Hemp & Fruit - Fruit tea 100 g - Café du Jour loose tea

First, the hemp

It is in the name, so it is worth being plain about it: the hemp seeds in this blend are there as a flavour ingredient and nothing else, and there is no psychoactive effect. What they contribute is a subtle green, lightly spicy aroma that runs underneath the fruit rather than over it, and it sits with apple and citrus better than you might expect.

What surrounds it

The base is rooibos tea: soft, naturally sweet and free of caffeine. Over that go apple pieces and orange slices for the fruit, ginger for a mild warmth, and lemongrass, lemon balm and verbena leaf for the green, citrusy side, with natural lime flavouring tightening the finish and marigold blossom for colour. That puts it somewhere between a fruit tea and a herbal tea. The aroma is the first thing you notice: a strong one, and it fills the kitchen while the pot stands.

Water, time and quantity

Water at about 90°C, a touch off the boil, roughly 2 g of loose-leaf tea per cup, and five to eight minutes to let the rooibos, the fruit and the seeds all open up. A strainer, an infuser or a teapot; nothing in the blend turns bitter with time, so err on the long side. With no caffeine in it, it is an easy cup late in the evening, and nothing stops you drinking it at noon.

The essentials

• Ingredients: rooibos, apple pieces, lemongrass, ginger, lemon balm, orange slices, verbena leaf, hemp seeds, marigold blossom, natural lime flavouring, flavouring
• Type: fruit tea on a rooibos base, with hemp
• Naturally caffeine-free
• Format: loose tea, 100 g pack
• Brewing: about 2 g per cup, water at roughly 90°C, 5-8 minutes
• Produced in Germany for Café du Jour