Body and Mind Botanicals’ Cannabis Herbal Tea received two stars in the 2020 Great Taste Awards. They’re a relative newcomer to the UK CBD industry and produce a select range of organically certified products, including cold-pressed teas and chocolates. I genuinely enjoy the savoury taste of hemp tea, so I was keen to give it a try.
In one packet, you get ten teabags, each containing 1.5g of Cannabis Sativa L. plant and seeds. The hemp is grown in the Baltic region of Eastern Europe and is certified as organic by the Soil Association. The teabags are made of a fine-mesh bio-degradable fabric in the shape of pyramids. To me, a teabag is a teabag, but someone has clearly put some thought into constructing these. They could definitely be considered as posh teabags.
To inform the review I would have two cups of CBD tea a day, one in the morning and one in the evening.
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Contents
Who are Body and Mind Botanicals?
Body and Mind Botanicals was created by business partners Michael Fitzgerald and Martin Kaprockyj. Their aim was to “produce high quality, full-spectrum cannabis products and introduce people to all their wonderful benefits”. They started selling their CBD oils to UK customers in February 2018 and now their products can be found in over 600 stores, including branches of Grape Tree, Partridges of London and Daylesford Organics.
At Body and Mind Botanicals, they believe that keeping beneficial hemp compounds in their natural state provides the best results. To achieve this they’ve developed their own techniques to obtain a full-spectrum extract from raw hemp plants. As a result, their products contain a mixture of CBDa and CBD, whereas some brands only focus on CBD.
To ensure that everything they produce meets their strict quality standards, they do everything from choosing the seeds and working in partnership with experienced cannabis farmers to designing their packaging for maximum freshness and convenience.
3rd Party Lab Tests
I was impressed to find a detailed set of lab results accessible via the Herbal Tea product page on the Body and Mind Botanicals’ website. There is a batch number on my packet (0221), but I couldn’t find a corresponding number on the certificate to see if they matched.
It has excellent detail and includes a profile of cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids. The analysis didn’t find any THC but did detect several cannabinoids, including CBD, CBDa, CBG, CBC and CBGa.
The full results of the cannabinoid profile are:
- CBD = 12.4mg/g (18.6mg per teabag)
- CBG = 0.35mg/g
- CBC = 1mg/g
- Δ8-THC = Not detected
- Δ9-THC = Not detected
- CBDa = 1.65mg/g (2.475mg per teabag)
- CBGa = 0.14mg/g
- CBDV = Not detected
- CBDVa = Not detected
- THCV = Not detected
- THCVa = Not detected
- CBN = Not detected
- CBL = Not detected
I was surprised to see close to 20mg of CBD per bag because hemp tea usually doesn’t contain CBD. This is because hemp in its raw form contains CBDa. When CBDa is heated for a prolonged period, it is activated to become CBD.
It’s also tricky to work out how the lab results relate to the 400mg mentioned on the product page and the 40mg CBDa mentioned on the back of the packet. According to these results, a teabag contains about 20mg CBDa/CBD and a pack of ten should be 200mg. Meaning that there is only about half of the advertised amount in the box.
Traces of 13 terpenes were detected, including ß-caryophyllene, myrcene, ß-sitosterol and terpinolene. Six flavonoids were present: quercetin, apigenin, flavonone, caffeic acid, catechin and gallic acid.
Ease of Use
These teabags make it simple to make a tasty hemp brew with no fuss. The packaging has a resealable top and packs flat, making it excellent if you want to take the bags with you.
There are detailed instructions on the packet with a handy set of pictures in case you get stuck.
The structure of the teabag means that they brew well even if you don’t stir them. The instructions suggest that you brew the tea for between 5 and 20 minutes. I prefer a stronger cup, so I left it for about ten minutes; I didn’t want to leave it longer than that in case it got too cold.
Taste
Cannabis herbal tea is one of those flavours that you’ll not likely love the first time you try it, but it grows on you. I’ve been drinking it for a couple of years now and I genuinely love it. It’s has a savoury taste similar to a mild green tea with an extra hint of freshly mown grass. If you enjoy a good cup of tea and don’t take sugar, then you’ll likely love this after a few cups.
Potency/ Effectiveness
Over the five days I used them, I didn’t experience any noticeable long-term effects, but after each cup, I quickly felt a physical sense of relaxation. If you want to experience more potent CBD effects, you’ll need to drink it alongside some other products like a CBD oil, or a paste, but if you want a refreshing brew that can chill you out for the day ahead or even get you ready for a good night’s sleep, then this is an excellent choice.
Value for Money
For £10.99, you get ten teabags containing 1.5g hemp plant and seeds. This makes them significantly more expensive than others. BioBloom and Biopurus offer 20 bags at £11.90 and £12.99 respectively and Jacob Hooy provides 20 for £5.99.
The construction of these bags is slightly more upmarket than the others, but they’re all relatively similar in terms of flavour and effect. The only thing that’s significantly different is that they contain a higher level of CBD which does make them worth a little more. However, I’m slightly put off because the amounts of CBD listed on the label, do not match the lab reports. This isn’t a small discrepancy either, with it only being half the advertised amount. If this was rectified, I would happily make Body and Mind Botanicals cannabis tea a top choice.
Would I Buy it Again?
Despite the problem with the lab reports not matching the labelling, I found the CBD tea bags to be effective and I’d happily buy them again. They are currently rated as our number one choice for hemp tea bags in our best CBD tea review and if they sort the issues with amounts, I am certain that there won’t be a better hemp tea available in the UK today.