The best herbal tea in 2024 – tried and tested

Best herbal tea at a glance

• Best berry herbal tea: Pukka morning berry tea, from £4.75/20 teabags
• Best budget peppermint tea: Birchall peppermint leaves, from £4.50/15 teabags
• Best herbal tea with ashwagandha: Mission Recover rooibos tea, £14.99/30 teabags
• Best herbal tea for winter: Bird & Blend lemon & ginger tea, from £7.15/15 teabags
• Best triple-mint tea: Pukka three mint, £4.75/20 teabags
• Best luxury mint tea: JP's Originals pure mint tea, from £16.99/30 teabags
• Best herbal tea for lavender fans: Bird & Blend dozy girl chamomile tea, from £7.15/15 teabags

Best herbal tea to buy, 2024

Pukka morning berry tea

• Available from Holland & Barrett (£4.75/20 teabags), Amazon (£4.75/20 teabags), Ocado (£4.75/20 teabags)

Best berry herbal tea

Star rating: 5/5

Clear brewing instructions are given for this fruity tea, so you can make the perfect cup. The tea has a rooibos base, plus hibiscus, blackcurrant, blueberry, ginseng and lemongrass – it's billed as a 'wake-up blend' and also contains essential oils to help awaken the senses and clear the mind.

The flavour is bright and the tea is fragrant, with a well-balanced blend of ginseng, rooibos, blackcurrant and hibiscus – it's very blackcurrant-forward. It has a good amount of sweetness without being too sweet.

Available from:
Holland & Barrett (£4.75/20 teabags)
Amazon (£4.75/20 teabags)
Ocado (£4.75/20 teabags)

Birchall peppermint leaves

• Available from Birchall (from £5.25/70g loose tea), Amazon (£16.48/80 teabags), Ocado (£4.50/15 teabags)

Best budget peppermint tea

Star rating: 4.5/5

A classic peppermint tea made with 100 per cent peppermint leaves, meaning it's caffeine-free. The packaging is fully recyclable, and on first opening, the tea is an attractive green colour and has a pleasant, fresh mint aroma.

There are no brewing instructions, but it's still simple to make a good cup of tea (and it's nice that the teabags are compostable in a food waste bin). The flavour is super-fresh, and leaves a clean, refreshing feeling in the mouth. There's a strong peppermint hit and good length on the palate.

Available from:
Birchall (from £5.25/70g loose tea)
Amazon (£16.48/80 teabags)
Ocado (£4.50/15 teabags)

Mission Recover rooibos tea

• Available from Holland & Barrett (£14.99/30 teabags), Healf (£15/30 teabags), Amazon (£15/30 teabags)

Best herbal tea with ashwagandha

Star rating: 5/5

From Mission, this Recover tea blends rooibos, berry and ashwagandha, and is caffeine-free. We like the sleek red packaging and clear brewing instructions. It claims to aid muscle repair, decrease stress and promote calmness, thanks to the rooibos tea base and 11 per cent ashwagandha – it says it's packed with 'restorative anti-inflammatory ingredients'. It also contains hibiscus, apple, freeze-dried strawberry, blackcurrant and lavender.

The flavour is not too sweet, despite the dried apple and strawberry – the hibiscus adds a flowery note, and the tea has a slightly sour tang from the dried blackcurrant. It's caffeine-free, so it's perfect for evening sipping, and becomes more delicious the longer it steeps, developing a slight caramel note.

Available from:
Holland & Barrett (£14.99/30 teabags)
Healf (£15/30 teabags)
Amazon (£15/30 teabags)

Bird & Blend lemon & ginger tea

• Available from Bird & Blend (from £3.50/20g)

Best herbal tea for winter

Star rating: 5/5

Available in plenty of sizes and as loose leaf tea or teabags, all of the packaging is recyclable and plastic-free – a big plus. On opening the tea, it has a strong aroma and is colourful, with clear chunks of dried apple and pink pieces of rosehip.

Our paper pouch of loose leaf tea included a brewing time and temperature (100C for 4 mins), but didn't state the quantity of tea. But, full details are available online, where it's also suggested to try the tea cold-brewed or in lemonade. The brewed tea has lovely notes of citrus peel and ginger, making it beautifully spiced. Apple and rosehip provide depth of flavour. We would love it with a squeeze of honey in winter, especially if feeling under the weather.

Available from:
Bird & Blend (from £3.50/20g)

Pukka three mint tea

• Available from Holland & Barrett (£4.75/20 teabags), Tesco (£4.75/20 teabags)

Best triple-mint tea

Star rating: 4/5

This affordable herbal tea from Pukka is widely available in supermarkets. It comes in a cardboard box, with each teabag individually wrapped. There are clear instructions on how to brew the tea, with descriptions and images. It's a triple-mint blend of spearmint, peppermint and fieldmint, but only the spearmint is marked as being Fairtrade.

We brewed our tea for about 5 mins. It has a dark, earthy green colour and warming mint aroma. The flavour is well-rounded, but not as intense as we assumed it might be. It doesn't have the same cooling or refreshing flavour as other pure peppermint teas we tried, suggesting the other two mints round it out.

Available from:
Holland & Barrett (£4.75/20 teabags)
Tesco (£4.75/20 teabags)

JP's Originals pure mint tea

• Available from JP's Originals (£16.99/30 teabags)

Best luxury mint tea

Star rating: 4.5/5

The JP's Originals pure mint tea bags come in a refillable jar, with sachets of refillable teabags available. The brewing instructions are easy to follow and the pure mint tea is 100 per cent organic peppermint.

The tea has a mild flavour and gentle minty aroma after 3-4 mins of brewing. There is no bitterness, which you can sometimes find in mint teas, and it leaves a slight minty freshness on the tongue after sipping, though the flavour could be stronger. The biodegradable teabag doesn't leave any residue, ensuring a smooth brew.

Available from:
JP's Originals (£16.99/30 teabags)

Bird & Blend dozy girl chamomile tea

• Available from Bird & Blend (from £7.15/15 teabags)

Best herbal tea for lavender fans

Star rating: 4/5

Another herbal tea option from Bird & Blend, this chamomile tea is colourful, with lots of clearly visible ingredients, including dried rose petals. The tea has a chamomile blossom base, along with lemon verbena, hibiscus, rose petals and lavender, and is designed to be a soothing blend to drink before bed (as a result it's also caffeine-free). As with all Bird & Blend teas, the packaging is fully recyclable and the teabags are biodegradable. It's available as both loose leaf tea and teabags in a variety of package sizes, from 20g loose leaf tea up to a box of 100 teabags.

The brewed tea has a deep red colour and lavender aroma. The taste is floral, with a dominant lavender flavour that lingers on the palate. Notes of rose also come through, but it's not sickly.

Available from:
Bird & Blend (from £7.15/15 teabags)

What is herbal tea?

Herbal teas are also known as infusions, and are made by infusing herbs, spices or other plants in hot water (they can also be cold-brewed or used to infuse soft drinks, such as lemonades or tea cocktails). A wide range of ingredients appear in herbal teas, from dried flowers and fruits, to seeds, herbs and spices. Herbal teas are commonly caffeine-free and don't contain regular tea (such as black tea, green tea and white tea), although plants can still contain other forms of stimulant, such as yerba mate.

What are the benefits of herbal tea?

Herbal tea can have varied benefits, depending on the ingredients in the blend. Mint teas are often consumed after a meal to aid digestion. Ginger teas can also aid digestion and help with nausea. Ingredients such as chamomile and lavender are thought to be soothing for better sleep or calming stress and anxiety. Some herbal teas contain ingredients to help boost the immune system and protect against colds or infections, such as echinacea tea.

Does herbal tea have caffeine?

Most of the herbal teas we tried are caffeine-free – several were even 'sleepy' blends, with soothing ingredients designed to be drunk before you go to sleep. We also included mint teas in our round-up, made purely of mint leaves and therefore caffeine-free.

However, not all herbal teas are caffeine-free – although they may not contain coffee or tea leaves, other plants used in herbal teas can still contain caffeine and act as a stimulant, such as yerba mate.

How to make herbal tea

Herbal tea is made just like regular tea, by brewing in hot water. It can come in loose leaf or teabag form, and generally has specific brewing instructions to bring the best out of the tea. Many herbal teas recommend using slightly cooler than boiling water (around 70-80C), so you can either use a thermometer if you are a true tea enthusiast, or simply boil the kettle, then let cool slightly before adding your teabag. Teas may also give a specific brewing time, between 3-15 minutes, to let the flavours fully infuse into the water.