Sleepy Nights

I usually don’t gravitate towards “sleepy time” tea blends because they tend to be chamomile-heavy or an overly-pepperminty herbal concoction to mask valerian foot-stink. But this tea, despite having both chamomile and valerian root got me interested, since the other ingredients seemed to lean in a sweet caramel apple sort of profile.

It smells really strongly of caramel, in both the dry leaf and the brewed cup. The flavor is very nice, too… it’s very sweet and has a nice caramel flavor, better than I find in a lot of caramel rooibos teas which tend to have a heavier red rooibos flavor than I’m getting here… I think the sweetness of the apple, blackberry leaves, and coconut is lifting it a lot (I’m also surprised that the coconut has held up nicely, I tend to avoid teas that have it like the plague not because I don’t like it — I love it! — but sometimes it is years after my purchase date before I finally get around to drinking a particular tea). There is a milder apple note that goes hand-in-hand with the caramel. I get a very subtle more herbaceous aftertaste (which is probably the valerian) but you’d really have to focus to pick it up. I’m really surprised how nicely all these ingredients have come together to make a “sleep” blend that actually appeals to me.

I’d recommend giving this a try, even to those that may find things like red rooibos, chamomile, or valerian unappealing (but do be warned this is not vegan/lactose-intolerant friendly due to the caramel/toffee in the blend). I bet this tea would also do well on gmathis’ “Will It Milk?” gameshow.