Last week was the first time I’d had chamomile tea in the longest time. There used to be a time when I drank chamomile tea every other day. I’d read that it promoted sleep, and I figured that in my sleep deprived life as a uni student, I’d take what I could get. I’m not sure it did amazing things for my sleep, but I’d like to think it did. And then I stopped drinking it ‘cause sleep was no longer such a prized commodity in my last two years of uni.

So, why’d I drink it last week? You see, the air conditioning at work is permanently set to what feels like 5 degrees above freezing. That’s okay, though, ‘cause you learn to adapt by bringing a jacket and a scarf even when the weather forecast says it’s going to be an absolutely scorcher outside. Except, when the weather cools down outside and the air conditioning’s still set for summer temperatures, it feels so cold inside the office that even the jacket and the scarf can’t stop your nose and your hands from feeling like ice. So what better than a hot drink?

I’d ran out of tea at my desk, though, so I had to dig around the tea bags in the kitchen to find Lipton Quietly Chamomile Herbal Infusion.

I’ve had chamomile tea by various brands over the years, but never Lipton. Lots of brands make chamomile tea, and I’ve always considered it silly to buy a more expensive brand, unless the cheaper brand is lacking or the expensive brand is the only brand making that particular type of tea (that said, this latter category accounts for the vast majority of my collection). That explains why I’ve never tried Lipton’s chamomile tea.

Lipton’s chamomile tea brews to a much darker colour than the yellow that I’m used to. I’m not sure what causes the deeper colour, but, while the tea tastes distinctly like chamomile, there’s also a very strong hint of lemon. I don’t like the lemon at all – it distracts from the chamomile, which is soothing and relaxing, and all in all a very quiet kind of tea. By that, I mean pure chamomile tea is the kind of tea you can drink whenever and wherever because there’s everything familiar about it, but nothing exciting. And that’s how I like my chamomile tea – quiet. But the lemon makes it too loud.

This tea bag of Lipton Quietly Chamomile Infusion was packed in Australia and provided at work in Sydney, Australia in 2014.