Melaleuca Herbal

Very, very strange. Not bad by any means, but just so… strange! This herbal is obviously more intended for the health market than the taste market, so it’s hard to hold it to the same standards. The website talks up the health benefits quite a bit, but I’m sure I won’t notice them. The smell and taste are strangely acidic and medicinal. The chamomile mellows it out a bit, and there’s a hoppy, cinnamon-laced bite at the end of each sip. I suppose it’s appropriate for such an unusual and unique tea to come from Australia. It’s like the platypus of teas.

I knew nothing about this tea before trying it and I knew there was chamomile and cinnamon here. I looked up the ingredients (for the steepster info) and I was right. This isn’t a bad flavor. For some reason it reminds me of oatmeal cookies without raisins. I don’t usually prefer chamomile, but this tea is great.

As a lover of peppermint tea, I expected to like the slightly medicinal taste of Melaleuca tea (made from Melaleuca alternifolia or Teatree as it is known in its native Australia.)
And I was right – this tea has a strong, sinus-clearing aroma & when brewed, the taste also delivers.
The peppermint/menthol/camphor taste is due to the Teatree’s close relationship to gum trees and will be recognised as similar to eucalyptus by most Aussie sippers.
The camomile & cassia are subtle base notes which round out the flavour. Without them, the “cleaning product” notes would perhaps be too overpowering. They ground it and give an earthy undertone which I really liked.
I find it refreshing & invigorating (even with the camomile!) but can see how some could find it weird. Be careful not to overbrew (3-5 mins is good) as it quickly becomes paint-strippingly astringent.
It also leaves you with a very clean mouthfeel (more so than my favourite peppermint), as though you’ve just cleaned your teeth – so could be useful as an after-dinner sip for this reason.

NOTE – Although this tisane is listed & marketed as G’Day Melaleuca Herbal Tea in the USA it is sold by Melaleuca.Com as just Melaleuca Herbal Tea & in different packaging in Australia. (They must have figured the “G’Day” would be culturally cringeworthy here. I can also find no connection to Australia in the ownership or product of this product, although IT IS an Australian native tree.) So I have posted this review under both names.

Conclusion – pretty good, but in the past I remember some local Teatree teas which were better, so I might have to revisit them. If my expectations aren’t matched by the reality, I’ll come back to this one…

Good taste.

No. Melaluca should not be taken by mouth. I did not know until I had a cup when recommended at gathering. Too ‘mellowing’. Slowed my mind. Made it difficult to hold a conversation ( not normal to me). Forgot train of thought. Struggled to remember. An hour later my tongue ached. Not one I’d recommend at all. Use it as a cleaner not a drink.

I bought this tea for medicinal reasons, but also to try something new in terms of taste.
You can call it a bout of tea-sipping adventure-seeking. The plant is described as a dominant species in a certain southern continent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melaleuca_alternifolia
Taste is really strong, quite sour and certainly reminds you of the fact that you are drinking it for health reasons at least as much as for taste. It is used as a herbal remedy for various purposes, such as common cold and various irritations: https://herbalref.com/melaleuca-tea-tree-oil-melaleucae-aetheroleum/ But back to the taste, some attempts were made to soften it up a bit with camomille, which is a good idea, but probably not enough. Give me some almond or bergamot as well, perhaps.
Or just leave as it is, a sort of purely herbal tea.

This tea was not bad but I found that it tasted a bit different/strange. I can immediately identify the Chamomile and Cinnamon in the tea. However after checking the ingredient list and the only other ingredients are Melaleuca Leaf and Natural Flavor.

I am pretty sure that the strange taste is from the melaleuca leaf. I am familiar with the smell of melaleuca oil (also known as tea tree oil but it is not related to camellia sinensis, the plant we get tea leaves from) and I think I can taste a slight background melaleuca flavor that makes this taste so different.

I am not sure why they wanted to add Melaleuca leaves to the tea. Maybe it was because the name of the company that sells the G’Day Herbal Teas is Melaleuca Inc. or maybe it is because melaleuca plants have antibacterial properties. I don’t know if dried melaleuca leaves in a tea would still have antibacterial properties or not but I don’t think you would want an antibacterial tea anyway because your digestive system relies on many types of good bacteria for digestion. I don’t think either of these reasons are good reasons to add an ingredient to a tea. The other possible reason I can think of for adding something to a tea is that it tastes good. But in this case I think it would have actually tasted better if it was a cinnamon spiced chamomile tea without the melaleuca leaves or the other natural flavors (but then they would have had to rename the tea).

In summary this tea tastes alright/good but it also tastes a bit strange.

Elegant, flavorful, soothing, comfortable tea!