Happy Monday Steepsterites! I know I am definitely suffering from “a case of the Mondays” or maybe I am getting sick from the annoyingly fall weather we have been having here in NJ. It is hot during the day (like need the air conditioning and a fan) and then cold at night (as pile on as many blankets and cats as you have to keep warm). That mixed with my hectic work and activity schedule means I am run down. I asked for some honey for one of my many other teas from my co-worker and was offered a bag of this to try and help. How could I refuse? I have never had this and might as well get a tasting note out of it.
Well I have never had “camomile” – I have had chamomile, but never on it’s own, always with green or black tea as an additive for soothing and comfort, never just straight.
The tea bag has literally no aroma. Nothing. I put it in my mug and poured some hot water over and waited. I allowed the bag to infuse for 5 minutes. Slightly grassy aroma, something like weeds and flowers on a warm spring day when all the flowers are blooming and you are overwhelmed with pollen. The flavor: Blech. This tastes like nothing. That’s not true, it tastes like something, I don’t know what, but not what I pictured. Leave the bag in the tea for another 5 minutes (10 minutes total). Now I am getting the grassy flavor, a little like the dandelions or other random flowers – nothing I would call tea (then again, I should not call it tea, it is herbal tea, meaning no actual tea). It is however soothing and calming, the throat pain is melting away, good, but the taste, I am going to have trouble drinking the rest of this…
Have no fear! I got honey for a reason, added a teaspoon to my tea. Now it tastes like warm honey followed immediately by the floral-grass taste. This is not much better, but just enough that I should be able to finish my mug, as for any energy from this, that is not going to happen, but as long as I feel better…
I will hold out on an actual rating because I do not like this, this is not something I would normally drink, but all of my senses might not be 100% either. Furthermore, if it actually soothes and calms and I feel better it would get a higher rating because it did what was advertised, so until then, enjoy!
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Fresh chamomile has a strong floral, honeyed fragrance and a sweet flowery taste. If the chamomile is fresh the fragrance will be so strong that you’ll wish it would just go away. However, chamomile that is old tastes dull and grassy or sometimes like hay and smells like nothing. So it sounds as if you’ve tried old, stale chamomile. It is worth keeping an open mind to fresh new chamomile simply because it is a very different experience.
Fresh chamomile has a strong floral, honeyed fragrance and a sweet flowery taste. If the chamomile is fresh the fragrance will be so strong that you’ll wish it would just go away. However, chamomile that is old tastes dull and grassy or sometimes like hay and smells like nothing. So it sounds as if you’ve tried old, stale chamomile. It is worth keeping an open mind to fresh new chamomile simply because it is a very different experience.