Tea for Sleep

What to look for in an evening tea

Two things, and only one of them gets talked about.

The first is the obvious one: no caffeine. Caffeine has a half-life of around five hours, so an afternoon black tea is still measurably in your system at bedtime. Everything on this page is caffeine-free.

The second is the ritual itself. Twenty minutes spent brewing and drinking something warm is twenty minutes not spent looking at a screen, at the same point every evening. That consistency is the part most people underrate.

The botanicals traditionally used

• Chamomile — the classic evening infusion. Soft, apple-ish, slightly sweet.
• Lavender — floral and distinctive. Use sparingly; too much tastes of soap.
• Valerian — long used in evening blends, and the least pleasant of them. Earthy to the point of pungent, so it is usually blended rather than drunk alone.
• Passionflower — mild and grassy, often paired with chamomile.
• Rooibos — naturally caffeine-free with a rounded, honeyed body. A good base rather than an active ingredient.

When to drink it

About an hour before bed. Any later and you trade the benefit for a trip to the bathroom at three in the morning.

Brew herbals with boiling water for a full five to seven minutes — longer than you would think. These are hard to over-brew and under-brewing is what makes a night-time tea taste of hot water.

Read more

We went into this in more depth in the best teas to drink before bed. Pair one with a journal or incense if you are building an evening routine rather than just buying tea.