Organic Lemon Balm

Herbaceous lemon notes with a slightly dry cup. Ancient Romans thought lemon balm tea promoted healthy life - All Hail Caesar!

Luxury Ingredients: Lemon balm leaves

Tea(s) From: Bulgaria

Region(s): Varna

Antioxidant Level: Low 

Caffeine Content: None - Caffeine Free Herb

Lemon Balm, (Latin: Melissa officinalis). If that doesn't sound soothing we don't know what does. Interestingly, Lemon Balm has nothing to do with lemons, other than its scent, which hints gently of the citrus fruit. The herb is actually a perennial n the mint family Lamiaceae and is native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean. For more than two millennia Lemon Palm has been valued as a natural remedy for all manner of afflictions.

The ancient Roman scholar and natural philosopher Pliny the Elder believed that Lemon Balm could prevent infection in open wounds - a handy thing considering the near constant campaigns of the Roman army. During the 16th century, the Swiss Physician, alchemist and occultist Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim, otherwise known as Paracelsus, believed that Lemon Balm could heal patients who were hovering near death. (He also believed that astrological talismans could cure the sick however, so.well.we like to take him with a grain of salt.) Around the same time - the Middle Ages - an English writer named Culpepper wrote, "Lemon Balm causeth the Mind and Heart to becom merry, and reviveth the Heart.especially of such who are overtaken in their sleep, and driveth away al troublesome cares and thought". That?s some glowing praise for a little herb! A little closer to the present, in her book A Modern Herbal, published in 1931, noted herbalist Mrs. M. Grieve equates ingesting Lemon Balm with longevity. One of the folk legends she mentions is that of a man named John Hussey who lived to be 116 years old thanks to a steaming cup of Lemon Balm tea every morning for 50 years. She believed Lemon Balm had a positive effect on the nervous system, circulatory system and digestive system.
Whichever of the above scholars you choose to believe one thing is true - actually two things are true. One is that when using herbs for healing purposes it is always important to separate myth from reality and talk with a health professional first. The second is that Lemon Grass with its delicate lemon character makes a delicious herbal tisane or exotic addition to a custom tea blend.