A single-herb organic infusion: lemon thyme, grown in France, and nothing else in the bag. Caffeine-free. Packed in a compostable freshness envelope inside a recyclable cardboard box, with no plastic anywhere.
What lemon thyme is
Thymus citriodorus — a thyme that smells genuinely of lemon rather than of thyme with a lemon note added. The scent comes from geraniol and citral in the leaf, the same aroma compounds that give lemongrass and lemon balm their character, sitting alongside the thymol and carvacrol you expect from thyme.
The result is a herb that is at once savoury and citrus — warm and slightly resinous underneath, bright and lemony on top. It is a lovely thing on its own and it does not need blending with anything.
Single-herb infusions are worth seeking out for exactly that reason: a blend of eight plants tastes of a blend. One plant, well grown and properly dried, tastes of itself.
How to brew it
Thyme is a leaf that holds its aromatic oils tightly, and it needs real heat and real time to give them up — which is the opposite of green tea.
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Water at a full 95–100 °C. Do not let the kettle cool.
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Steep for five to seven minutes, and longer if you like it stronger. Unlike tea, it does not go bitter or tannic if you forget it.
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Cover the cup while it steeps. This is the step almost everyone skips, and it matters more here than with any other kind of infusion: the aromatic compounds are volatile, and the steam rising off an uncovered cup is the flavour leaving. A saucer on top makes a noticeable difference.
It takes honey well and it takes a slice of lemon well, though it hardly needs either.
Also: cook with it
This is genuinely worth doing, and it is the best-value thing in this box. Dried lemon thyme is an excellent cooking herb, and buying a good one loose is far better than a supermarket jar.
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Infuse it into cream or milk for a panna cotta, a custard or an ice cream — lemon thyme is one of the great dessert herbs and almost nobody uses it that way.
- Into a sugar syrup for poaching pears or peaches, or for a lemonade.
- Under the skin of a roast chicken, or through roast potatoes and courgettes.
- With fish, where ordinary thyme is often too heavy and this is not.
- Steeped in olive oil, or rubbed into a goat's cheese.
What we may not claim
Thyme has a long medicinal history, and the European Medicines Agency does recognise thyme herb preparations in a traditional-use context — but that applies to registered herbal medicinal products at specified preparations and doses, not to a food-grade infusion, and not to lemon thyme specifically.
There is no authorised EU health claim for thyme of any kind, so we are not going to tell you what this infusion does. It is a caffeine-free herbal drink that tastes very good, which is reason enough.
Practical notes
Caffeine-free, so it suits the evening. Culinary and infusion quantities are food and are unremarkable in that sense; if you are pregnant, are taking prescribed medication, or have an allergy to plants of the mint family (Lamiaceae — mint, sage, rosemary, basil, oregano), the usual sensible caution applies.
Packaging
Compostable inner envelope, recyclable cardboard outer, zero plastic, made in France from French-grown plants with partner producers. That is worth stating because tea packaging is one of the more quietly wasteful things in a kitchen — a great many teabags still contain polypropylene, which is why they do not compost.
Storage
Airtight, cool, dark and away from anything strongly scented. Dried herbs lose their volatile oils to air and light, and lemon thyme's citrus note is the first thing to go.
Biohême
Biohême
Biohême
Biohême
