Like most people, sleep sometimes evades me. Drinking Hampstead Lavender and Valerian Tea, however, should help me drift off! Along with my new Loop earplugs (review coming soon), I’ve been working on a healthier sleep schedule the past few weeks.
This review of a fragrant lavender and valerian herbal tea will explore the flavour of this blend, the ingredients (and whether their sleep-inducing properties are backed by science), how to brew it, and where to buy it.
Spoiler: Hampstead are predominantly a British brand so you can find their tea on their website or on Amazon UK. I’ve included a few affiliate links below so you can easily find this tea online without searching around. In return, I get a little commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a win win.
Hampstead Lavender Valerian Tea at a Glance
- Blend: Lavender and valerian with lemongrass and oat flower
- Flavour: Warming, mellow herbs with a light floral hint
This tea is incredibly mellow and gentle all-round. It’s like a cosy comforter to snuggle in before bed. The lavender is barely present, so the floral notes are kept to a minimum with a warm hay-like flavour dominating the infusion.
Full Review – Hampstead Valerian Herbal Tea
- Type: Tagged paper filter teabag
- Ingredients: Valerian, lavender, lemongrass, oat flower
- Health Benefits: Reduce stress, reduce anxiety, induce sleep, sedate
- Flavour Notes: Warm, mellow, lightly floral, gentle
- Aroma: Musty, sweet, oat flower, hay, generic herbs
- Milk or Lemon: Honey, if desired
- Where to Buy: Amazon or Hampstead Tea
Lavender is a strong aroma and sometimes a soapy flavour… but there’s little of lavender in this blend. The aroma from the dried teabag is a little musty and quite sweet, with oat flower at the forefront.
Once it has brewed into a warm daffodil yellow tea colour, the aroma becomes a bit more generic and herby, albeit still sweet.
As for the flavour, I really like it! It’s warm and cosy, tasting a bit like chamomile despite not including chamomile in the ingredients. The oat flower and valerian create a mellow, hay-like flavour and there’s just a slightly hint of floral perfume from the lavender.
If you aren’t fond of floral flavours, you won’t have any trouble with this tea.
After finishing my cup of Hampstead Lavender and Valerian tea, I felt cosy and warm, ready for bed. It’s sweet enough without honey for my tastes, and I love the thickness of the texture. It’s a delicious tea that I highly recommend.
How to Brew Lavender Valerian Sleep Tea?
This is an herbal brew, so you can use boiling water straight from the kettle. How long you brew this tea is totally up to your tastes. There’s no set time limit like you have with fine traditional teas. Hampstead Tea recommend brewing this sleep tea for 3 to 5 minutes.
This is a relatively short brew time compared to the likes of Pukka. For example, they recommend brewing Pukka Night Time Tea for up to 15 minutes which sounds excessive.
Hampstead also recommend drinking this tea 30 minutes before going to bed. I second this, as herbal tea can sometimes activate your bladder, so you don’t want to hop into bed immediately then have to get up 5 minutes later to use the bathroom.
Adding honey will certainly make this tea more palatable if you dislike the flavour, however don’t go overboard with sugar late at night. A scant teaspoon is plenty.
Why Hampstead Tea?
Hampstead are a British tea brand that offer naturally grown tea with a list of organic and ethical certifications. If you want an eco-conscious-friendly cuppa, Hampstead are your brand. They primarily sell their tea in paper teabags but some of their caffeinated blends are available as loose leaf too.
Hampstead Lavender and Valerian tea is totally caffeine free. You can see the ingredients photographed in my picture below – they’re pretty well chopped, which isn’t so much a problem with herbal tea. It simply means that the tea should infuse quicker.
Lavender and Valerian Health Benefits
Lavender and valerian are two well-known sleep-inducing ingredients. Along with chamomile, they make up the bulk of sleep teas that are available. Here’s what the science says about them:
- Valerian has been shown to significantly improve self-reported sleep quality in several studies,
- While there’s insufficient evidence that valerian could be used to treat anxiety and anxiety disorders, many people still choose to use it (possibly producing a placebo-like effect),
- Lavender has also been reported to improve sleep quality, helping students self-report feeling more refreshed when they wake up in the morning,
- Lavender aromatherapy substantially reduces anxiety and depression, so inhale the steam coming from your cup of tea deeply!
This tea blend also contains lemongrass, which may have anti-anxiety effects, and oat flower which is a common ingredient in sleep aids.
Summary
I really enjoyed this tea but I worry that people searching for a lavender-forward blend will be disappointed. With a mellow warm flavour, it’s sweet and comforting without being floral. You can find it on Hampstead’s official website or check it out on Amazon UK using the button below.
Tea-Ware Recommendation
Hampstead Lavender and Valerian tea is perfect for producing a little hygge comfort in your evening routine. The perfect tea cup to drink it from is definitely my colourful Scandinavia Style Teacup which is available in the Immortal Wordsmith shop with free UK delivery.