How to brew chamomile, properly

Most chamomile tea is bad because most chamomile is dust. The fix is whole flowers and patience.

Chamomile is the most underestimated herb on the wellness shelf. Most people have only ever had it from a teabag, where the contents have been crushed to powder months before sale and the volatile oils that give chamomile its characteristic honey-apple structure have long since evaporated. The cup tastes thin, hay-adjacent, faintly disappointing.

The fix is whole flowerheads, ideally less than six months old, ideally dried at low temperature. You will know good chamomile by sight: the flowerheads should be intact, gold and white, with the small yellow centres still recognisable. If your chamomile looks like sawdust, you have been sold sawdust.

Brew one heaped teaspoon per cup. Water just off the boil, around 95 degrees, never a rolling boil. Steep six to eight minutes, which is longer than most people are patient for. Strain. Drink slowly. The honey-apple note is on the front, the soft floral length on the close, and the entire cup is structurally different to what you remember.

If you have ever wondered why your grandmother insisted chamomile was a real tea, this is why. The supermarket has been lying to you for thirty years.

You will find our Camille blend on the shelf, weighed loose and tasted at the bench before it goes in the tin.