I think I drank too much caffeinated tea too late into the evening tonight, because it’s 3 a.m. and I just can’t get my sleepy on… I was tempted to pull out Bluebird’s Cat’s Pyjamas, but I ordered some lemon-infused honey from Etsy to try to help me get over the fact it tastes of nothing but super-strong chamomile, a flavor I don’t particularly enjoy, and I’m still waiting on that to arrive. So I decided to dig into my stash for some other sleepytime teas.
I got some Teapigs samplers not long ago, so I decided to try this one out. Snooze is a blend of apple pieces, chamomile, and lavender, and I am quite a fan of apple and lavender, and hoping those things will balance out the chamomile flavor, though it really all comes down to how the tea is blended. The first thing I notice, looking at the sachet, is that the chamomile is not whole flowers, but shredded flower, while there is quite a bit of chunky bits of apple, and there appears to be a pretty decent lavender-to-chamomile ratio. Things are looking decidedly up for me already!
While I tend to not get that nasty “papery” teabag taste from sachets, out of principal I cut the sachet open and let the ingredients infuse in my gravity well infuser (not that herbals do much expansion, but I liked the idea of all that apple fully floating around in the water!) Surprisingly, for so much apple in the tea, I didn’t get a very pronounced apple flavor… but what I did get, was a much sweeter flavor, with a much more subdued and less overwhelming chamomile taste, which is exactly what I was hoping for! I don’t mind when chamomile is in a blend, I just don’t really like the taste of it when it’s the dominant flavor and stands out in the foreground; I really prefer it as a background note. I can still make out that it is there, but it doesn’t have that strong (and to me, often oddly soapy) floral presense, and instead a sweet, apple note comes through in the finish. There is also a strong lavender flavor in this tea which helps (for me!) a lot, as I’m a huge fan of lavender; it hits in the aroma immediately, and that somewhat floral/minty flavor is strong in the sip and follows through right to the finish. That, for me, is probably my favorite part, so if you don’t like lavender, I can assure you aren’t going to like this one.
I really like this one! I wouldn’t say it knocks me out like Cat’s Pyjamas does (must be the valerian root!) but this is certainly soothing and tastes wonderful.
Flavors: Apple, Floral, Lavender, Mint, Sweet
I had exactly the same experience. Was wary of chamomile but found the lavender much more dominant, experienced no apple taste (fine by me!) and loved the lavender presence. Was immediately calmed by this absolutely delicious tea.