

Side effects and what to be aware of

Questions people ask

Its peers in the catalog

Discomfort and cramping: that is the job The Mate Factor Digestive Tea with Prebiotics does, and these are the other entries doing it.

See all the products we have researched →

Further reading

The guides behind the category, written from the trials rather than the labels.