Chamomile tea is a sleeping aid. I’m not sure that it helps me sleep better, but it certainly doesn’t keep me up like caffeinated teas, so it’s a comfort tea I like to reach for in the afternoon. And this is TWG Tea Chamomile Infusion, brought back by K from Singapore.

TWG markets itself as a luxury brand. It uses hand sewn cotton tea bags that hold a generous amount of chamomile flowers, which distinguishes it from the less ‘luxurious’ brands that have already broken up the flowers into coarse grinds.

Infusing one tea bag, or 2.5 g, in 200 mL of just boiled water for 4 minutes yields a golden yellow liquor. While infusing, there’s a very grassy aroma, but once infused, the liquor smells of a heady honey-like sweetness. In flavour, there’s a deep earthiness – very slightly bitter with a mellow sweetness – from the first sip that developed into the characteristic (non-acidic) apple notes of chamomile in the body and lingered long, but lightly, in the aftertaste. Compared to other chamomile teas, like Twining’s, the chamomile here is more fragrant and brighter. The higher quality of the chamomile flowers yields up to three infusions, each tasting as good as the first.

This tea bag of TWG Tea Chamomile Infusion was packed in Singapore and gifted by colleagues visiting Singapore in 2015.