Lemon Verbena Tea

Lemon verbena is the dried leaf of Aloysia citrodora, a shrub native to Argentina and Chile that Spain and Portugal brought to Europe in the seventeenth century. The cup is bright, clean and lemony, with a soft herbal body. Steeped in a covered mug at 96°C for five minutes.

Origin & Story

Lemon verbena has one of the strongest lemon scents of any garden herb, and a passport to match. It is a shrub native to Argentina and Chile, also found in Peru and Paraguay, and Spanish and Portuguese traders carried it to Europe in the 1600s, first for its oil.

Its name tells the rest of the story. In 1797 two Spanish botanists named the plant Aloysia, after Maria Luisa of Parma, princess of Asturias and later queen of Spain, and in South America it is still called hierba luisa, Luisa's herb, as well as cedron.

France took to it. Introduced there in the late 1700s, verveine became the herb of the end-of-dinner tisane, and in Le Puy-en-Velay a liqueur, Verveine du Velay, made from lemon verbena with other plants, turned the leaf into a regional specialty.

In the cup, lemon verbena tastes of lemon without any sourness: lemon peel and a little flower, with a soft body and no bitterness. A few leaves, fresh or dried, are enough. It also suits cold drinks: steep it hot, let it cool, and serve it over ice with a slice of lemon.

Steep 3 g of lemon verbena in 240 ml of water at 96°C for five minutes in a covered mug.

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