Citrus & Verveine - Herbal tea 100 g - Café du Jour loose tea

Verveine means lemon verbena

That is the leaf doing most of the work in this herbal tea: clean, lemony, slightly grassy, with lemon balm alongside it softening the edges. Orange peel and dried orange slices push the citrus towards something rounder and sweeter, lemongrass sharpens it again, and strawberry leaf and a little carrot fill in underneath so the cup has some body instead of being all zest. Marigold blossom flecks the dry leaf orange. Mild is the right word for it: fresh and clearly citrus, but nothing fierce.

Nothing in it to keep you awake

There is no tea leaf in the blend at all, so there is no caffeine in it. Like mint tea or rooibos tea, this is an infusion of leaves, flowers and fruit rather than tea in the botanical sense, which makes it as sensible a cup at ten at night as at ten in the morning.

How long to steep it

Dried leaf and fruit give up their flavour more slowly than a tea leaf. Pour water at around 95°C over about 2 g per cup and leave it five to eight minutes; a teapot, an infuser or a strainer in a mug all do the job. There is nothing in it to turn bitter, so a long steep only makes it stronger. Brewed and left to cool it makes a good iced tea, particularly with a slice of orange in the glass.

The detail

• Ingredients: verbena leaf, lemon balm leaf, orange peel, strawberry leaf, lemongrass, carrot, marigold blossom, flavouring, orange slices, natural orange flavouring, natural lemon flavouring
• Type: herbal tea, naturally free of caffeine
• Format: loose tea, 100 g pack
• Brewing: about 2 g per cup, water at roughly 95°C, 5-8 minutes
• Serve hot or over ice
• Produced in Germany for Café du Jour