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Chamomile is the most familiar herbal tea in the world and, perhaps for that reason, the most casually ruined. A short guide to what you are actually drinking.
The two chamomiles. German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) is the tea plant — sweet, apple-scented, prolific. Roman chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile) is lower, oilier and more bitter, better in a garden path than a cup. Nearly everything sold as tea is German.
Why Egypt. The Nile valley — Beni Suef especially — grows chamomile with a concentration of sweet esters that cooler climates rarely match. Long dry days, alluvial soil and generations of practice produce blossoms that taste of apple, honey and hay rather than dust.
Whole flowers versus fannings. A tea bag typically holds chamomile dust: broken petals, stems, pollen and disappointment. Volatile oils live in the intact flower head; crush it and they evaporate long before the kettle sounds. Whole blossoms steep slower and rounder, with none of the papery finish.
The cup. One heaping tablespoon, water just off the boil, five to seven minutes, no stirring. Honey if the evening calls for it.