It’s always good to have a chamomile blend or two in your tea cabinet for those when you need something extra comforting and caffeine-free. Francesca from Sicilian Tea Co. could be the perfect choice for your evening cup of tea.
Some people consider herbal teas to be medicinal, with herbs like lavender and chamomile to help combat stress. Both of these fragrant blossoms are in abundance in this blend, bringing their lovely color and shape to the dry leaf, and the lemony and floral scent of the brew.
There are also cinnamon sticks, Saint John’s Wort, and licorice root in this blend. The cinnamon adds just a hint of spicy warmth, rekindling thoughts of spiced baked goods. A touch of licorice root adds smooth sweetness to the brew. As an added bonus, licorice root can help soothe a scratchy throat, so the ingredient helps make the brew extra restorative.
I’m not sure that Saint John’s Wort adds much flavor, but the herb is rumored to help heal against depression. I’m not sure if I felt those effects or not; brewing a cup of tea is always my happy place, and helps me out of a dark mood.
This tea is all herbs and blossoms, so it’s completely caffeine-free and full of natural flavors. If the licorice root isn’t sweet or soothing enough, it wouldn’t hurt to add a dollop of honey to your mug for a little extra sugar. After brewing a cup of Francesca blend, there’s not much left to do but sit back, relax, and have a sip of tea.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Sicilian Tea Co.
Description:
Naturally caffeine free, this chamomile blend won’t keep you up all night like some other sleepy time treats.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Organic Royal Camomile from Hampstead Tea. . . .
Hampstead Tea has been around since the 1980’s. They are committed to biodynamic practices in producing what they sell; i.e. putting in more than is taken out. They offer organic tea with fair trade options.
This particular tea came in an individually wrapped tea bag. And yes, they spell it Camomile. Is that a British thing? Is it just the Americans who spell it Chamomile?
This particular tea came in an individually wrapped tea bag. And yes, they spell it Camomile. Is that a British thing? Is it just the Americans who spell it Chamomile?
If the herbs are fresh, I don’t detect huge differences from one chamomile to another in the ones I have tried, so a deciding factor for me is going to be whether the product is fresh and whether it is organic. Adding on biodynamic and fair trade makes this company even more attractive.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Hampstead Tea
Description
A beautiful golden infusion made from prized sweetly scented camomile petals. Camomile relieves inflammation, soothes and relaxes.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
An Elevated Herbal from High Garden Tea
This is another one I picked up on my trip to the motherland (aka High Garden Tea in Nashville) recently. From the few I’ve tried thus far, I’ve been super impressed by High Garden’s blends, particularly their herbals.
This one, a blend of chamomile, rose petals, hibiscus, schisandra berries, orange peel and lemongrass, is a spot-on match between flavors and the name. It evokes that warm, mulled tea goodness that I’d associate with a cozy apple blend in the autumn (with surprisingly no apple to speak of in the mix), but a bit more sophisticated.
There’s something… elevated about this mix. Like apple pie with a top hat. Or strolling through orchards in a fur coat.
It resteeps beautifully, and goes down just as well hot as it does iced. Now let’s go bobbing for apples covered in diamonds and really long, fancy gloves.
Elevated, you guys. I’m telling you.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: High Garden Tea
Description
Click below for teas you can find online.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Mary chats about Francesca from Sicilian Tea Company. . . .
I’ve been hit by the mini-plague that’s been circling my world for a few weeks, you guys. I say mini-plague because truly– it’s not all that bad compared to the stomach virus/insane flu that many close to me have had lately, but still– this cold I’m rocking? I’m not a fan of it.
And to manage it as best I can, I’ve been hopped up on vitamin C, broth-y soups, and triple the amount of tea I’m usually sipping (which is… a lot). I felt it first coming on at work the other day, so I immediately dug deep into my desk tea drawer and procured this beaut. Chamomile, cinnamon, licorice? GIMME.
This isn’t my first sip from Sicilian Tea Co., and I have to say, I can definitely see a delicious thread woven between all the blends that I’ve tried. Strong herbal presence with hearty flavors and sweet lingering licorice at the end of the sip describes well all the blends I’ve tried this far, and this one is no different.
Even with the abundant chamomile in the dry leaf, I’m getting mostly licorice with a hint of cinnamon. Which isn’t a bad thing, don’t get me wrong! I loved the naturally-sweet-hint-of-spice flavors that came through, the perfect remedy for my sniffles and sore throat. I wish I would’ve been able to detect just a touch more of the lavender and chamomile, but even then, this is definitely a blend I’ll be picking up again.
Especially if this plague sticks around any longer. Drowning sniffles in endless cups of tea is a tried-and-true home remedy, right?
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Sicilian Tea Company
Description
Don’t go to bed alone. Take this cup of chamomile with you.
Naturally caffeine free, this chamomile blend won’t keep you up all night like some other sleepy time treats.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Lavender with Love from High Garden Tea. . . .
I recently went to visit a friend of mine in Nashville– and of course, as with any trip, stops to local tea havens was #1 on my list. (Okay, maybe #2 after friend-reunion-bonding time. But second only to that.) High Garden is an incredible herbal apothecary tea shop, brimming with blends and jars full of single herbs, tinctures and tons of other goodies. You’ll find a ferments bar in the back (teas and treats to sample, and tons of fermented beverages– kombuchas, jin, kefir– and other refrigerated ferments filled the shop stock), and the walls are covered in vines and nature in order to evoke the perfect scene of Hufflepuff-common-room-meets-Mr.-Tumnus’-cottage. I was, understandably, in tea heaven.
In an effort to try as much as I could, I filled up a bag from their wall of samples, including this intriguing lavender-herb blend in the mix for a little bedtime relaxation cuppa. A unique blend of lavender, elderflower, chamomile, and jasmine, it’s truly delightful. It’s floral without being grandma’s-perfume-y, and herbal without being vegetal. It calls for quite a long steep, which only intensifies the harmony of the flavors. And this one made it far past a single steep for me, keeping the flavor strong even after the third, fourth infusion!
A delightful herbal, when all is said and done. Will I automatically restock this one? Maybe not, but that has more to do with the plethora of other single samples I have waiting in my half-unpacked luggage* now that I’m home!
*I mean, I pretty much had to leave all of my personal effects in Nashville in order to transport all my new teas home. That’s how travel is supposed to work, right?
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: High Garden
Description
Lavender flower, Chamomile, Jasmine, Elderflower, Rosemary
Not only an aromatic bliss of lavender and jasmine, but immune boosting components to give your body the love it deserves.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!