This easy cold-brew chamomile tea is a refreshing herbal drink steeped overnight in the fridge. All you need is dried chamomile, lavender, water and (optionally) sweetener.
I've been drinking lots of cold herbal teas lately.
Sometimes I make hot herbal teas and then chill them to drink later. I do that with blueberry herbal tea, ginger tea and this cranberry hibiscus tea.
There's other times, however, when I don't want to heat water.
Sometimes that's because it's (roughly) a million-bazillion humid degrees outside, but other times I just appreciate low-effort drinks. Not that heating water for tea is high-effort, but still, this is even easier.
That's when I make cold-brew tea. I've been sipping lots of cold-brew hibiscus tea and, of course, this chamomile tea.
To make this cold-brew chamomile tea, all you need are some herbs and a little time.
Want to learn more about tea? Check out our herbal tea guide, learn more about loose leaf vs tea bags, and then try making our favorite homemade teas: catnip tea, pine needle tea, thyme tea, mint tea and cranberry tea.
What Herbs Do I Need?
For this tea, you'll need dried chamomile flowers and dried culinary lavender.
Make sure you're buying culinary-grade, preferably organic flowers intended to be used in food. Flowers sold for other uses (like potpourri) may contain harmful pesticides.
Or grow your own flowers, and then you can control their environment a little bit more.
Not sure what else to do with your leftover herbs?
Make another batch of cold-brew chamomile tea, of course! But also, you can make chamomile lavender sleep tea, strawberry lavender lemonade, lavender crème brûlée and a lavender bourbon sour.
How to Make Cold-Brew Chamomile Tea
This recipe is really simple, guys.
Place the flowers in a large tea ball and then set the tea ball in a pitcher, or put the flowers directly into the basin of a French press.
Fill the pitcher with water.
Place the pitcher in your fridge and wait.
If you're using a French press, you might want to partially plunge down the plunger. Otherwise it might not fit inside the fridge!
After about eight hours, you'll have a golden herbal tea that's ready to drink.
If you're using a French press, you might want to move the plunger up and down a little to mix the steeped tea with the water above.
Best Sweeteners for Cold-Brew Chamomile Tea
If you like your tea sweetened, the best option is to make a simple syrup.
Simple syrups are easy to mix with cold drinks, whereas regular sugar or honey won't dissolve as easily.
The recipe card below includes a basic honey or sugar simple syrup.
If you want to add even more flavor to your tea, try using one of our herbal or floral sweeteners, such as lavender simple syrup, hibiscus simple syrup, honeysuckle simple syrup, citronella simple syrup, basil simple syrup and mint simple syrup.
Serving Cold-Brew Tea
I love drinking this chamomile tea unsweetened all by itself.
It's also delicious mixed with homemade kombucha and lavender lemonade.
Cold-Brew Chamomile Tea
Ingredients
Hibiscus Tea:
- 2 tablespoons dried chamomile
- 1 teaspoon dried lavender
- 6 cups water
Simple Syrup (Optional)
- ½ cup sugar or honey
- ½ cup water
Instructions
Chamomile Tea:
- Add chamomile and lavender to a large tea ball or add to the basin of a French Press. If using a tea ball, place inside a glass pitcher.Fill the pitcher (or French Press) with about 6 cups of water. If your pitcher is smaller, that's fine. You'll be able to refill the pitcher later using the same flowers.
- Cover the pitcher or French Press and steep in the fridge for about 8 hours (or longer). Timing isn't critical; the flowers can stay in the water for up to a few days if desired.Optionally, remove the flowers. (If you brewed your tea in a French Press, you'll need to transfer it to a carafe or pitcher to remove the flowers.) Because the flowers do not become bitter in the water (like tea would), I often opt to leave them in the water and refill it with water one or two more times.Sweeten with syrup if desired (recipe follows). Store tea in the fridge and use within a week.
Simple Syrup:
- Optionally, make a syrup while the tea steeps.Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Turn off the heat and stir in the sugar or honey until dissolved.Cool to room temperature and store simple syrup in a glass jar (or airtight container) in the fridge. Use within a month.
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