Balance

Tradition where tradition is what we have, evidence where evidence exists. Balance comes from Caribbean herbal practice, not a laboratory. Ginger has the most modern research: in a small trial it helped the stomach empty faster after a meal, at a larger amount than one tea bag holds. Guava leaf and moringa have been studied too. Bay leaf, clove, vervain, soursop leaf and St. John's Bush have generations of use and little formal study. We won't pretend those are the same thing.

NCCIH: Ginger research and safety

A warm, spiced cup that ends the meal properly, the one Caribbean families have long poured while a heavy meal settles. Give it a few big meals before you judge it; the 30-day guarantee covers you while you do.

Earthy and warm, ginger and clove forward, with a clean bitterness from the vervain. It takes honey well.

No. There is no senna, no cascara and nothing that sends you running to the bathroom. It is a digestive tea in the old sense: warm spices and leaves, drunk after a meal.

You can make a good ginger-and-clove tea, and it is a fine cup. What your kitchen won't have is the rest of the bag: soursop leaf, vervain and St. John's Bush picked in Grenada, and wildcrafted Caribbean sea moss. Soursop leaf is first on the label, the biggest single part of the blend. That is the difference between a spice-rack tea and a Grenadian bush tea.

Because of soursop leaf. It contains acetogenins such as annonacin, and French Caribbean studies linked regular, long-term soursop consumption, including leaf tea, to a movement disorder. An EFSA Journal risk assessment found too little data to set a safe intake either way. So Balance is made for the big meals, one cup at a time, not as an every-day tea. Skip it if you have Parkinson's or another movement disorder.

EFSA Journal: Soursop risk assessment

It isn't made to. Balance is not formulated as a sedative and we wouldn't expect it to act like a sleeping aid, but soursop leaf and vervain are traditional wind-down herbs, so try your first cup on a quiet evening. There is no caffeine to keep you up either.

As the pouch says: anyone pregnant, nursing, taking medication, living with a medical condition or following a specific diet. Medication for blood sugar, blood pressure or blood thinning matters most. Soursop, guava leaf and moringa have been studied for lowering blood sugar or blood pressure, and ginger and clove may slightly slow clotting. At tea strength the amounts are small, but they push the same way as those medicines, so your doctor should have a say.

Memorial Sloan Kettering: Soursop (graviola)