I have been sampling many herbal teas (tisanes) over the last couple of months to help increase my water intake and to get whatever cognitive and health benefits they offer. I already drink between three to six bags of green tea (a true tea) a day to get me balanced in the mornings and afternoons (the caffeine content wakes me up while the L-theanine provides a calming, GABA-enhancing influence coffee does not give). Most of the herbal teas have been more or less pleasant, some downright tasty (Celestial Seasonings Honey Vanilla Chamomile - yum!), and one that has provided a huge stress relief and brain boost for me: Celestial Seasonings Tension Tamer.

Like most herbal teas available on the market, Tension Tamer is a mix of several herbs. Some of these will be familiar to herbal tea drinkers (peppermint, cinnamon, ginger, chamomile, West Indian lemongrass, licorice, tilia flowers, and lemon) while others I had not seen before in any of the other herbal teas I have sampled (eleuthero, catnip, and hops, the latter of which is best-known for giving beer a bitter taste, although this tea must not have a lot of hops because it does not taste bitter to me at all).

As far as aromas and flavor go, the tea smells and tastes most strongly of peppermint and cinnamon. It's not bad at all, and it is especially good for the nasal passages and throat (fresh peppermint is good for when you have a cold, so this tea can help with that as well). You can also taste a bit of the ginger spice and the tang of lemons.

The reason I drink more of this tea than any other (four bags in the morning and four in the evening) is due to the eleuthero content. When I first had this tea, I felt a dramatic drop in stress and dramatic upswing in calm well-being. After isolating the ingredients, I learned it is the eleuthero that is the most likely cause. Though research on this root is still nascent, eleuthero seems to balance the HPA axis and help keep the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, epinephrine, and norepinephrine in line. I took a neurotransmitter excretion test back in November, and those were the four of mine that happened to be imbalanced, so I am strongly convinced of the claims that eleuthero helps with these neurotransmitters.

As for some of the other ingredients, ginger is purported to be anti-carcinogenic (protects against cancer) and anti-inflammatory, and it has been indicated as potentially helpful for gastrointestinal upset, as well as useful for boosting the immune system; licorice is supposed to be good for those with thyroid problems (I have Hashimoto's), although it can cause an increase in heart rate (sometimes I do get mild palpitations with this tea, so be careful if you have any heart conditions); chamomile is well-known for its mild relaxing properties; and catnip is best known for its intoxicating effects on cats, but it has more of a relaxing effect on humans, much like chamomile.

I don't doubt that all the herbs have a nice synergistic effect - again, I've gotten small benefits from many of these in other herbal teas before - but the eleuthero really seems to shine in particular.

Regarding caffeine content, this tea is caffeine-free, so you don't have to substitute it for any caffeinated beverage you are already drinking. Surprisingly, it is also a fortified source of vitamin B6 (20% of the recommended daily value) and B12 (also 20%). Normally herbal teas don't provide vitamin benefits, so learning that information was an added bonus.

I can't recommend Tension Tamer enough. If you are like me and tend to experience anxiety and mild depression at various intervals due to low serotonin, slightly elevated dopamine, and an improper epinephrine to norepinephrine ratio (favoring the former), Tension Tamer will work wonders for you - at least for a couple of hours, which is better than not at all.

Recommended: Yes