Swiss Vervaine Melange

I really like this one. I’m stocking up before they discontinue it. It’s good with honey for a sick day :)

My first try at this was met with some interest. I may have added too much and boiled it too high. It ended up tasting like…mallow? I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t citrus at all! Later that night I got stomach cramps. I don’t know if it was the teas fault; so I’ve waited a bit before trying this again.
non-brewed leaves: lemon/citrus
brewing leaves: no citrus/weird mallow-sweet smell : /
steeped smell: popcorn?
This is very perplexing. But the popcorn smell/taste may have been what turned my stomach a bit. I had a bad run-in with an artificially flavored popcorn lollipop when I was a child. My guts never forgave that flavor!
This time the flavor is toned down, but still no amazing citrus! I feel so sad about this. :( I was really looking forward to some lemony bite. This stuff smells overwhelmingly strong when you smell it but it is not present at all in the flavor. Maybe I should try mixing my batch more or something. But there is also no mint flavor; which was mentioned to be in there somewhere.
Until further notice this tea is under intense scrutiny!
edit Three things must be noted before I nod off. First, the lemon started to appear at the end of the tasting. It was subdued and kind of lack luster but there. Secondly, one of the more promised effects is that it supposed to be kind of a relaxant. That part is indeed holding up. Lastly, I noticed something this time that worries me just a tiny bit. My tongue feels tingly. Not in a nice tasty way; but in an itchy way. I’m not allergic to anything but bunnies (that I know of) but hopefully this isn’t a side effect of one of the ingredients.

Well I have been staying up a lot lately and today it finally caught up with me. So I’m here feeling tired but can’t fall asleep D: but then along comes Swiss Vervaine Melange! Hopefully this will help with my problem.
This tea is very odd. In a good way of course. There is just SO much going on with it. Lemony, minty, fruity, spicy. So I’m just going to say it’s very herb-ish. Well it is a herbal tea.. anyways.. I do enjoy this tea enough that it just might have earned a permant spot in my tea cupboard. Well I’m off to see if I actually fall asleep! Nighty night!

First off, this tea totally made me think of the incredibly hot – and talented – Ian Somerhalder from Vampire Diaries; vervaine is supposed to help protect humans from vampires. Not that I would ever want to encourage Ian to stay away from little ol’ me…

This tea is definitely tasty but a bit weak. I prefer strong, bold teas with lots of flavor and substance. This tea does have a nice citrusy flavor, calming and soothing. I brewed it up for about six minutes and the citrusy flavor stuck around rather than becoming bitter. I appreciated that. :)

It also had the power to put me to sleep! Granted I have been dealing with a migraine all day and took lots of meds for it, so maybe it was that, and the tea had more of a placebo effect but whatevs. The tea was delicious and soothing and sleep-inducing. Always appreciated at the end of a long day.

Bottom line: this is a decent tea to add to your collection, especially if you need help getting to sleep. It’s stress-relieving and relaxing. (Plus you’re safe from vampires. lol)

Thanks to the wonderful JoeCool (Nichole) for sending along a sample. I may get more once my other sleep-inducing teas run out.

Oh, and I noticed there seems to be some debate about how to spell vervaine/vervain/vervein. But basically it’s the offspring of verbana. Or in the same family of the herb at least. This is something I’ll look into for my blog – I’m fascinated by the mystery surrounding the term…

My mom picked up a couple of ounces of this one when she was in Minneapolis for the GIG (Gluten Intolerance Group) Conference earlier this month and when I was visiting the parents last weekend she let me swipe some of it.

I think the smell of it is pretty nifty – sweet, citrusy, fresh… it actually smells like a fizzy fruit flavored drink, carbonated ‘tingle’ and everything. Once brewed, the carbonated fruit beverage smell is joined by a more herbal-y smell that makes me think of chamomile and grass (neither of which are in this tea so I’m guessing it’s the verbena).

Taste-wise, it’s more in line with the chamomile/grass smell, not the fruit fizzy smell, but there’s a fruit fizzy aftertaste which is nifty. It’s fairly obvious there is mint in this, but it’s tamed down nicely by the other stuff going on. There’s also a nice (but again not overpowering) lemon flavor to this – more of an herbal-y lemon instead of fruit or candy lemon. There’s a gentle warmness that I’m guessing is the ginger, but like all of the other flavors, it’s nicely muted. And every so often I get a bit of a woody taste that is very mild but makes me associate this tea with autumn.

There’s a lot going on in this tea – sweet, tingly, herbal-y, fruity, minty, citrus-y – but no single flavor dominates. Instead they just all sort of mesh together in a mild but sweet and fairly enjoyable way. It takes a lot for me to like a full on herbal blend, but this stuff is pretty good. I don’t know if I’d go out of my way to buy it but I might steal some more from my mom.

What a “Purty” Little Tea! This is my first experience with Teavana. (Thanks Meghann!!)

Very light and very clean. I can see how this would be a nice and relaxing tea after a long day . . .Pretty good.

Loved this tea so much and teavana discontinued it! Well I did EXTENSIVE research lol and actually found someone that sells it! If anyone is interested please contact me and I’ll give you the info on it! This is my favorite tea and it broke my heart that I didnt find out about it till after it was discontinued! So I went on a wild goose chase trying to find something similar and I found the actual manufacturer who only sells wholesale but I they gave me the info to one of their distributors!

I really fell for this tea – I loved the flavor, the aroma, and the way it made me feel relaxed. However, after my wife started getting migraines after drinking some other Teavana products we took a closer look at the ingredients. They have been “upgraded” from the list that is on this site. They now read:

Vervaine, apple pieces, carrot pieces, orange peels, ginger pieces, marshmallow leaves, peppermint, green rooibos, candied papaya (papaya, sugar), rosebuds, raisins, mallow blossoms, passion flower petals, flavoring (blood orange, peach) peach pieces, sunflower blossoms

“Flavorings” means MSG. I’ll take my tea without, thanks. Take a closer look at this company’s website. I can’t find a single herbal tea that does not contain “flavorings.” Prior to reading the ingredients on the web, I asked at the store what exactly “superfruit enhanced” means. They were unable to answer the question.

There are enough great teas and tea companies out there that I don’t feel the need to support this one any longer. They are misleading at best, and caused us unnecessary pain with this needless use of flavor additives. Needless to say, we won’t buy any of their products going forward.

Chose this as an after dinner tea since I wasn’t feeling so hot. The ginger and mint are apparent immediately, an interesting combination that I wasn’t sure I’d like but it seems to work, go figure. I get a vague sense of citrus, like many others, though I’m not sure if I’m getting it because other reviewers have said they got it, or if its because I actually “got it” myself. I think I like it, especially an after-dinner/before-bed tisane. I’m not sure I’d be into it at other times.

Drank this while I was running errands. I love the slight natural sweetness and the way it feels on my tongue.