Problem:
It is quite the old wives tale that drinking a hot drink cools you down. If you don't really think about it it does seem somewhat logical: increasing temperature will cause your body to try and cool down faster. This is of course flawed by the fact that you have increased your temperature before cooling it back down again.
I have had a bit of a look, but have been unable to find any evidence that addresses the fact that drinking a hit drink may make you feel cooler after sweating a little bit, rather than actually changing anything about your net temperature. Basically, is the 'cool down' just the placebo effect (you feel cooler because you think you feel cooler).
Question: Is there any evidence for a 'real' effect of hot drinks cooling you down? Or is there evidence that hot drinks do nothing at all except heat you up a bit before you come right back to the same temperature? Provide a better solution for this question.