A gentle, naturally caffeine-free herbal infusion of lemongrass and mint. Bright, citrusy and clean. Organic.
Why this product has been renamed
The producer sells this as Oust Le Rhume — Anti-Cold Herbal Tea, describing it as "a natural decongestant" whose ingredients "combine their thousand therapeutic properties to boost your immune system".
We sell it under a plain descriptive name and without the claims, and we would rather explain that than do it quietly. Under EU law a food may not claim to prevent, treat or cure a disease — that is Regulation 1924/2006 and Regulation 1169/2011, and it applies to the product's name just as much as to its description. A tea called "anti-cold" makes a medicinal claim before you have read a word.
The claim is also not true. There is no evidence that lemongrass and mint prevent or shorten a cold, and "boosts your immune system" is a phrase with no defined meaning — an immune system that could be boosted at will would be an autoimmune disease.
What is actually true, and it is not nothing
A hot drink genuinely helps when you have a cold. Not by fighting the virus — by warming the airways, thinning mucus, soothing a sore throat and keeping you hydrated when you would otherwise not drink enough. Steam from a hot cup opens the nose for a while. Research comparing hot and room-temperature drinks in people with colds found the hot ones gave real, immediate relief of runny nose, cough, sneezing, sore throat and tiredness.
So: this is a lovely thing to drink when you feel rotten, and it will make you feel better for a while. That is a modest, honest, genuinely useful claim, and it does not need to be dressed up as medicine.
The ingredients
Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) is a tropical grass, not a citrus — the lemon smell comes from citral, the same compound that makes lemon peel smell of lemon. It is a Southeast Asian kitchen staple and it makes an unusually clean, bright infusion.
Mint brings menthol, which is why the drink feels cooling and opening. Menthol activates the cold-sensing receptor TRPM8 in your nerves — nothing is actually cooler, your nerves are simply reporting cold. It is a real sensation with no temperature change behind it, and it is exactly why menthol turns up in every cold remedy ever made.
Naturally caffeine-free
No tea leaf in it at all, so this is one to drink last thing at night, and one that suits people avoiding caffeine.
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