Winter feels endless this year – or is it just me? Anyway, at least we have some delicious teas to keep us warm on chilly March evenings! This week, I’ve got my hands of Dragonfly Tea’s Night Sky Calm, an herbal brew made with organic ingredients to help you calm down and get ready for bed.
But before we delve into the flavour, ingredients and best brewing method, there’s something I’ve got to tell you. Dragonfly Tea actually sent me this tea as a gift! So, while this tea review isn’t paid for and remains totally unbiased, it is technically still *gifted*.
Let’s put the kettle on and get started.
Dragonfly Night Sky Calm at a Glance
Izzy’s Rating
- Blend: Organic chamomile, lemon balm and liquorice with valerian and other herbs
- Flavour: A mellow and warm harmony of herbaceous flavours, dominated by chamomile
This is a very tasty tea with a soothing feel to it – like being wrapped in a warm blanket. It has subtle complexity with comfortably familiar notes of chamomile adding honey sweetness.
Full Review – Night Sky Calm by Dragonfly Tea
- Type: Tagged paper filter teabag
- Ingredients: Chamomile, lemon balm, liquorice, honeybush, valerian, lavender, sage, ashwagandha
- Health Benefits: Treat insomnia and sleep troubles
- Flavour Notes: Chamomile warmth and sweetness, savoury sage, honey, herbaceous
- Aroma: Chamomile, sweet hay, valerian, rain
- Milk or Lemon: Honey, if desired
- Where to Buy: Dragonfly Tea or Amazon
Opening the packet, the initial aroma is all about chamomile (and to be honest, that’s the story of this tea) with sweet hay notes permeating the air. But if you breathe a little deeper, you’ll find underlying complexity that hints at something more.
For the purposes of this review, I brewed the tea exactly to Dragonfly’s instructions. The result was a dirty golden-yellow coloured tea with herb garden aromas. I can detect chamomile and valerian independently with a delicious note that I can only describe as recent rainfall.
The flavour matches. Chamomile takes centre stage and envelopes you in a cosy blanket hug. Interestingly, after a few sips, notes of sage pop up too. They add a touch of savoury depth to the tea that’s quite unusual but very welcome.
Other herbs pop up here and there as you sip your way to the bottom of the cup, but they don’t linger. It’s a symphony of dreamy flavours and herbaceous notes to lull you to sleep. The texture of the tea adds to the experience – it’s smooth and thicker than water.
How to Brew Herbal Sleep Teas
With herbal teas, you’ve got some leeway. Use boiling water (fill the kettle with fresh water for this) and steep the tea for a minimum of 2 minutes. The longer and hotter the better, especially if you’re interested in the medicinal properties of herbal tea.
I highly recommend taking those few minutes while Dragonfly Night Sky Calm brews to read the words of wisdom on the teabag tag and hunting for that jar of honey in the back of the cupboard. Just a teaspoon of honey will really bring this tea to life.
As an herbal tea, Night Sky Calm is totally caffeine-free and is suitable for drinking at any time of day or night. It does contain liquorice, however, which means you shouldn’t drink too much if you suffer from high blood pressure.
Why Dragonfly Tea?
The inspiration for this tea was “rich herbal and botanical traditions of the Mediterranean” according to Dragonfly Tea’s website. I love that!
Dragonfly Tea are a British brand but they usually sell their teas internationally. They have a rich history and are a family-owned business. Among their accolades is Rainforest Alliance membership and certifications from the Organic Food Federation, UK Tea and Infusions Association (UKTIA), and grassroots movement Slow Foods.
The packaging isn’t anything special, however. The teabag, though plastic, glue and staple-free, does appear to be bleached white. In traditional teabag style, the herbal ingredients are very finely shredded to increase the brewing speed. Though not a deal breaker, seeing whole chamomile flowers and spacious pyramid-style teabags would have been better.
Does Sleep Tea Actually Work?
Now for the ingredients. Though ‘sleep tea’ isn’t in the name of Dragonfly Night Sky Calm, it is quite clearly designed to be a just-before-bed kind of cuppa. The ingredients are all herbal remedies for sleep concerns – some more verifiable than others.
Chamomile, lavender and valerian frequently top lists of herbal sleep remedies. Sage and ashwagandha are slightly less well-known sleep tea ingredients. According to the results of one study, sage could be useful for night sweats, anxiety and sleep disorders in menopausal women. A review of studies into ashwagandha concluded that “Ashwagandha extract appears to has a beneficial effect in improving sleep in adults.”
Of course, a cup of tea might soothe some symptoms but for really good sleep you need to create a sleep routine. A sleep hypnosis meditation is a great place to start.
Summary
Ultimately, Dragonfly Night Sky Calm is a delicious tea, and it packs all the sleep-inducing ingredients to be an effective nighttime cuppa. I really enjoy this brand, and their teas are reasonably priced. You can buy them directly from their website but you’ll often get a better deal on Amazon.
Tea Recommendation
Sleep teas come in all shapes and sizes, from loose leaf teas to teabags, herbal to slightly caffeinated – and even vitamin-enriched. If you want to go back to basics and start with the most effective herb around, I recommend Two Spoons Tea Chamomile. This tea has one of the highest scores on my blog.