Green Tea for Skin: Drinking vs Applying, Teas.co.uk

Green Tea for Skin: Drinking vs Applying

Applying green tea has better skin evidence than drinking it: polyphenols are anti-inflammatory and antioxidant on skin, while drinking is a general health plus.

Published 14 Apr 2026 Curator-written, not crowdsourced

Green tea for skin, in short: applying it (in skincare or as a cooled compress) has better evidence than drinking it. Green tea polyphenols are anti-inflammatory and antioxidant on the skin; drinking green tea helps your antioxidant intake but is not a skincare routine.

Last reviewed by the teas.co.uk team in May 2026.

Green tea turns up in a lot of skincare for good reason, its polyphenols are antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. But there is a real difference between putting it on your skin and drinking it. Here is the honest split.

Applying green tea

Topical green tea extracts have the better-studied skin effects: antioxidant and anti-inflammatory action, and some photoprotective interest in research. A cooled green tea compress is a gentle, harmless thing to try for tired or slightly irritated skin. See Wikipedia: green tea.

Drinking green tea

Drinking it contributes antioxidants and fluid, which is good for you generally, but the direct effect on how your skin looks is modest. Enjoy green tea for its own sake; treat any skin benefit as a small bonus rather than the reason.

Sensible expectations

Neither drinking nor applying green tea is a treatment for acne, eczema or ageing. For those, a pharmacist or dermatologist and proven actives will do far more.

At a glance

Use	Evidence
Topical (skincare / compress)	Better studied; anti-inflammatory, antioxidant
Drinking	Antioxidant intake; modest skin effect
As a treatment for skin conditions	Not a substitute for proper care