Chamomile

Best chamomile I’ve had

Hmm… Got this as a sample when I ordered Paris and a stump teapot. I never had Chamomile tea before. I don’t know what a good or bad one tastes like… It’s not bad at all but it’s very odd. Kind of like a spicy flower while sipping, then a strange & curious aftertaste. Really strange. I am reluctant to rate it since I have literally zero experience but for the purposes of possibly needing something to help me sleep in the future… It’s known to help with sleeping and supposed to be super calming, I’m going to rate it “70” so I’ll know that it wasn’t disgusting and I could buy it lol.

In other news, Civilization 6 came out with an expansion so I’m spending some time playing it, and I’m still working on getting my cupboard down some without buying too many new teas, hehe. I should be getting my YS package soon (after a 2.5+ month wait, it finally made it to USA. I was unlucky this time around, usually never takes that long.) so I’m looking forward to that. I log my tea in the cupboard when I order it (vs when I receive it). I also put in all my tea-swaps in there. How do you all do it? :)

Basic chamomile. I prefer some of the organic brands that are more floral.

A free sample from my last Harney & Sons order.

I honestly haven’t had many pure chamomile teas. My past experience with chamomile has always been some dusty, faint flavor that was not interesting in the slightest. I should have known that there were varying degrees of quality, like any other tea.

Compared to what I’ve had, this tastes so fresh. I taste notes of apple and flowers. There’s also something that reminds me of clean dried grass or fresh hay. It leaves me wondering what I’ve been missing all the years I’ve skipped chamomile because I’d had bad ones…

It’s annoying that chamomile isn’t listed under Flavors when filling this out… there have been a couple teas where I’ve wanted to list it recently.

This tea is a nice cup of chamomile. Not overwhelming, but perfectly nice! A nice sample to get.

So either Harney sent this teabag to me as a sample OR it’s really really old. (I’m also loving that Harney has been having free samples AND free shipping with even the smallest of orders. There is NO EXCUSE not to order from Harney! Grab a few samples of teas you’ve been meaning to try!) But this is just an “I Drank This” tasting note. I don’t like having a one-er of something and not write a note. I am certainly not the one to judge chamomile (don’t like it) and this might have been overbrewed. But this was chamomile. And I drank it.

Sipdown no. 6 of 2019 (no. 494 total). Two teabags, gifted to me as part of a Harney order.

I feel rather liberated now that I’ve decided I don’t need to do a sipdown a day during 2019. I can just do 10-15 a month and it doesn’t matter when I do them. Otherwise I would have felt compelled to cheat and save this sipdown for tomorrow since I already logged one today. And that would be weird because I actually drank these last night.

In any case, I like the idea of chamomile more than I actually like chamomile with the exception of the really excellent Samovar chamomile I had once upon a time. Even though it has been a year since I sipped down my last sample of this I can’t really improve upon the note I wrote last year.

I never liked chamomile tea from memory, but drank this sample tonight when I was trying to wind down, avoid caffeine, and read in the bath. I was surprised to find I enjoyed the taste – it was joyful and so different than what I’m used to. Looks like I’ll have to start giving chamomile another shot.

H&S sent me a sample of this in my last order. I don’t know what there is to say about it really. To me every manufacturer’s chamomile tastes the same, and this is no exception. But I’ve always thought chamomile was pretty lame, so maybe I’m not the best judge of it.

This is another of the samples that I have been working my way through for the past week. I got what was supposed to be 1 sachet of this as a free sample with a Harney & Sons order a couple months ago, but upon opening the packet, I realized that 2 sachets of chamomile had been mistakenly packed inside. Rather than having one glass of chamomile tea before going to bed last night, I ended up having two.

I prepared this tisane using a one step Western infusion. I steeped each of the silken sachets (I’m guessing there was around 1-1.5 teaspoons in each) in 8 ounces of 212 F water for 5 minutes. No subsequent infusions were attempted.

After infusion, I noted that the aroma of chamomile flowers was very strong. I also picked up on scents of dust, cotton, straw, and green apple. In the mouth, I noted a wash of straw, chamomile, dust, cotton, and green apple with a lingering floral, fruity aftertaste.

Chamomile teas are always hit or miss for me. Sometimes I really enjoy them, other times I really cannot stand them. This one did not thrill me in the least. I found the aroma and flavor too dusty and drying for my tastes. I can see why some people may enjoy it, though I highly doubt I will ever willingly revisit it.