In this time of iced tea, it is hard to imagine that drinking something spicy “hot,” say a deliciously spicy chai, could make you feel cooler, but that may well be the case!
Drinking plain cold water can cool you down,* in part because you will tend to drink more, and therefore have more capacity to sweat; in part because cold water or even better, icy slush, seems to cool down core body temperature by mechanisms still poorly understood**; and in part through the psychological/physiological process of feeling refreshed.*
So what does drinking something spicy do? As you know, when you eat a too hot chili pepper, you start to flush and break out in a sweat. The flush may make you feel hotter, but in fact what is doing is bringing blood the body surface where it helps to lose heat, both directly and by warming up the sweat and causing evaporation—this reaction to spice is the result of activating TRPV1, the hot receptor in the mouth and throat.***
So to get the best of both worlds: enjoy an ice cold spicy chai slush—the black tea and spices activate TRPV1 while the ice refreshes and cools you down!
For delightful instructions, see: http://www.indiansimmer.com/2014/06/indian-iced-masala-chai-recipe.html, Here's what it looks like:
* Tan, P. M. S. and Lee, J. K. W. (2015), The role of fluid temperature and form on endurance performance in the heat. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 25: 39–51. doi: 10.1111/sms.12366.
** One mechanism may be that an increase in body water content may be able to take up more of the heat your body produces, with the water serving as a heat sink.
*** Narender R. Gavva et al. The Vanilloid Receptor TRPV1 Is Tonically Activated In Vivo and Involved in Body Temperature Regulation. The Journal of Neuroscience, 28 March 2007, 27(13): 3366-3374; doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4833-06.2007.
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