Higher Living's Evening (organic herb infusion)

Now I don't like the idea of drinking wanky teas, but it would be unscientific of me not to try every tea, no matter how 'organic' and 'healthy' the ingredients are, you know the ones that have been 'proven' without double-blind studies to fight cancer, depression, trunk fat, give superpowers etc. Todays tea is Higher Living's Evening (organic herb infusion), and it contains lemon balm, fennel, chamomile, lime tree, peppermint and lavender. So basically your standard pretentious, hipster tea you could pay $6 for at your average outer city suburban organic cafe.

Pity I'm drinking this at 4:00 PM, oh well.

Before I get into tasting and reviewing, let's see what others have said about this blend: 

• "Lavender and chamomile is the perfect combination to send you on your way for a great night's sleep. Lovely stuff." - Pedol View [1]
• "Soothing and refreshing at the same time, I find this better as stated an evening tea but not necessarily a night tea/before bed tea because I don't really feel the lemon is great for sleeping. It's very helpful approx 30min after the evening meal to ease digestion and stress though." - Lalita B [1]

To put that in perspective and justify my comments, here is a list of things customers like this also buy: 

[1] Everything makes sense there except for the popcorn

Initial observations:

Meh, it's a public holiday.

First thoughts on the first sips:

Average, kinda citrusish, nothing really stands out. There is definitely a lime aftertaste which is quite a nice change, and is refreshing, but only after it's gone down your gullet. If people talk about how complex and unique this blend is, they are pulling your leg. For all it's condescending list of 'organic' ingredients fit for a calming 'evening', it's just tasteless and average. 

Many sips later:

If I was looking for an undefinable complex taste I would drink cough syrup and codeine, fortunately this tea doesn't offer this at all, and doesn't deliver on it's promise. For raising my expectations, it loses 3 points from the original 5/10 I would have given it, because I didn't dry heave when swallowing it.

Recommendation: 

Na.

Final words:

Interesting fact about bubbles in tea bags: "The phenomenon is not caused by the permeability of the air, but by the surface tension of the bubble itself. When the bubble is large enough that its diameter is greater than the lattice of the paper it is blocked by the coherence of the physical structure of the bubble. The water and tea are not physical structures, and pass freely through the paper. Press the bag into a spoon before lowering it into the water. That should drive out the air before it becomes a bubble." - Triskadecamus [2]

References:

[1] http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/cgi-local/frameset/detail/869420_Higher_Living_Organic_Evening_Tea_15b.html

[2] http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=14885