Linden tea

Linden tea (lime flower tea, linden blossom infusion) is simply dried linden blossom steeped in hot water; no tea-plant leaf is involved. EMA devoted a monograph dated 22 May 2012 to this blossom and filed it under traditional use: chopped flowers steeped and drunk as a herbal tea.

The monograph covers three species: small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata), large-leaved lime (T. platyphyllos) and common lime (T. × vulgaris), or mixtures of them; the material must meet European Pharmacopoeia monograph 01/2008:0957. The tree itself, also a honey plant, has its own page, Linden.

EMA gives a precise dose. Anyone from adolescence up takes 1.5 g of blossom in 150 ml of freshly boiled water two to four times daily, so 3 to 6 g over the day. Children aged 4 to 12: 1 g per 150 ml, up to 2 to 4 g daily. It is not recommended for children under 4, or during pregnancy and breastfeeding, because safety data are lacking. The one contraindication is hypersensitivity to linden; the monograph lists no known side effects or interactions.

A living harvest tradition survives in southern France. The gestures of picking linden in the Baronnies (Provence) are listed in the French inventory of intangible cultural heritage, and every July Buis-les-Baronnies holds the Tilleul en Fête festival, on 12 July in 2026. According to a French parliamentary answer, Baronnies linden has no PDO or PGI protection.

Chamomile tea comes closest: its EMA dose is likewise measured per 150 ml cup, at 1.5 to 4 g. Where they part is the alkaloid ceiling, since the EU lets chamomile carry twice as much while linden blossom must stay within 200 µg/kg.

Linden blossom is recognisable on a box by the word Tilia or by the names listed in the monograph: lime flower, Lindenblüten, tilleul, kwiat lipy.

Why this matters to you: you have the exact dose from the EMA monograph and know who should not drink linden infusion.