Passionflower tea: how to make it, and what the one trial actually tested

Passionflower tea is a hot-water infusion of dried Passiflora incarnata — and unusually for an herbal tea, it's also the exact form one placebo-controlled human trial actually tested: a cup nightly for a week, in healthy adults with mild sleep complaints, measuring self-rated sleep quality.

How to make it

Steep 1-2 teaspoons of dried passionflower (the aerial parts — leaf, stem and flower) in a cup of just-boiled water for 10-15 minutes, covered, then strain. Pre-made tea bags are also sold and steeped the same way. Honey is a common addition; there's no research reason to add anything else. This matches how the one relevant human trial prepared its tea.

What the tea trial actually tested

A 2011 double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial had 41 healthy adults (18-35) with mild fluctuations in sleep quality drink a cup of Passiflora incarnata herbal tea, or a placebo tea, nightly for a week, with a one-week washout between the two arms. Participants filled out a sleep diary each morning; a subset of 10 also had one night of lab-based sleep monitoring (polysomnography) per arm. Of six sleep-diary measures, self-rated sleep quality was significantly better after the passionflower week than the placebo week. The published results don't report a separate finding for the smaller polysomnography subgroup. This is the only placebo-controlled trial of passionflower tea that exists, and it's specific to that population, that week-long window, and self-rated sleep quality — not anxiety, not insomnia, and not a longer timeframe. See does passionflower help with sleep? for the full picture, including its limits.

Which species is in the cup

The genus Passiflora includes hundreds of species, and only Passiflora incarnata is behind the tea trial, and nearly all other passionflower research. Other species sold under the "passionflower" name, including the ornamental Passiflora caerulea, haven't been tested the same way. Checking the botanical name on the package (Passiflora incarnata) is the only reliable way to know the tea matches what was studied.

Questions people ask

How do you make passionflower tea?

Steep 1-2 teaspoons of dried Passiflora incarnata in a cup of hot water for 10-15 minutes, then strain. See the recipe above for the full version, which matches the one trial's preparation.

What does passionflower tea taste like?

A mild, slightly grassy, somewhat earthy flavor is the common description — not something either human trial measured or reported.

Where can you buy passionflower tea?

It's sold as loose dried herb or pre-made tea bags at herbal shops, health food stores and online, often blended with chamomile or valerian. A blend combines untested-together ingredients in a single cup, since no trial has tested passionflower alongside another herb in tea form.

What does passionflower tea do?

The one trial that tested it found better self-rated sleep quality over a week of nightly cups, versus a week of placebo tea, in healthy adults with mild sleep complaints. That's a real, specific result — not a general claim, and not evidence for anxiety or a diagnosed sleep disorder.

What part of passionflower is used for tea?

The aerial parts — leaf, stem and flower — are what's dried and used, the same plant material the tea trial used.

Is passionflower tea safe?

The tea trial reported it as well tolerated over its one-week test period. See passionflower side effects for the fuller safety picture, including a published case report describing serious effects at a self-administered "therapeutic" dose in a different form.

Related reading: does passionflower help with sleep?, what is passionflower, and how much passionflower should you take a day?