Sweet Melissa was a song written by Greg Allman of the Allman Brothers Band and has nothing unfortunately to do with this Tisane. A friend of mine Dave Moore was a great fan of theirs although they didn’t really do it for me.
This Sweet Melissa is a fabulous herb blend consisting of Melissa, Lemon Grass, Apple Pieces, Orange Peel, Slices of Carrot, Lemon Myrtle, and Blackberry leaves. It is a very pretty looking infusion and it smells wonderful, very citrusy.
Melissa officinalis is better known as Lemon Balm, a popular vigorous growing herb. Melissa has had a history of medicinal uses and small laboratory trials have reported its antiviral, antioxidant and calmative properties. However, I suspect it is destined to remain a folk remedy. It is nice to know that despite the lack of government authorisation you can still enjoy a ‘healthy’ drink and they can’t stop you. Melissa gets its name from the Greek for Honeybee and they certainly do love the little insignificant white flowers that it freely produces. I have made a lovely Lemon Balm Pesto using fresh leaves and apparently it makes a lovely wine.
I found this interesting, in a study of Melissa officinalis undertaken at Northumbria University students were tested for weeks, taking either Lemon Balm or a placebo. The students did significantly better on the tests after taking Lemon Balm and continued to post improved scores for up to six hours after taking the herb. The students taking Lemon Balm were noted to be calmer and less stressed during the tests. (From Prevention Magazine Sept. 2004)
