Chamomile tea substitutes

The dried blossom of the linden tree, sold as tilleul in France and as lime blossom in the UK. Pale, honeyed and slightly mucilaginous, it is the classic European evening infusion alongside chamomile.

Best for

a caffeine-free evening cup, infusing milk, cream or syrup, honey-floral desserts, blends where chamomile was the base

The nearest thing to chamomile on the shelf. Linden is a shade sweeter and more nectar-like with a very slight silky body in the mouth, and it lacks chamomile's little bitter apple-skin snap at the end. In a panna cotta or a poached pear, the swap passes unnoticed. Steep 5 minutes in water just off the boil.

Two soft, gentle, caffeine-free leaves. Lemon verbena is the more perfumed of the pair; lemon balm is milder and slightly minty.

Best for

iced infusions, syrups for cocktails and lemonade, custards, sorbets and shortbread, evening drinking

You keep the delicacy and gain a clear lemony top note, so a chamomile syrup made with verbena tastes brighter and more citrus-cologne than apple-and-hay. That is often an improvement in something iced or lemony and a real change in a warm milky drink. If you want to steer it back toward chamomile, stir in a teaspoon of honey per cup.

Dried elderflower heads, or elderflower cordial if that is what the cupboard holds. Both carry a heady muscat-and-honey floral aroma.

Best for

syrups, jellies and sorbets, poaching liquid for pears, peaches and apricots, chamomile-honey drinks, cakes and glazes

More assertively perfumed than chamomile, closer to grape and elderberry blossom than apple, so it can dominate a delicate custard if you use a heavy hand. Start with two thirds of the amount and taste. If you are using cordial, cut the recipe's sugar by roughly a tablespoon per two tablespoons of cordial.

Not a tea at all, but a direct rebuild of the two aromas chamomile actually contributes. Simmer the peel briefly in the milk, cream or syrup, then remove it and stir in the honey off the heat.

Best for

panna cotta and custards, poaching syrups, shortbread and cake soaking syrups, hot milk drinks

Genuinely convincing in an infused dessert, because apple peel and honey are more or less what your palate reads as chamomile. What you do not get is the dry, slightly bitter hay note, so the result tastes prettier and sweeter and less herbal. Do not try this as a hot drink on its own; it will taste like weak apple water.

South African red bush, naturally caffeine-free and impossible to over-steep, which makes it the most forgiving substitute here.

Best for

long simmering and slow cooking, iced tea, when you need a caffeine-free brew with real colour, milky drinks and lattes

Woody, sweet and vanilla-like rather than floral, and it brews deep red-brown while chamomile stays pale gold. That colour difference matters in a clear jelly, a pale custard or an ice cream, which will come out tan instead of ivory. Flavour-wise it reads as comforting rather than delicate.

What most people actually have in the cupboard. It ticks the caffeine-free box and nothing else.

Best for

any caffeine-free hot drink at bedtime, when nothing else is available

Be honest with yourself about what you need. If the recipe says chamomile purely to mean a soothing evening cup, mint, ginger or fennel is fine. If chamomile is a flavour in a dessert, mint will taste like toothpaste in a panna cotta, and there is no fixing it. Use half the usual quantity so it does not take over, or pick one of the floral options above instead.