Bigelow's Sweet Dreams herbal tea is a blend of chamomile, hibiscus, mint, and rose and orange blossoms better than the sum of its ingredients.  Chamomile on its own smells like weird apples and tastes like bitter medicine and isn't very pleasant to drink.  Hibiscus gives the infusion made from this blend real drinkability, a sweet-and-sour backbone.  Mint gives it pleasing aromas and a cooling, refreshing quality and adds some earthiness to the taste; rose and orange blossoms round this all out with a floral note in the background. 

This isn't a mix I (nor many others) would have thought to have made in my own kitchen, nor could I have balanced it so well without much trial and error.  Whoever developed this recipe at Bigelow hit on something good.  It's the standout in Bigelow's herbal sampler pack and one of the better herbal blends on the market.

Chamomile traditionally has been used as an anxiolytic, and scientific evidence indicates that this might be well-founded.  Mint, too, is used as a sleep aid due to its stomach-calming and mild analgesic properties.  Thus it is fitting that Bigelow sells this blend as a soothing nighttime drink.  It isn't the knock-out sedative that valerian root is, but it seems to work as well as chamomile, without the bad taste.

Why Sweet Dreams (and other Bigelow herb blends) isn't sold loose in tins or in bulk like Bigelow's teas is a mystery.  It's only readily available in boxes of 20 or 28 (biodegradable) bags, which themselves can be had in cases of six boxes from some of Epinons's listed vendors at the time of writing.  Some time in the far future archaeologists may call us the "wrapper people" and this product is part of the reason why.  In addition to the shrink-wrap around the outer box, each bag comes individually wrapped in an aluminized paper packet that is not currently recyclable.  This may be appropriate in the sampler pack, so that the individual bags do not pick up the flavors of the other blends, but it's wasteful otherwise

Chamomile can induce uterine contractions, and there are some indications that mint tea is antiandrogenic and can adversely affect male fertility.  The NIH (via its Medline Plus service) advises that pregnant and nursing women should avoid chamomile.  It's probably a good idea for men (and pregnant women) to limit their consumption of mint tea.  That's too bad: this blend is delicious.

Ingredients:
Chamomile, hibiscus, peppermint leaves, rose blossoms, spearmint leaves, spice, orange blossoms.

Recommended: Yes