Chamomile
Matricaria chamomilla
Flower · cooling · settling
The evening apple-scent that settles both belly and mind.
In the mouth
How it tastes
Sweet, floral, apple or honey, soft hay. Gentle. A pale golden cup.
Traditional use
The most trusted children’s and night-time tea in the European kitchen. Folk use gave chamomile for a crampy belly, a wired evening, and a temper that had frayed. Sweet, floral, and unmistakably earth.
In the cup
A heaping tsp of whole flowers, covered steep 5–8 minutes. Longer turns bitter. Honey if you like. Culinary: syrup, poached fruit, shortbread.
Blood
Sweet blood · sweet
Sweet first warms, then cools, and it softens. It is relaxing — the reason sugar went into cough syrups — nutritive, building, and hormonally active. Sweet herbs feed the brain and nerves, nourish spleen and pancreas, and coat dry tissue. They cleanse by moving blood toward the organs that wash it.
Read sweet bloodReached for
The promise
A careful hand
Ordinary tea for a healthy adult.
One of the most drunk herbal teas. Cross-reacts in some people who sneeze at ragweed, chrysanthemum, marigold, or other daisies. Rare strong allergy. Mild estrogenic notes in some studies — a theoretical caution with hormone-sensitive conditions. Possible company with warfarin. Thin data for unrestricted use in pregnancy; a short traditional cup is common, a clinician is kinder.
Read the whole promiseSits well with
Lemon balm
Melissa officinalis
A lemon-leaf for a circling mind and a mild viral season.
Frayed nerves · Restless sleep · Feverish & flushed
Brighten, circulate, and clear
Lavender
Lavandula angustifolia
A little goes a long way — the pillow herb in the teacup.
Restless sleep · Frayed nerves · Headache
Brighten, circulate, and clear
Fennel
Foeniculum vulgare
The after-dinner seed that lets wind leave quietly.
Bloating · Indigestion · Nausea
Ground, build, and settle
Oats
Avena sativa
Breakfast as medicine — the original nervine food.
Frayed nerves · Restless sleep · Hollow energy
Ground, build, and settle
Traditional kitchen and folk use only. This is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are pregnant, nursing, on medicine, or unwell, ask a clinician before drinking anything as a remedy.