I was really excited to try growing chamomile in my garden this year, as it seemed such a neat thing to do, to grow your own tea.
I planted the seeds in a pot (away from the deer!) and anxiously awaited the day when it would grow and blossom.
In the end, I had a handful of blossoms, just enough to try brewing my first cup of home-grown tea. 
I let the blossoms sit out for more than a week until they became nice and dry. Then it was tea time! 
I was a little worried that those few blossoms would not be enough, but it brewed a beautifully coloured, strong scented tea.
I sat down to relax and took my first sip.
Oh. Dear.
Not what I was expecting. It may have looked and smelled like chamomile tea, but it did not taste like it. It had a very grassy flavour with a strong, almost metallic, aftertaste. I took one more sip just to make sure….and then dumped the whole thing down the drain.
I’ll have to read more about growing chamomile before I attempt this one again. Hopefully my peppermint tea will do better! 
Aww, sorry to hear that Andi–I hate when that happens to something you were looking so forward to. Hope you figure it out soon.
Hey Andi,
FYI, you have to crush the heads sometimes. And even then they put some “stuff” in the tea to make it more flavorful.
As for your peppermint. Dip it in HOT sugar water before you totally start to dry them. After you dry them put in baggy and crush them. Then try them as a tea. The sugar water will sweeten the leaves up.
Enjoy!
Thanks for the tips!
Have you ever had lemon balm tea? I love it! It is best made with fresh leaves. It calms the nerves and helps you de-stress. Always a good thing. Lemon balm is like mint though – spreads like crazy! If you haven’t had it before it has a minty, lemony flavour to it.
I just planted some lemon balm in my garden this year (I suppose I should have potted it as I did the mint – oops!) I’ll definitely have to try some as tea!
It looks like you needed more blossoms. I’m in my second year of chamomile. Last year my first cup was awful. I thought I dried the blossoms long enough, but no. When I thought they were dry, I put them in a glass jar and they fermented. I tried again and dried them longer. Then I blended them with peppermint, lemon verbena and catnip. Awesome. Put me out like a light. I gave tea for Christmas. This year my husband bought me a dehydrator. I dried a batch of chamomile and it makes great tea by itself, but I’m using more blossoms than you show in your photo. I also grew lemon verbena, lemon mint and peppermint and I’m drying them, too. I plan to give tea again for Christmas.
Thanks, Leslie! I probably didn’t dry them long enough either. Unfortunately my chamomile plants didn’t grow this year, but you have encouraged me to try this again next year. I have peppermint and lemon verbana too, so I’ll have to try your tea blend!
It also occurs to me that you may have used boiling water. For herbal tea you want your water very hot but not boiling.