- Lemon verbena tea is an infusion of the dried leaf of Aloysia citrodora, a South American shrub. It is not lemongrass, not lemon balm and not common vervain, and it is naturally caffeine-free.
- The European Medicines Agency (EMA) registers lemon verbena leaf for traditional use only: relief of mild stress, to aid sleep, and for mild digestive complaints such as bloating and flatulence.
- For sleep, the EU monograph gives 1 to 2 g of dried leaf in 200 ml of boiling water, drunk half an hour before bed. It is not recommended for children or during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
- The trials behind the popular claims used extracts or a sugar syrup, not a cup of tea. Treat exercise-recovery, joint and weight claims as unproven for the drink itself.
- In France the herb is simply verveine, the classic after-dinner tisane, and the Pagès distillery near Le Puy-en-Velay has turned it into a liqueur since 1859.
What Lemon Verbena Tea Is (and What It Is Not)
Lemon verbena tea is a tisane made by steeping the leaves of Aloysia citrodora, a deciduous shrub native to South America that can reach 2 to 3 metres. Spanish and Portuguese traders carried it to Europe in the 17th century, and the genus name honours Maria Luisa of Parma, Princess of Asturias. Botanists at Madrid’s Royal Botanical Garden called it the Hierba de la Princesa around 1797. Older labels may use the synonyms Aloysia triphylla or Lippia citriodora.
Its clean, sherbet-bright lemon scent comes from an essential oil rich in citral, alongside limonene, geraniol and linalool, according to the EMA’s assessment report on the leaf.
Four other plants get confused with it, and the distinctions matter for both taste and safety:
- Lemongrass is Cymbopogon, a tropical grass whose stalks give a gingery, grassy lemon note. Our lemongrass tea benefits guide covers that plant separately.
- Honey lemon tea uses the fruit of the citrus tree, not any leaf at all. See our guide to honey lemon tea for that one.
- Lemon balm is Melissa officinalis, a mint-family herb with a softer, more herbal lemon aroma.
- Common vervain (Verbena officinalis) shares part of the name but is a different plant with a bitter taste. Nothing in this guide applies to it, and the EU lemon verbena monograph does not cover it.
Like every herbal infusion, lemon verbena is not tea in the botanical sense because it contains no Camellia sinensis. Our tisane tea guide explains where it sits in the wider herbal family.
The Official Record: What the EU Monograph Says
Most pages ranking for this herb list a dozen benefits without saying who, if anyone, has reviewed them. The most useful document is the European Union herbal monograph on Aloysia citrodora leaf (EMA/HMPC/376770/2019), adopted by the EMA’s Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products on 13 January 2021.
The committee rejected well-established use, the category that requires proof from clinical trials, stating that it could not be accepted due to the lack of data on clinical efficacy. It granted traditional use instead, based on long marketing history in Europe: products in Spain since at least 1974, in Switzerland since 1979, and a listing in the French Pharmacopoeia in 1965. Traditional use means the herb is considered plausible and safe enough on long experience, not that trials have proven it works.
The two traditional indications are relief of mild symptoms of mental stress and to aid sleep, and symptomatic treatment of mild gastrointestinal complaints including bloating and flatulence. The monograph sets out dose by purpose, which no ranking listicle reproduces:
| Purpose | Dried leaf | Water | Method | How often |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mild stress | 5 g | 100 ml boiling | Decoction | 3 times daily |
| Aid sleep | 1 to 2 g | 200 ml boiling | Infusion | Once, half an hour before bed |
| Bloating and wind | 2 to 3 g | 200 ml | Infusion | 1 to 3 times daily |
| Bloating and wind (alternative) | 1 g | 200 ml | Infusion | Up to 5 times daily |
Source: EU herbal monograph on lemon verbena leaf. The monograph covers adolescents, adults and the elderly, and says to see a doctor if symptoms last longer than two weeks.
Benefits: An Evidence Scorecard
The claims below are the ones that appear across the top search results. Each is graded against what was actually tested, and in what form.
| Claim | What was tested | Form | Grade for the tea |
|---|---|---|---|
| Better sleep | Afrasiabian et al. 2019, 100 adults with insomnia, 4 weeks, double-blind vs placebo; better sleep-quality and insomnia scores | Leaf syrup with added sugar, 10 ml before bed | Promising, closest to a tea, but one trial and questionnaires only |
| Calm and mild stress | Long European use; EU traditional indication | Tea | Traditional, not trial-proven |
| Bloating and digestion | Spanish and French marketing history; EU traditional indication | Tea | Traditional, not trial-proven |
| Exercise recovery | Buchwald-Werner et al. 2018, 44 adults, 400 mg daily for 15 days; less strength loss after exhaustive exercise | Proprietary extract capsule | Extract only, not transferable to tea |
| Joint comfort | Caturla et al. 2011, double-blind vs placebo | Extract combined with fish-oil omega-3 | Cannot be credited to verbena alone |
| Weight loss, immunity, skin | No human trial of the tea found in the EMA review | None | Unsupported |
Sleep: the most interesting result
The only clinical trial the EMA assessment report found was a randomised, placebo-controlled study published in 2019. Patients took a syrup made by boiling 5 g of leaves in water, reducing it and concentrating it with 140 g of sugar, dosed at 10 ml an hour before bed for four weeks. Scores on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Insomnia Severity Index improved compared with placebo. The effect on how quickly people fell asleep was weaker.
The committee listed the weaknesses plainly: questionnaires only with no objective sleep measurement, no follow-up after stopping, and a sugary syrup that sits outside the monograph. A bedtime cup is a reasonable, low-risk thing to try, but this is one trial, not a body of evidence. If you are building a wind-down routine, our guides to linden tea benefits and chamomile cover the other traditional sleep tisanes on the same honest terms.
Exercise recovery and joints: extracts, not tea
The sports-recovery claim comes from a 2018 trial in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. Forty-four healthy adults took 400 mg a day of a patented extract or placebo for 15 days around an exhaustive workout. Strength loss was 11 percent in the extract group against 21 percent on placebo, and strength had fully recovered at 48 hours. The extract is standardised and concentrated, so the result says nothing reliable about how much tea you would need.
The joint claim is weaker still. The 2011 study behind it tested a combination of lemon verbena extract with fish-oil omega-3, so any benefit cannot be separated from the fish oil.
Side Effects and Who Should Avoid It
At tea strength, lemon verbena has a clean safety record. The EU monograph lists no known undesirable effects, no reported interactions and no reported overdoses. The official cautions are specific:
- Allergy: do not use it if you are hypersensitive to lemon verbena or other plants in the Verbenaceae family.
- Drowsiness: the monograph warns that it may impair the ability to drive and use machines. The assessment report adds that the risk rises with alcohol, other sedatives or excessive doses.
- Children: use is not recommended, because data are lacking.
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding: safety has not been established, so use is not recommended.
You may see kidney irritation mentioned online. The EMA assessment report discusses this: terpene-rich volatile oils in general are regarded as irritants that may affect the kidneys during excretion. The committee noted the leaf contains only a small amount of oil, that no kidney effects had been reported, and judged the warning not relevant to lemon verbena leaf preparations. If you already have kidney disease, check with your doctor before drinking any herbal tea daily.
The concentrated essential oil is a different matter from the tea. It has skin-sensitising and phototoxic properties, and verbena oils are prohibited as fragrance ingredients in EU cosmetics. Do not add drops of oil to your cup or rub it on your skin in place of the tea.
Caffeine Content
Lemon verbena contains no caffeine, because it contains no Camellia sinensis. That makes it one of the easiest evening drinks to swap in for black or green tea. Our guide on caffeine in tea compares the numbers across true teas and tisanes. Be careful with shop blends: some combine verbena with green or black tea, which brings the caffeine back in.
How to Brew Lemon Verbena Tea
The monograph doses above are for therapeutic use. For an everyday cup, most people use less and brew by taste. A few rules get the best from the leaf:
- Measure: for a bedtime cup, follow the monograph’s 1 to 2 g of dried leaf per 200 ml of water.
- Use boiling water: the monograph specifies boiling water for the sleep and stress preparations.
- Cover the cup: much of the flavour sits in volatile oil. A saucer or lid while it steeps keeps more of it in the cup rather than in the kitchen air.
- Steep, then taste: start at about 5 minutes and adjust to your palate.
- Fresh leaves: if you grow the plant, use a small handful of fresh leaves, bruised lightly.
The stress dose in the monograph is a decoction, meaning the leaf is simmered rather than steeped. That is a stronger preparation and not how most people drink it daily.
A Taste of France: Verveine and the Velay
In France, lemon verbena is simply verveine, a familiar after-dinner tisane. The herb’s French credentials are real: the EMA report records it in the French Pharmacopoeia from 1965 and in the French herbal medicines list of 1990 as an aid to digestion.
The best place to see what the French have done with it is the Pagès distillery at Saint-Germain-Laprade, just outside Le Puy-en-Velay in the Auvergne. Founded in 1859, it produces Verveine du Velay, a liqueur built on local verbena mixed with other plants, herbs and spices. According to the distillery’s own site, its lemon verbena is planted in June, harvested before the frost, dried away from light and stripped by hand, and the liqueur takes 18 months to make.
| Distillerie Pagès | Details (checked September 2026) |
|---|---|
| Address | 202 avenue René Descartes, 43700 Saint-Germain-Laprade |
| Standard visit | €7.50, about 70 minutes, tour plus tasting of liqueurs and syrups |
| Premium visit | €25, about 100 minutes, adds a seasonal cocktail and a plate of regional food |
| Hours, 28 Sept to 31 Oct 2026 | Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 18:00 |
| Hours, 1 Nov 2026 to 5 Jan 2027 | Tuesday to Friday, 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 17:00 |
| Booking | Online or by phone recommended |
The seasonal hours come from the Le Puy-en-Velay tourist office, which lists the guided tour at around 45 minutes, shorter than the distillery’s own figure. Confirm times before you travel. Minors taste syrups instead of liqueur. The liqueur is alcohol, not a tisane.
How to Buy and Store Lemon Verbena
Look for whole or coarsely cut leaves that are still green and smell strongly of lemon when you rub them. Brown, dusty leaf with little aroma has lost its oil. Check the Latin name on the label: Aloysia citrodora or one of its synonyms, not Verbena officinalis.
Store the leaf in an airtight, opaque container away from heat, light and strong smells, since the volatile oil fades quickly once exposed. Buy small amounts and use them within a few months. Our guide on how to store tea applies equally to herbal leaf.
Lemon verbena is also easy to grow in a pot. It drops its leaves below 0°C, but the wood tolerates around -10°C, so in colder climates bring it indoors or shelter it over winter. Harvest leaves through summer and dry them in the shade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is lemon verbena tea good for sleep?
Lemon verbena tea is registered in the EU as a traditional remedy to aid sleep, taken as 1 to 2 g of dried leaf in 200 ml of boiling water half an hour before bed. One 2019 trial of a lemon verbena syrup improved insomnia scores over four weeks, but it relied on questionnaires and a sugary preparation, so the evidence remains limited.
Does lemon verbena tea have caffeine?
No, lemon verbena tea is naturally caffeine-free because it is made from the leaves of Aloysia citrodora, not the tea plant Camellia sinensis. It is suitable for evenings and for anyone avoiding caffeine. Check blended products carefully, because some mix verbena with green or black tea, which does contain caffeine.
Is lemon verbena the same as lemongrass or lemon balm?
No, they are three different plants. Lemon verbena is Aloysia citrodora, a South American shrub; lemongrass is Cymbopogon, a tropical grass; lemon balm is Melissa officinalis, a mint-family herb. All three smell of lemon because of citral-type compounds, but they differ in flavour, research record and official guidance.
Who should not drink lemon verbena tea?
Children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers should avoid lemon verbena tea, because the EU monograph says safety has not been established for these groups. People allergic to plants in the Verbenaceae family should also avoid it. Because it may cause drowsiness, take care before driving, especially if combined with alcohol or sedatives.
How much lemon verbena tea can I drink a day?
The EU monograph allows up to five cups a day at 1 g of dried leaf per 200 ml for mild digestive complaints, or up to three cups at 2 to 3 g. For an ordinary daily habit, one to three cups is well within those limits. See a doctor if symptoms persist beyond two weeks.