MARLEY'S MELLOW MOOD: BLACK TEA

I've never smoked pot.

I realize this isn't true confession time or anything, but I feel the need to go ahead and get that out of the way before I tell you about this drink.  I've never smoked weed and I've never really wanted to.  You can blame my rather strict religious upbringing that forbade intoxicants, or you can blame it on the fact that after having friends who had smoked it tell me about it, it just never seemed like anything I'd enjoy.  I think the closest I ever came to even a contact high was to sit next to this dude in one of my art classes who practically carried a cloud of pot smoke around him like Pigpen (the Peanuts character) carried a cloud of filth. 

(Now, please don't misunderstand me, I'm not judging anyone who does it.  I figure that if it's something you like and it doesn't hurt anyone else, and it is legal wherever you are, more power to you.)

I'm saying all of this so that you will know that I'm basically ignorant of marijuana and the culture that surrounds it.  I also don't really know anything about icons associated with it except on the broadest of terms.  I do know that Bob Marley, the musician, is one of those icons and the fact that he was on the label of the bottle of tea I bought at Earth Fare (why does most of my weird stuff come from there?) gave me pause.

Before you ask, no, I didn't think the tea had marijuana in it.  However, knowing that Marley is a marijuana icon and the product was called Mellow Mood, it wasn't a far stretch of imagination to know that there was something in it that I probably wasn't used to. I wondered if drinking this is supposed to have the same kind of effect that smoking marijuana has on some people, and that made me feel a little weird, but I figured that drinking tea wouldn't be the same even if the effects were similar.  Since being sleepy is my natural state these days, I wasn't sure "natural relaxation" in a bottle was something I needed.  Even the cashier who checked me out asked if I'd ever had it before, and told me not to drive after drinking it.

Of course, I dismissed all of the worry by thinking: "Eh, the last relaxation drink didn't do anything.  This probably won't either."  So one night, near bedtime (just in case) I broke out my new bottle of Black Tea and popped the top.

An excerpt from the official website for this drink says:

"Simply put, relaxation beverages are "beverages with benefits" - wellness drinks which deliver specific functional results. We live in a high-stress, amped-up, always-on-the-go society, which is why energy shots have grown into a huge category. We like to think Marley's Mellow Mood as the anti-energy drink. Calm breeds peace, which is something we all can use in these crazy times."

The website also says that the drinks contain herbs like valerian root, lemon balm, passion flower, hops, chamomile, as well as melatonin.  These all sounded impressively natural and safe to me!

The drink tasted very, very good. I remember that at my first sip I was kind of relieved that it didn't taste all herbally, or grassy, or have that weird chlorophyll taste I sometimes notice with bottled teas infused with herbs.  I also remember thinking that I'd totally drink it again, even if I didn't need the added attraction of "relaxation."

Honestly, that's all I remember.  Not long after I was done with the bottle, I fell asleep.  I didn't get pleasantly sleepy and decide to get up and head to bed, either.  I fell asleep sitting where I was.  It didn't happen immediately or anything.  I don't want you to think it promoted a drugged, sudden narcolepsy of any kind, but I remember capping the bottle, putting it on the table next to my chair, and then having to be helped to bed by my husband.

It was bizarre.  I had been watching television and then it was like I'd been anesthetized.  I won't even rule out the fact that my unexpected doze could have been psychosomatic, owing to the fact that I knew it was supposed to relax you, but I don't think that's the case here.

I suspect it was the valerian root that did me in.  I've had a drink with valerian in it before that made me sleepy, but not like this drink did.  I'm very glad the cashier warned me against driving after drinking this, but honestly, even if he hadn't, I probably would have only gotten as far as picking up my keys before falling asleep in the floor!

I honestly wish I could tell you more about the flavor of the drink, other than saying that it was good.  I enjoyed it, and I think that if I'm going to drink anything that makes me sleepy, this is better than a lot of things I could have...but geez.  If you don't like warm milk, grab a bottle of this and sit comfortable, because if you're anything like me, you might just wake up in the same place hours later wondering what happened. If the effects of drinking this stuff is anything like the effects of smoking pot...I say drink this instead.  You will be able to pass any drug test and you won't burn yourself if you fall asleep with it in your hand!

WEBSITE- www.marleysmellowmood.com

SERVING SIZE: 250 ml (sorry, you'll have to translate that yourself)
CALORIES:77
CARBS: 20
TASTE: Good, sleepy...  that's all I got.