10 best herbal teas
We’ve all been there. We’ve tried to cut out caffeine – and struggled.
Standard mint tea just doesn’t cut out, while rosehip, orange blossom and fairy dust, say, just doesn’t sound like something you’d want to drink.
Fortunately, we’ve done the scouring for you and tested a whole range of teas, from spiced apple chai to organic coco and chilli.
Sleep: £10 for 15 bags, Niche Tea
Niche Tea was founded in 2015. We have to admit that we loved this packaging just as much as much as the tea itself.
The Sleep blend combines camomile, lemon balm and passionflower. We found it suitably relaxing.
Spiced Apple Chai Loose Leaf Feature Cube: £16 for 150g, T2
T2 is an Australian brand. We liked the Spiced Apple Chai flavour the best. The tea leaves smelt sweet and buttery.
A teaspoon of the blend made a lightly spiced, cream tea using the T2 Teamaker (like an upside down French press, where the tea is expressed from the bottom of the device).
Rose Buds: £4.95 for 25g, £8.95 for 50g, £15.95 for 100g, Silver Lantern
We love the whole ritual of making herbal tea – steeping leaves in water and having a moment of mindfulness. Silver Lantern’s rosebuds tea is great for this.
It’s made of dried rose buds, which are almost impossibly pretty.
Drop two heaped teaspoons of leaves into a teapot for a subtle, pleasant infusion.
Calm Relaxing Tea With Valerian: £3.99 for 15 bags, Teapigs
This is the perfect pre-bedtime cuppa.
We found the lemon balm and valerian suitably soporific, if a little bitter.
The scent on unwrapping the tea is quite pungent, although once steeped in water, the taste and aroma is significantly milder.
Tetley Camomile Tea: £1.49 for 40 bags, Healthy Food
This soothing camomile tea has a light floral flavour and is great value. Add a teaspoon of honey for sweetness, or lemon juice for a bit of a tang.
Pure Peppermint Infusion: £1 for 20 teabags, Marks & Spencer
We found that peppermint teas can have a chalky or bitter aftertaste, but this one is an exception.
It had a clean and understated flavour, with just enough zest to perk us up.
Mint oil, found in peppermint leaves, has anti-inflammatory properties, which makes mint tea particularly good for digestion.
Happy Mondays Organic Infusion: £2.39 for 35g, Clipper
Clipper tea bags have a muddy colour because they’re unbleached.
This blend is essentially lemon and ginger, with a twist of cracked black pepper. We found the pepper went surprisingly well with the sourness of the lemon in the same way that balsamic vinegar opens up the tang of strawberries.
A perky mid-afternoon infusion.
Olive Leaf Tea: £3.99 for 50g, Indigo Herbs
We loved the complexity of this blend. It had an unusually savoury flavour, which we really liked, although it probably isn’t for everyone.
Higher Living Organic Cocoa & Chilli Tea: £2.29 for 30g, Holland & Barrett
Cocoa tea can feel like a compromise when what you really want is hot chocolate.
This Coco & Chilli tea, however, has additional interest – with notes of ginger, cinnamon, fennel and liquorice. The chilli left us with a little tingle on the tongue, while the liquorice added a comforting depth.
One for Christmas.
Twinings Lemon & Ginger: 2 boxes for £3, Ocado
We loved the sharp and fragrant fruitiness of this tea, cut with a kick of ginger.
Lemon and ginger can stand re-brewing, and these teabags are robust enough that you can get a second cup of tea out of them (albeit a slightly weaker one).
If you prefer a more subtle flavour, steep these teabags for about three minutes. If you like a hardier flavour, just leave the teabag in.
The Verdict: Best herbal teas
It was a close call between Niche’s Sleep and T2’s Spiced Apple Chai tea, although the former won us over in the end.
