Chamomile Citrus

The trick with this one, I think, is being lavish on the leaf and longish on the time. Done so, all the fruit goodies have time to define themselves instead of having to compete with strong chamomile. Getting some nice broad lemony-orange flavor (as opposed to thin, tight citrus tartness, if that makes sense).

Good company on a calm evening in my backyard while I surf for what I did wrong with these confounded laifen rice noodles! I am determined not to let these things defeat me! Any accomplished Thai/Asian cooks know how to properly prepare Sinbo Brand rice vermicelli? Following the poorly translated English directions didn’t work :)

A soothing cup for a crazy afternoon…just threw a bag into the cup and left it whilst going over extremely boring, aggravating, yet highly important things.

On bright note, I will be visiting my school next to Cuppa tomorrow (due to above things). A latte will definitely be in order.

When I get stressed I sometimes get eye twitches – bothersome, but they go away once the stress is gone. In the midst of midterms and moving I was getting a frequent twitching feeling in my left eye, and even after we moved it wasn’t going away! So I have decided to limit my caffeine and alcohol for a couple of weeks at least. This means more herbal tea, so I picked this up at the grocery store.
I am a big chamomile fan, and this is pleasing but it’s not going to be one of my favorites. It’s rather sweet for an herbal tea and I keep wondering what kind of flavoring or additive they slipped in to make it taste so sweet. It is certainly pretty to look at though, and it’s helping satisfy my tea craving without the caffeine.

I wanted more tea, but not more caffeine. I used to have a lot of herbal teas, but somehow that is no longer the case. I did come across a sample box from mighty leaf that was given to me from one of my students, & this one looks interesting.

In my mind, this is a classic herbal tea. It is aesthetically beautiful, & the flavors are nicely balanced so that I can taste each ingredient, without anything being in my face. There is just enough chamomile, just enough citrus, etc.

As a side note, I’d like to say that I don’t care for the ‘silk’ bags. They are not biodegradable, & the proof is in my compost pile. If I were to order more of this, I’d want it loose.

One of the downfalls of being a caffeine addict who can’t drink caffeine after 8pm if I want to sleep is that I don’t typically have around a lot of herbals. And I don’t usually care for red rooibos, so that’s usually right out too. Green is better, but harder to find in blends I would like. So that leads me to this tonight.

This smells like fruit loops and tastes pretty much exactly like what’s in it. So, like chamomile, lemon grass, a slight bitter orange element with a very subtle minty aftertaste.

It’s nothing exciting, but it’s a good cup to relax into tonight.

This smells so much like fruit loops! Take into consideration I just brushed my teeth, but got cold and wanted some tea. This tea smells and tastes like an herbal variation of fruit loops. I taste the lemon and rosehiosand chamomile. I’m happy it isn’t a sweet chamomile. I will definitely be getting a box of this soon!

I’ve decided I need to give chamomile a chance. I never really had it growing up, so I’ve never had a taste for it. But if it’s something that’s tried and true to de-stress, I’ll give it a try.

As I hit the sachet with hot water, it expands into a little floating pillow full of pale dried flowers and what looks like lemongrass. I think I can see some fruit peelings in there, too. The citrus scent is very powerful and sour, and makes me think of grapefruit and oranges. It’s so strong that I’m giving it a minute less than the instructions say.

The taste is more on the lemony side, with a vaguely minty herbal flavor mixed in. It’s not as harsh with citrus as the aroma had lead me to believe. There’s something about it that tastes very clean, and I like that. Honestly, however, I’m not sure what good chamomile is supposed to taste like, so I can’t make any judgements there. I’ll try a plain chamomile next…

So I am not a chamomile fan, but I am a little leary of my new package of Goji Pop and I need something to bring me out of my funk, something red and bright and happy, so I reached for this.

I am hoping I can sip-sip away my (Please God let it be true) last day of blood work!

We shall see, I will be back.

At BeansBoro Coffeehouse (Greensboro, NC) with a Buckwheat Shortbread cookie with Maple Icing (Zen Cat bakery).

Time to get my study on! 2 more weeks in this semester, then a 2-week break before summer semester. sigh Why am I in grad school again?

Chamomile is really good with lemon flavors! Who knew? The lemon grass and the lemon myrtle really come through in this, and give it a nice bright flavor.