Detox Blend

The European Medicines Agency's Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products lists dandelion leaf as a traditional herbal medicinal product to increase the amount of urine to achieve flushing of the urinary tract, as an adjuvant in minor urinary complaints — a status it grants exclusively on the basis of long-standing use, with adequate fluid intake, and with a doctor consulted if the complaints persist beyond two weeks. The same monograph lists it as not to be used with gallstones, obstructed bile ducts, liver disease or an active peptic ulcer, nor by anyone allergic to the daisy family; advises against it in kidney failure, diabetes and heart failure; does not recommend it under 12 or during pregnancy and breastfeeding; records no reported interactions, and notes that allergic reactions may occur. The root is covered by a monograph of its own, quoted on our dandelion page. This isn't medical advice — if you have a specific condition, check with a healthcare provider.

Source: EMA/HMPC — Community herbal monograph on Taraxacum officinale, folium (2009)

The nettle leaf monograph, adopted in January 2010, accepts two traditional uses: relief of minor articular pain, and increasing the amount of urine to achieve flushing of the urinary tract as an adjuvant in minor urinary complaints — both exclusively on the basis of long-standing use, and for no more than two to four weeks. It lists the leaf as not to be used where a reduced fluid intake is recommended (severe heart or kidney disease), does not recommend it under 12 or during pregnancy and breastfeeding, records no reported interactions, and notes that mild stomach upsets and skin reactions may occur. This isn't medical advice — if you have a specific condition, check with a healthcare provider.

Source: EMA/HMPC — Community herbal monograph on Urtica dioica / Urtica urens, folium (2010)

Burdock root has its own monograph, adopted in September 2010: a traditional herbal medicinal product to increase the amount of urine to achieve flushing of the urinary tract as an adjuvant in minor urinary tract complaints, in temporary loss of appetite, and in seborrhoeic skin conditions — again on long-standing use alone. The committee does not recommend it under 18 or during pregnancy and breastfeeding, advises against taking it together with synthetic diuretics, lists allergy to the daisy family as a contraindication, records no reported interactions, and notes that anaphylactic shock has been reported. This isn't medical advice — if you have a specific condition, check with a healthcare provider.

Source: EMA/HMPC — Community herbal monograph on Arctium lappa, radix (2010)

Lemongrass carries no monograph in this blend and needs none: it is the ingredient that makes the cup drinkable. Its scent is citral, the same aromatic that gives lemon peel its smell; our catalog describes lemongrass as citrus, fresh, lightly sweet and aromatic, and in the recipe it lifts the earthy, mineral base of the other three. Raise its share to 40–50% and the blend turns bright enough to drink iced.

The blend is level 0 on our caffeine scale: there is no Camellia sinensis anywhere in the recipe. Our catalog describes the cup as earthy, bitter and citrus, lists it for mid-morning and after meals, and brews it at 98 °C for 9 minutes with 3 g per cup. Taken that way it is a bitter, mineral infusion with a lemon edge, and that is all we claim for it.