Chamomile makes a floral tea with an apple-like aroma. The cup below uses a labeled plain tea product with lemon and a little honey. It makes no promise about sleep, digestion, stress or healing.

Chamomile Lemon Tea

The specified Traditional Medicinals Canada chamomile product uses freshly boiled water and a covered five-to-ten-minute infusion. This house drink uses ten minutes and measured lemon and honey . Other tea products need their own labeled amounts; loose tablespoons are not a universal replacement for bags.

  • 1 plain Traditional Medicinals chamomile tea bag (Canada product), or a plain chamomile product with its own labeled amount
  • 1 cup (240 ml) freshly boiling water
  • 1 teaspoon honey, optional
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 small pinch ground ginger, optional
  1. Use a clean heat-safe mug holding at least 12 fluid ounces. Prepare the chamomile product according to its label; for the specified bag, pour the boiling water over it, cover and steep for 10 minutes.
  2. Remove the bag. If using a different labeled loose tea, strain completely. Stir in the lemon, optional honey and ginger.
  3. Let the drink reach a comfortable drinking temperature. Enjoy one portion; this is a flavored tea, with no therapeutic or daily-use regimen.
  4. For later cold use, refrigerate promptly in a small heat-safe container at 40 F (4 C) or below and use the same day. Do not cool a batch completely on the counter.

Allow about 5 minutes for preparation and heating plus 10 minutes steeping, about 15 minutes total before cooling to drink. Makes one portion, slightly more than the starting cup after additions and slightly less after absorption. Use a mug with space above the liquid. One tablespoon of honey in the former card could not support its 30-calorie claim; no calculated calorie claim is retained.

Chamomile flowers and a cup of floral tea.
Chamomile flowers and a cup of floral tea.

A Small Chamomile Syrup

This is an ordinary house variation: brew 1 cup water with two bags of the specified plain chamomile product, covered for 10 minutes. Remove the bags, measure the tea, and stir in an equal cup volume of sugar over gentle heat until dissolved. Do not add more flowers and assume stronger means healthier. Measure the finished volume; it is not the same as the starting water volume. Allow about 20 minutes for preparation, brewing and dissolving, plus additional chilling.

Use 1 tablespoon of cold syrup with 6 fluid ounces cold sparkling water in a 12-fluid-ounce glass with ice, or use the same syrup amount in 6 fluid ounces prepared, chilled lemon tea. These are flavor variations; adjust sweetness in the individual glass.

For a milk drink, mix 1/2 cup freshly brewed chamomile tea with 1/2 cup warmed oat milk, 1 teaspoon honey and a small pinch cinnamon in a 12-fluid-ounce mug. This makes one portion; allow about 20 minutes including the tea’s steep. Check the milk label for allergens. Warm milk in an open heat-safe vessel, not a sealed jar.

Chamomile tea steeping in a covered glass pot.
Chamomile tea steeping in a covered glass pot.

Other Flavors

For a mint cup, replace half the chamomile infusion with separately prepared plain peppermint tea using its label. Lavender or lemon-balm blends should be labeled food tea products prepared according to their own directions, rather than assumed equal loose-herb doses. Chamomile syrup may sweeten an ordinary cocktail, but that drink contains alcohol; there is no bedtime or digestive treatment implied.

Handling and Suitability

For dried herbal ingredients, use freshly boiling water and steep for at least five minutes or the longer package time. This follows BfR’s preparation guidance ; a hot-water dispenser is not a substitute for a kettle at a rolling boil.

For leftovers, use small heat-safe containers and refrigerate promptly at 40 F (4 C) or below; do not wait for complete cooling on the counter. Discard after more than two cumulative hours without cold holding, or one hour above 90 F (32 C). FoodSafety.gov gives these handling rules. Normal smell and appearance do not establish safety.

Make the tea or milk drink for immediate enjoyment; if saving plain tea, plan same-day use. Refrigerate syrup promptly and plan to use within three days. Those are conservative handling plans, not measured shelf lives. Store dried tea according to its label, not a universal one-year guarantee. Garden or decorative flowers are not automatically suitable tea ingredients.

NCCIH distinguishes common food use from medicinal preparations and notes serious allergy and medicine-interaction concerns. Do not try a small dose to test a known allergy. Ask a clinician or pharmacist about suitability with medicines, pregnancy or breastfeeding. Homemade eye compresses, sunburn treatment and facial steam instructions are withdrawn; food tea preparation does not establish safe treatment of skin or eyes.

Chamomile tea with lemon and honey.
Chamomile tea with lemon and honey.

The former blanket daily-use and child-suitability statements, strong-as-medicine advice and unverified personal recipe-testing story have been removed. No physical recipe or shelf-life tests were conducted for this revision.