Mellow Moon Period Drink Sachets

Both, in a sense, and neither exactly. It is a menstrual supplement with the vitamins, minerals and botanical extracts that implies, in a format you drink like a tea. There is no bag and no leaf, because it dissolves.

The ones worth checking on any label are iron, magnesium, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12, and whether the amounts are printed rather than hidden in a blend. Mellow Moon carries all four and prints every figure: iron 8.6mg, magnesium 100mg, B6 2.8mg and B12 63ug per sachet.

The useful answer is what is actually in it. Vitamin B6 contributes to the regulation of hormonal activity, and Mellow Moon carries 2.8mg per sachet, which is 200% of the daily reference intake and deliberately under 10mg. The rest of the panel is printed in full under Read the Box.

Most of the category is two capsules a day, every day, all month. Mellow Moon is one mug a day for about seven days a cycle, starting two days before. Fourteen sachets covers two full cycles.

It has a long history in Ayurvedic practice, where it is sometimes called the queen of herbs. Mellow Moon states what is in the sachet: 85mg of Asparagus racemosus extract, equivalent to 340mg of rhizome, with the pregnancy and oestrogen cautions that follow from it.

Warmth and rest are what most people reach for, and plenty of people look up magnesium for period cramps. Mellow Moon carries 100mg of magnesium as malate per sachet. Magnesium contributes to electrolyte balance and to normal muscle function. If cramps are severe or new for you, see your GP.

It is a different thing. A chamomile tea bag holds about two grams of leaf and gives you whatever three minutes of hot water can pull out. Mellow Moon carries chamomile as an extract equivalent to 5,000mg of leaf, raspberry leaf equivalent to 2,500mg, and rooibos equivalent to 2,800mg, all dissolved, plus seven vitamins and minerals no tea can carry.

If you track your cycle, it fits the same way. The directions are to start two days before your period and continue every evening through it, so it is used around one phase rather than all month.

Three things. It contains 340mg of shatavari, so do not use it during pregnancy, and use in lactation only under medical supervision. It is not suitable for anyone with fibrocystic mastopathy or other oestrogen-related conditions. And consult your GP if you take medication or are under medical supervision.

Mellow Moon is not for anyone pregnant. Anyone with fibrocystic mastopathy or another oestrogen-related condition. If you are breastfeeding, taking medication or under medical supervision, check with your GP first. The shatavari is the reason for the oestrogen caution and the amount, 340mg, is printed on the box.

It is made to be taken daily across your period rather than all month: one sachet a day, starting two days before your cycle and continuing every evening through it. Fourteen sachets covers two full cycles. Do not exceed one sachet a day.

Mellow Moon carries 2.8mg, which is 200% of the daily reference intake and deliberately well under 10mg. Several period supplements carry 10 to 25mg. Vitamin B6 contributes to normal psychological function and to the regulation of hormonal activity.

Mellow Moon carries 2,000mg per sachet, which is the largest single ingredient in it and a full serving of the kind people buy as a standalone powder.

Three compounds do most of the work and each one does a different job you can see or taste. Crocin is the colour, a carotenoid that can be more than a tenth of dried saffron by weight. Picrocrocin is the bitterness. Safranal is the aroma. Mellow Moon carries 125mg of saffron extract per sachet, equivalent to 500mg of whole crocus stile.

60mg of saffron stile extract per sachet. Saffron is sold as two different parts of the same flower, the stile and the stigma, and Mellow Moon’s pack states the stile.

Apigenin is the compound usually named, along with bisabolol and chamazulene. A standard chamomile tea bag yields roughly 1 to 3mg of apigenin into the cup, depending on how long you brew it and how hot the water is. Mellow Moon carries 500mg of chamomile leaf extract, equivalent to 5,000mg of whole leaf.

Rooibos is not tea at all. It is Aspalathus linearis, a South African legume, where ordinary tea is Camellia sinensis. It carries two compounds found nowhere else, aspalathin and nothofagin, both dihydrochalcones, and it is naturally caffeine-free. Mellow Moon carries 700mg of rooibos leaf extract, equivalent to 2,800mg of whole leaf.

Because of how it is processed. Green rooibos is unfermented and holds more aspalathin. Red rooibos has been oxidised, which converts most of the aspalathin into other compounds and gives it the colour and the rounder, sweeter flavour people recognise.

Mellow Moon carries 250mg of raspberry leaf extract per sachet, equivalent to 2,500mg of whole leaf. The leaf contains ellagitannins, chiefly sanguiin H-6 and lambertianin C, along with flavonoids, ellagic acid and an alkaloid named fragarine. Fragarine was identified in the 1940s and its structure has never been fully described, which is why the page gives you the amount.

The steroidal saponins that make up shatavari’s active fraction, numbered shatavarin I through X. Shatavarin IV is the one usually measured as a marker, and it is a glycoside of a compound called sarsasapogenin.

Rosa centifolia is the cabbage rose or Provence rose, the variety grown in southern France for perfume rather than for the garden. Its petals carry the scent compounds that make rose oil. Rosa Centifolia supports menstrual health.²

An amino acid found almost uniquely in tea leaves, and the reason a cup of green tea tastes savoury as well as bitter. Mellow Moon carries 150mg of it, drawn from a green tea leaf extract, which is far more than a cup of tea would give you.

Because of what fits. A sachet holds 5.8 grams. The six botanicals in Mellow Moon add up to 11,190mg of whole herb equivalent, which is nearly twice that weight, and they only fit because they arrive concentrated. The equivalents are printed on the panel so you can see the ratio for each one.

Myo-inositol is a naturally occurring compound found in foods such as citrus fruit, beans and grains. It is a white powder that dissolves cleanly in water and tastes faintly sweet, which is one reason people who take it on its own tend to stir it into a drink.

Mellow Moon carries 125mg of saffron extract per sachet, equivalent to 500mg of whole crocus stile. Saffron helps maintain good comfort before and after the menstrual cycle.

You lose iron when you bleed, and most of this category leaves it out. There is 8.6mg per sachet, 61% of the daily reference intake, as ferrous fumarate. Iron contributes to normal formation of red blood cells and haemoglobin.

Mellow Moon carries 100mg per sachet as magnesium malate, which is 27% of the daily reference intake. Magnesium contributes to electrolyte balance and to normal muscle function.

Because of the shatavari. Its shatavarin saponins are close enough in structure to oestrogen that the caution is warranted, so the box states that it is not suitable for anyone with fibrocystic mastopathy or other oestrogen-related conditions, and not for use in pregnancy. The amount, 340mg, is printed on the panel.

Mellow Moon carries 500mg of chamomile leaf extract per sachet, equivalent to 5,000mg of whole leaf, which is roughly two tea bags' worth in a single mug.

It is hand-picked from the flower of a crocus, and it takes a very large number of flowers to make a small amount, which is why it is the most expensive spice there is by weight. Mellow Moon carries 125mg of saffron extract per sachet, equivalent to 500mg of whole crocus stile.

It is the base of the drink and it is South African. 700mg of leaf extract per sachet, equivalent to 2,800mg of whole rooibos leaf. Rooibos is traditionally drunk with milk at home, which is why the directions say you can add a little if you want.

There is a green tea leaf extract in it, included for the 150mg of L-theanine in it. We do not print a caffeine figure on the box or on this page because we only publish numbers we can stand behind, and this one is not yet documented. If you are sensitive to caffeine in the evening, factor that in.

Because a tea bag only gives you what hot water can pull out of a leaf in a few minutes, and then the leaf goes in the bin. Dissolving means the whole 5.8g sachet ends up in the cup. It is also the only way to get minerals in: iron, magnesium, zinc and chromium are not in leaves, and brewing will not put them in your water.

It is drunk like one and tastes like one, over a rooibos base with black tea and passionfruit flavours. But there is no bag and no leaf to remove. It is a powder that dissolves completely, which is what lets it carry extract-strength botanicals and seven vitamins and minerals.

Two days before your cycle starts, then every evening through it. That is the instruction on the back of the box, and it is the one worth setting a reminder for, because it means taking it while you still feel fine rather than once your period has arrived.

Start when you can and carry on every evening. There is nothing to catch up and nothing to double.

Empty one sachet into a cup. Pour in 150ml of very hot water, 65 to 70 degrees C, not boiling. Stir until fully dissolved. Add a little milk and sugar if you want. The simplest way to hit the temperature is to boil the kettle and leave it to stand for a few minutes.

Too much or too little water affects the taste, and so does heat. The directions give 65 to 70 degrees C and 150ml, which is what the blend was made for.

Mellow Moon tastes of black tea and passionfruit, which are the two natural flavourings, over a rooibos base. The myo-inositol is faintly sweet. You can add milk and sugar if you want to, the same as you would with any rooibos.

Yes, the directions say so. Rooibos is commonly drunk with milk in South Africa, where it comes from.

Fourteen sachets covers two full cycles, so around seven a cycle depending on your own length.

Fourteen sachets, which the box states as two full cycles.

Check the totals if something else you take already carries iron, zinc, magnesium, B6, B12, vitamin D or chromium. If you take any regular medication, speak to your GP or pharmacist first.

Mellow Moon has no declared allergens and no animal ingredients in the list. The full ingredient statement is under Read the Box.

In a cool dry place, out of direct sunlight, and out of sight and reach of children. For Best Before End and batch number, see the top of the carton.

Subscribe and Save takes 15% off every delivery, renews at the interval you choose, and you can pause, skip or cancel in your account at any time. Most people set it to arrive every other month, since a pack is two cycles.

Full refund within 30 days, even if the box has been opened and some of the sachets used.