Bedtime Story Tea – Magical Sleep & Dream Herbal Tea

At The North Pole Tea Shop there is a small wooden shelf which Huatua insists must never be stocked until after sunset.

Upon it stand the Night Teas.

And perhaps the most beloved of them all is Bedtime Story Tea.

Created generations ago for the storytellers of Santa's Village, this wonderfully aromatic herbal infusion combines plants that have been associated with evening, tranquillity, dreams and folklore for centuries.

There is chamomile, traditionally treasured as a calming evening herb, alongside fragrant lemon balm, lavender and spearmint. Valerian has an exceptionally long history as a night-time herb, while warming cinnamon and naturally caffeine-free rooibos give the blend depth and comfort.

But Huatua says the most important ingredient is hawthorn.

For in old European folklore, the hawthorn was no ordinary tree.

It grew at boundaries.

Between field and forest. Between the familiar and the wild. And, according to countless old tales, between the Human world and the hidden lands of the Fair Folk.

Huatua believes that sleep is rather like that.

Each night we close our eyes in one world... and awaken for a few hours somewhere else.

And so he finishes the blend with delicate cornflower and mallow, scattering them amongst the herbs like tiny fragments of colour from a half-remembered dream.

The result became the traditional tea of the North Pole storytellers.

On winter evenings, when the workshops have finally quietened and snow is falling beyond the windows, a pot is brewed and a story chosen from the old library. Nobody hurries. Cups are filled. Chairs are drawn closer to the fire.

And the story begins.

There is even an old North Pole belief that if you drink the final sip precisely as the last words of a story are spoken, that story may follow you into your dreams.

Huatua is usually rather sensible about such claims.

When asked whether this one is true, however, he simply smiles.

"There is only one way to find out."

From The North Pole Tea Shop

Ingredients: Chamomile, Lemon Balm, Cinnamon, Spearmint, Lavender, Hawthorn, Rooibos Tea, Valerian, Cornflower & Mallow

Character: Soft, fragrant, comforting and wonderfully soothing

Caffeine: Naturally caffeine-free

North Pole Tradition: The Storyteller's Night Tea — traditionally brewed beside the fire before the final story of the evening.

Prepared according to the traditions of Huatua, Tea Master of The North Pole Tea Shop, Santa's Village.