Herb 8 Urinary Comfort Organic Blend

Botanical Information:

🌿Heather
Botanical name: Erica cinerea
Common name: Bell Heather
Family: Ericaceae
Plant part used: Flowers
Proportion in blend: 50%

🌿Ash
Botanical name: Fraxinus excelsior
Common name: European Ash
Family: Oleaceae
Plant part used: Leaves
Proportion in blend: 30%

🌿Mallow
Botanical name: Malva sylvestris
Common name: Common Mallow
Family: Malvaceae
Plant part used: Flowers and leaves
Proportion in blend: 20%

Cultivation: Organic farming
Country of manufacture: France

🌿Heather (Erica cinerea) – 50%
Heather is the dominant botanical in Herb 8 and gives the formula much of its identity. Erica cinerea, commonly known as bell heather, is a small evergreen shrub belonging to the Ericaceae family. It is native to western Europe and is particularly associated with open heathland, moorland and other acidic, relatively nutrient-poor soils.

The plant forms low, woody growth covered with small, narrow evergreen leaves. During flowering, it produces masses of distinctive pink-purple, bell-shaped flowers, often creating large areas of colour across heathland during the summer months.

It is these flowers that are used in Herb 8, where they account for a full 50% of the blend.

Heather has a long relationship with European herbal practice. Its flowering parts have traditionally been prepared as herbal infusions, particularly within herbal traditions concerned with the urinary system and elimination. This makes the unusually high proportion of heather in Herb 8 significant. It is not present as a minor supporting ingredient but forms the botanical foundation of the formula.

Heather also contributes a delicate, slightly floral and distinctly herbal character to the finished infusion.

🌿Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) – 30%

European ash is a large deciduous tree belonging to the Oleaceae family, the same botanical family as the olive tree. Fraxinus excelsior is native across much of Europe and has long been a familiar feature of European woodland, hedgerows and traditional landscapes.

Mature ash trees can become impressive in size, with tall trunks, an open crown and characteristic pinnate leaves composed of several pointed leaflets. The tree is also easily recognised in winter by its distinctive dark, almost black buds.

While different parts of the ash tree have appeared in historical herbal practice, Herb 8 specifically uses the leaves, which make up 30% of the formula.

Ash leaf has traditionally been included in European herbal preparations associated with drainage, fluid movement and elimination. This gives it a different role from the heather rather than merely duplicating it.

In Herb 8, ash therefore acts as the second major botanical and strengthens the elimination-focused character of the formula while allowing heather to remain clearly dominant.

🌿Mallow (Malva sylvestris) – 20%

Common mallow is a very different plant from both heather and ash. Malva sylvestris belongs to the Malvaceae family and is a herbaceous plant found throughout much of Europe, where it grows along roadsides, field margins, meadows and other open ground.

It is easily recognised by its rounded, softly lobed leaves and striking pink-purple flowers marked with darker veins. Both parts are used in Herb 8, with mallow flowers and leaves together forming 20% of the blend.

One of the most interesting characteristics of mallow is its natural richness in mucilage.

Mucilage consists largely of complex plant polysaccharides that absorb water and develop a soft, slippery, gel-like consistency. This physical characteristic is central to understanding why mallow has been so valued in traditional herbal preparations. Rather than being selected primarily as another elimination-focused plant, mallow has traditionally been appreciated for the soft, soothing character associated with its mucilage-rich tissues.

This makes its inclusion in Herb 8 particularly interesting. A formula centred only on heather and ash would have a much more exclusively elimination-focused character. Mallow introduces something different: a soft, mucilaginous botanical element alongside the other two plants.

🌿Why These Three Plants Are Combined

The proportions reveal the logic of the formula.

Heather at 50% establishes the urinary-focused botanical tradition of the infusion. Ash at 30% adds another important European herb traditionally associated with drainage and elimination. Mallow at 20% contributes the contrasting softness of a mucilage-rich plant.

This is a classic principle of herbal formulation. Plants do not necessarily need to perform the same role to belong together. A well-designed blend can instead bring together botanicals with different but complementary characteristics.

That is precisely what makes Herb 8 more interesting than simply drinking heather, ash or mallow individually.

For a daily infusion, use 8–10 g of the herbal blend per 1 litre of water.

Heat fresh drinking water and allow it to cool slightly before pouring it over the herbs. Use water at a maximum temperature of 80°C. Cover while infusing to keep the preparation aromatic and protected.

Leave to infuse for 5–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, then strain through a fine sieve.

Prepare up to 1 litre for the day and drink it gradually rather than all at once. Dividing the infusion between several cups makes Herb 8 particularly easy to incorporate into a daytime herbal routine.

🌿For a Single Cup

To prepare a smaller quantity, use approximately 2–2.5 g of the blend for 250 ml of water, following the same preparation method.

🌿Make It Part of Your Daily Routine

Because Herb 8 is designed as a urinary and elimination-focused herbal infusion, it makes sense to enjoy it throughout the earlier part of the day, when drinking additional fluids fits naturally into your routine. If you find that drinking herbal infusions later in the evening means more nighttime bathroom visits, simply finish your daily amount earlier.

Drink the infusion as it is to appreciate the natural character of the three herbs. It can be enjoyed warm or allowed to cool, making it practical to prepare a larger quantity in the morning and sip throughout the day.

- Certified Organic Product
- Certified Organic Agriculture (AB certified)
- Origin of raw materials: France
- Country of manufacture: France

100% organic herbal infusion blend:

Heather flower (Erica cinerea) – 50%
Ash leaf (Fraxinus excelsior) – 30%
Mallow flower and leaf (Malva sylvestris) – 20%

All ingredients are from organic farming.

Country of manufacture: France

These three plants have very different stories in European culture, stretching from ancient Mediterranean food traditions to Norse mythology and the wild heathlands of Western Europe.

🌿Heather and the European Heathlands

Heather has shaped the appearance of European heathlands for centuries, but people living in these landscapes also found practical uses for the plant around them.

Heather was gathered from the wild and used for everything from brooms, bedding and thatching to fuel and herbal preparations. In parts of Britain and Northern Europe, heather also became entwined with folklore and symbolism. White heather in particular came to be associated with good fortune and protection, a tradition that still survives today.

What we now see as a beautiful purple heath was once part of a landscape in which wild plants were closely connected with everyday life.

🌿Ash, the Tree that Held the World

Ash has one of the most remarkable stories of any European tree.

In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil, the enormous World Tree, was traditionally described as an ash. Its branches stretched across the cosmos while its roots reached into different worlds, making the tree a symbol of connection between heaven, earth and the underworld.

Ash was important in ordinary life too. Its wood is both strong and flexible, making it prized for tools, handles, wheels and other objects that needed to withstand movement and repeated use.

So when ash leaves found their way into European herbal traditions, they came from a tree people already knew intimately, both practically and symbolically.

🌿Mallow, Food as Well as Herb

Mallow takes us much further south and much further back in written history.

The plant was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, but what is particularly interesting is that they did not regard it solely as a herb. Mallow was also food.

Its tender young leaves and shoots were eaten as vegetables, and the plant appears in classical writings as something familiar enough to belong both in the kitchen and among useful plants.

That relationship continued through the centuries. Mallow became one of the plants cultivated in European monastery and physic gardens, helping preserve its place in European botanical tradition.

🌿From Three Landscapes to One Infusion

There is something rather lovely about finding these three plants together.

Heather comes from the heath. Ash from the woodland. Mallow from the meadow, roadside and Mediterranean landscape.

One became part of European folklore, another stood at the centre of Norse cosmology, and the third was already being eaten and written about in the ancient Mediterranean world.

Today, those three very different botanical histories meet in a single cup of Herb 8.

Store in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight, heat and moisture. After opening, close the original packaging carefully or transfer the herbal blend to a clean, dry, airtight container to help protect it from moisture and preserve its natural aroma and quality.

If using a separate container, keep it in a cupboard or another dark place away from heat. Avoid storing dried herbs close to strongly aromatic foods, spices or household products, as they can absorb surrounding odours.

Keep out of reach of children.

🌿 Is heather really used as a tea, not just as an ornamental plant?
Yes. Although many people today associate heather with purple heathlands and garden plants, the flowers also have a long history in European herbal preparations. In Herb 8, heather is not a token ingredient either. Half of the entire blend is heather flower, making it the botanical heart of the infusion.

🌿 Is the ash in this tea from the same ash tree that grows in European forests?
Yes. It is Fraxinus excelsior, the European ash, one of Europe's great native deciduous trees. What may be surprising is that it is the leaves, rather than the bark or wood, that are used for this infusion. Ash leaf has its own long history in European herbal preparations.

🌿 What happens to mallow when you put it in water?
This is one of the most fascinating things about mallow. Its flowers and leaves naturally contain mucilage, made largely from complex plant polysaccharides. When exposed to water, the mucilage absorbs water and develops a soft, slightly slippery quality. So mallow does not simply contribute flavour to the blend. It behaves physically differently in water from heather and ash.

🌿 Is mallow actually an edible plant?
Yes. Mallow has historically been more than a plant for herbal infusions. Its young leaves and shoots have also been eaten as food, particularly around the Mediterranean. That makes Malva sylvestris an interesting example of how the old distinction between a food plant and a herbal plant was not always as clear-cut as we might imagine today.

🌿 Are mallow and marshmallow related?
Yes. This is a lovely botanical connection. Common mallow (Malva sylvestris) and marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) both belong to the Malvaceae family. Both are known for their mucilage-rich plant tissues. The marshmallow plant is also the botanical ancestor behind the name of the confection we now call a marshmallow, although modern marshmallows generally no longer contain the plant.

🌿 What does an ash tree have to do with Norse mythology?
Quite a lot. In Norse tradition, Yggdrasil, the World Tree, is commonly described as an ash. It was imagined as the immense tree connecting the different realms of the cosmos. So the rather unassuming ash leaves in your cup come from a tree with an extraordinary place in European mythology.

🌿 How long will one pack of Herb 8 last?
A 50 g pack makes approximately 20–25 cups when using 2–2.5 g per 250 ml cup. If you enjoy one cup a day, one pack will therefore last around 3 weeks. If you prepare the full daily amount of 8–10 g, the pack will last approximately 5–6 days.

50g