Herb Louisa is the old nickname for lemon verbena, and it fits this tea's aroma better than the plant's Latin tag ever did. Steep the dried leaves and the cup fills with sweet citrus and herbaceous undertones, settling into a golden liquor that darkens as it steeps — thick enough on the tongue to feel more substantial than a typical herbal infusion.
The plant behind it, Aloysia citrodora, is a perennial shrub native to South America, where Argentina, Chile and Peru offer the humid climate, fertile soil and good drainage it needs to thrive. Its lemon scent is famously strong, carrying straight through into the taste. A French botanist, Philibert Commerson (1727-1773), discovered the plant and first called it Aloysia triphylla. The name changed again once specimens reached the botanical gardens in Madrid, where Spanish botanists Casimiro Gómez Ortega and Antonio Palau y Verdera renamed it in honour of Maria Louisa, Princess of Parma. The plant has turned up in fiction too: Margaret Mitchell gave it a mention in Gone with the Wind, where Scarlett O'Hara recalls it as her mother's favourite.
Traditionally, lemon verbena has been drunk to support joint comfort and mobility, though that's folk use rather than settled medicine. Tea & Coffee packs this batch fresh to order at its Pluckley factory in Kent. To brew it, use freshly boiled water and infuse for five to ten minutes. A slice of lemon added to the cup echoes the tea's own flavour, though it stands fine on its own without any accompaniment.
