Evening primrose oil tea: benefits and how to use it

"Evening primrose oil" usually means oil pressed from the seeds of Oenothera biennis, sold in capsules. "Evening primrose oil tea" is a different product, brewed from other parts of the plant:

• Dried leaves
• Flowers
• Root

That distinction matters a lot here. Almost every PMS study on this plant tested the seed oil, not the leaf or flower tea [1] [2] [3] [5] [7] [8]. So research on "evening primrose oil" doesn't automatically tell you anything about the tea in your cup.

Evening primrose is a wildflower native to North America. Different parts of the plant have long been used in folk remedies for:

• Skin
• Digestion
• Women's health

People now drink the tea as a mild, slightly earthy herbal infusion, often in the evening alongside other calming teas like chamomile.

For the fuller picture on the oil itself, see evening primrose oil: what it is and whether it helps PMS.

The research on evening primrose and PMS is almost entirely about oil capsules, and it isn't encouraging.

A systematic review of EPO trials across several conditions found it did not demonstrate effectiveness for premenstrual syndrome [1]. A 1996 review of EPO trials for PMS found that its two most well-controlled studies (not individually named) failed to show any benefit over placebo [2]. One of the trials it covered, a 1990 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study, also found no real difference between EPO and placebo [3].

A small trial in women with PMS-related "nervous symptoms" found depression and anxiety scores improved on both EPO and placebo, with no difference between them [5]. A 2022 literature review summed up the field as "contradictory" [7].

One 2019 trial is the exception: it found a larger drop in symptom severity with EPO capsules than with vitamin B6 or placebo [8]. That's one trial against several older ones that found nothing, so it doesn't overturn the overall picture.

Trial	Year	Result
Systematic review across conditions [1]	2024	No effectiveness demonstrated for PMS
Review of well-controlled trials [2]	1996	Two best-controlled studies showed no benefit over placebo
Crossover trial [3]	1990	No real benefit over placebo
Nervous symptoms trial [5]	1988	Improved on both EPO and placebo, no difference
EPO vs vitamin B6 trial [8]	2019	Larger drop in symptom severity with EPO

No one has tested the tea form on its own, so even this mixed evidence for capsules doesn't transfer directly to a cup of evening primrose tea.

If you want to try it, there's no official recipe, just a basic herbal steep.

1. Use 1 to 2 teaspoons of dried evening primrose leaf or flower, or one tea bag labeled "evening primrose."
2. Pour 1 cup (about 240ml) of just-boiled water over it.
3. Cover and let it steep for 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Strain and drink warm, plain or with a little honey.

Some people blend it with raspberry leaf tea for taste or as part of an evening wind-down (evening primrose oil and raspberry leaf tea is a common pairing). No trial has tested that combination for PMS, so treat it as a comfort drink rather than a remedy with evidence behind it.

If you're pregnant, raspberry leaf is best discussed with your midwife first, since it's often raised specifically in that context.

There's no studied dose for evening primrose tea, because no trial has set one. The doses tested in research are for capsules: trials have used 1000mg twice daily or up to 3000mg a day of the oil [6] [8].

Those numbers describe a concentrated seed oil extract, not a cup of steeped leaves, so they don't translate into a tea amount. There's no studied amount for the tea itself. If you want a rough comparison, one to three cups a day is typical for mild herbal infusions generally, but this isn't specific evidence for evening primrose.

If you're curious about the oil capsules instead, see evening primrose oil dosage. One review suggests that if evening primrose oil has any effect, it likely wouldn't show up before 4 to 6 months of regular use [4], though most trials covered above found no effect at all. More on timing is at how long evening primrose oil takes to work.

Evening primrose tea hasn't been studied on its own for side effects, so there's no tea-specific safety data to point to.

Formal tolerability data for evening primrose oil capsules is also limited in the trials cited here; most report on symptom outcomes rather than side effects.

Separately, a 2024 review across many conditions cautioned that the efficacy evidence for EPO overall is too inconsistent for any single use, including PMS, to be considered well established [1], though that's about whether it works, not about safety.

If you notice stomach upset, nausea, or a headache after drinking the tea, stop and see how you feel without it. For the fuller list of reported issues with the oil form, see evening primrose oil side effects, including mood.

A warm cup of tea can be a nice part of winding down, but it won't do much if you're already mid-argument or crying and can't say why. For treatments that actually have trial support behind them, see PMS treatment: what actually helps.

Niyora is a PMS and PMDD support app. If a fight is still raw, Niyora's Moon lets you write down what happened, see it from another angle, and draft a reply you can hold onto for 20 minutes before you send anything. The tea can sit next to that, not instead of it.