Official name of aloysia tryphilla, verbena is a perennial shrub native to South America, particularly Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Paraguay. Verbena grows to a height of about 1 to 3 meters. It has lancet-shaped green leaves and has tiny white or lavender-colored flowers.
Verbena leaves are used to add a lemony flavour to fish and poultry dishes, vegetable marinades, salad dressings, jams, puddings, and beverages. It also is used to make herbal teas and can make a refreshing sorbet. It is one of the best selling infusions, and one you could try to replace or alternate with peppermint. It is also delicious used in cooking.
There is not much other then a hint of lemon while smelling the final brew. The taste is like chamomile tea. You can’t really taste the lemon while its on your tongue but as you wash it down it has a very pleasant aftertaste that leaves a lingering lemon flavor in the back of your throat and it lightly drifts into your nostrils as you drink. It is a dense tea, very sweet as well! So if your tired of drinking stevia tea for the sweetness this is a tea you may want to test with.
It’s a pleasure to see its curly green leaves unfurl, and enjoy the yellowish green liquid after brewing.
Verbena Tea Benefits have been in the consciousness of many traditional herbal practitioners as being potent for disorders in the nervous and digestive systems.
Verbena is grown for medicinal, commercial and culinary purposes. The herb has a very strong lemony scent. Thus, it has been favored as a base material for perfumes. Its flavor, on the other hand, has been likened to a blend of licorice and camphor, and is widely used as an herbal flavoring to replace oregano, particularly in fish and poultry dishes. The active constituent of verbena is the oil of verbena which contains such compounds as methyl heptenone, borneol, geraniol, dipentene and others.
Many herbalists prescribe vervain tea as a stimulant, astringent, diuretic and diaphoretic. However, use of vervain is not recommended for pregnant women, as well as those in lactation as vervain is an abortifacient and an oxytocic agent. Taking too much vervain may also interfere with existing hypo- or hypertensive and hormone therapies.
The following are the health benefits attributed to vervain tea:
Maintain liver health.
Cleanse the urinary tract.
Fight fever.
Encourage the flow of milk.
Alleviate pain from arthritis.
Help in the overall treatment of nervous disorders.
Treat burns, wounds, and sores.
Relieve digestive ailments.