Having a stressful day? Delicious iced or hot, chamomile tea is the perfect drink for reducing stress. This golden herb is a favorite for promoting calm and relieving anxiety.
Photo credit: lifeisbetterwithtea.com
Chamomile is one of the most widely consumed herbal teas in the world. Chamomile tea has been used for centuries dating back to the Egyptians. It is known for its ability to induce a feeling of relaxation and relieve stress. Because chamomile is stress-relieving it also relieves muscle tension and anxiety.
What Is Chamomile?
Chamomile is a small flowering annual herb in the daisy family. It can be brewed from fresh or dried flowers. It’s gentle yet effective. Aside from being a natural sedative, it is also an antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-bacterial.
You might be thinking that you’ve had chamomile tea before and never experienced any of these things. If that’s the case, there are reasons for this.
You probably didn’t buy fresh chamomile, but rather chamomile from a supermarket branded tea in teabags.
Does Chamomile Tea Have Caffeine?
No. Chamomile tea does not have caffeine. Chamomile is an herb and the tea made from chamomile is called a tisane.
Technically speaking, all herbal teas are called tisanes, since they are not made from the Camellia sinensis plant. But they fit under the umbrella of tea as they are an infused beverage.
Related: 6 Steps to Make The Best Iced Tea
If you are looking for cold brew iced tea recipes, you can check out more iced tea recipes here.
Chamomile Flower
Look for tea made from the whole chamomile flower. You can clearly see the difference between a teabag with chamomile flower fannings and whole chamomile flowers.
Chamomile Fannings vs Chamomile Flower | Photo Credit: lifeisbetterwithtea.com
Pro Tips:
-
- There are different grades of chamomile and all store-bought chamomile is not the same. The flowers don’t fit well into a flat tea bag so buying loose chamomile is better. If you are buying in tea bags, you want more of the white petals than the sticks and stems. Open them up and take a look inside.
-
- If you open the bag you may not even find a single chamomile flower. Most of these are just the dust and fannings of the real thing and have been sitting in a warehouse and on store shelves for months or even years.
-
- The key to getting the desired effects from your chamomile tea is to buy real chamomile, including the whole flowers, and to buy it fresh. I love the chamomile from Adagio Tea. They have a very high-quality herbal chamomile tea. Higher grade chamomile will have a taste reminiscent of apple or honey.
How To Grow Chamomile
Chamomile is an annual plant that grows virtually anywhere. It is easy to grow from chamomile seed. Chamomile also self-seeds quite freely. It is a short-lived flower lasting about 8 weeks in early spring. A cool weather plant chamomile does best in spring and early summer.
German Chamomile (Matricaria recutitai) is the most common type of chamomile used for making chamomile tea. Most commercially grown chamomile comes from Eastern Europe, Egypt, and Argentina.
Adagio chamomile tea comes from Egypt and is made from the whole chamomile flower.
Related: 10 Best Online Tea Shops
Roman Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile) has a more pronounced aroma. It is a perennial primarily grown in England. I think I'd like to try growing this in my garden next year. I'll have to find a sunny spot.
How To Make Chamomile Tea
The best herbal tea is made fresh from whole chamomile flowers. This Chamomile Tea with Honey recipe is very easy to prepare. You can leave out the honey if you want. It will still be a delicious chamomile tea.
Chamomile Tea
Ingredients
- 24 ounces water
- 4 Tbsp Chamomile flower dried
- ½ tsp Pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp Local Natural Raw Wildflower Honey
- ½ tsp mint or 2 leaves fresh mint
Instructions
- Bring filtered water to boil.
- Add Chamomile flower and steep 10 minutes.
- Add vanilla extract, honey, and mint.
- Strain into heat resistant pitcher.
- Add enough ice to bring to 32 ounces.
- Serve and relax!
Notes
- There are different grades of chamomile and all store bought chamomile is not the same. The flowers don’t fit well into a flat tea bag so buying loose chamomile is better. If you are buying in tea bags, you want more of the white petals than the sticks and stems. Open them up and take a look inside.
- If you open the bag you may not even find a single chamomile flower. Most of these are just the dust and fannings of the real thing and have been sitting in a warehouse and on store shelves for months or even years.
- The key to getting the desired effects from your chamomile tea is to buy real chamomile, including the whole flowers, and to buy it fresh. I love the chamomile from Adagio Tea. They have a very high-quality herbal chamomile tea. A higher grade chamomile will have a taste reminiscent of apple or honey.
Nutrition
Chamomile Tea Benefits
Best Remedy for a Relaxing Sleep:
-
- Chamomile is a daisy-like plant that is often used in herb infusions to help induce sleep.
-
- Sometimes the stress and strain of daily life will cause you to have difficulty falling asleep at night. Chamomile tea makes the perfect nightcap to help you fall asleep.
Hyperactivity:
-
- If you have a hyperactive child, you may want to try some chamomile tea to calm them down and get them to relax a little.
-
- Chamomile is safe to give to children as long as they don’t suffer from hay fever allergies. People with specific allergies to ragweed, asters, and chrysanthemum may also be allergic to chamomile.
Spearmint, chamomile, lavender and lemon balm are all plants that are very effective in calming and relaxing the nervous system and brain. Lavender baths before bedtime really work.
What is Chamomile Tea Good For?
-
- Mild tranquilizer
- Pain Relieving
- Stress-reducing
- Moderately reduces inflammation
- Helps fight infections
- Bronchial relaxant
- Relieves nausea
Chamomile Oil
The essential oil in chamomile is called bisabolol. It has been used for hundreds of years for its skin healing properties. Bisabolol is also known to have anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties.
The National Geographic Guide to Medicinal Herbs is an excellent resource guide if you are interested in learning more about herbs, how to grow them and their therapeutic uses. Herbal medicines have been around for thousands of years.
Pharmaceuticals have their place in addressing acute or chronic disease states, but prevention is a much more powerful strategy for maintaining a wellness lifestyle. Medicinal herbs are a gentler and effective option for daily use.
Where to Buy Chamomile Tea
I have purchased from the following merchants and can tell you they all sell superb chamomile tea. Their dried chamomile flowers come from Egypt:
Very cool! Defenitly will give it a try????
Hi! So happy to discover your blog - we love tea in our home! This is a great recipe. I love the idea of growing camomile as well - will have to give it a try in our little garden in Paris.
Welcome. Glad, you're here.
Mary Ann, chamomile is one of my favorite tisanes, but I've never tried it iced! I've always been strictly a hot tea drinker, but I've been enjoying iced tea lately in the hot weather.
That glass of Camomile Honey Tea looks very refreshing! We drink it hot -especially in the wintertime in the evening while watching a movie! I am so happy you linked and shared from your lovely site!
Thank you for the wonderful Chamomille Honey Tea receipe. I love the reference to the National Geographic Guide to Medicinal Herbs. I intend to add this book to my to my wishlist. Again, thank you for the book reference.
Frances
I'm glad this was helpful to you. The book is really excellent.
Tried that link to Adagio tea but it looks like they don’t have the pure flowers you are referring to. Waste of time. Please change it.
Hi Kit, I just checked and Adagio still carries the whole chamomile flowers. I fixed the links in the post. The purpose of this site is to make it easier for you to find specialty teas and tisanes, not harder! Sometimes links change. Thanks for letting me know.