Lavender
Lavender tea is an infusion of dried lavender flower buds, caffeine-free, intensely perfumed and gently sweet, and popularly taken in the evening to relax and unwind. For drinking, the best type is culinary English or true lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), which is sweeter and rounder than the camphorous lavandin grown mainly for essential oil. A little goes a long way: used sparingly it is floral and soothing, but overdone it quickly turns soapy and bitter.
The single most important quality marker is the species: look for culinary-grade Lavandula angustifolia (English or true lavender) rather than lavandin (Lavandula x intermedia), which is bred for oil yield and tastes harsh, camphorous, and soapy in a cup. Good tea lavender has plump, deep purple-blue buds with a sweet, clean floral aroma and little stem or grey, faded material. Provence (France) and Bulgaria are the best-known sources of fine lavender. Because the flavor lives in volatile oils, freshness shows in a strong, sweet scent; a flat or dusty smell means old buds. Be wary of decorative or potpourri lavender, which may be sprayed or otherwise not intended for consumption, and choose food-grade product. Lavender is frequently blended with chamomile or used to flavor black tea, so check the label if you want it pure.
Lavender for tea is the dried flower bud of Lavandula angustifolia, a small shrub in the mint family, Lamiaceae, native to the Mediterranean. The premier growing regions are Provence in southern France and Bulgaria, both long associated with fine lavender. Processing is simple: the flower buds are harvested and dried, ideally as the true narrow-leaved species rather than the higher-yielding but coarser lavandin hybrid. Lavender contains no caffeine.
Use sparingly: about 1 teaspoon of buds, or even less, per cup, water at 90 to 100°C, and steep just 3 to 5 minutes, then strain. Too much lavender, or too long a steep, pushes the cup from floral into soapy and medicinal, so it is better to under-dose and adjust up. Covering the cup helps hold the delicate aromatics. It is generally a single-use infusion, and it shines blended with gentler herbs like chamomile or as a fragrant accent in black tea.
Moderate: roughly €8-18 (about $9-20) per 100 g for culinary English lavender, with organic Provence or Bulgarian buds toward the higher end.
Prices reviewed June 2026
Chamomile
Chamomile is lavender's natural evening companion and a frequent blend-mate, apple-sweet and mellow where lavender is sharply perfumed, the two balancing each other in a wind-down cup.
Lemon Balm (Melissa)
Lemon balm is another gentle, calming herb often paired with lavender, its soft lemon note lifting lavender's heavy floral perfume.
Earl Grey
Earl Grey is where lavender meets real tea: a lavender-scented version (a popular twist on the Earl Grey London Fog) blends the flower into bergamot-scented black tea, caffeine and all, unlike a pure caffeine-free lavender infusion.
For tea you want culinary Lavandula angustifolia (true or English lavender); the more widely grown lavandin is a hybrid bred for essential-oil yield and tastes camphorous and soapy in the cup. The flavor is so concentrated that a single extra pinch can tip a pleasant floral brew into something that tastes like perfume, which is why restraint is the whole game with lavender.