I don’t know if there’s anyone out there who loves sleep as much as me. I’m sharing this herbal tea for sleep recipe because I want you to fall in love with sleep too. Chamomile tea infused with lavender and vanilla create the perfect nighttime steamer sleep tea to tell your body it’s time for bed.
Are you ready to have the best night of sleep?
Table of Contents
Sleep Tea Ingredients
My chamomile tea recipe uses dairy-free milk and a few light herbs with calming properties. Here’s what my tea holds:
- Almond milk: This dairy-free base can offer a nice, nutty flavor to your tea. Swap with the plant milk of your choice.
- Chamomile tea: A lovely-tasting herbal tea without caffeine.
- Honey: This lovely natural sweetener offers a light sweetness to the tea as well as may have anti-depressant and anti-anxiety properties.
- Vanilla extract: The lovely aroma has a calming effect on the brain.
- Lavender buds: Culinary flowers have been used for centuries in a variety of medicinal teas, tonics and more. They are flavorful and used to treat insomnia and anxiety.
Health Benefits of Sleep
Getting enough zzz’s at night is vital for your body to heal, renew and recharge for the next day. Sleep is how your body heals and grows stronger. If you’re not getting enough of it, eventually your own personal growth will suffer! Drink this soothing chamomile tea recipe before bedtime and slip into slumber with ease.
If I fall into a pattern of not getting enough sleep, it shows in all aspects of my life. I’m cranky, sluggish, irrational and eating foods that do me more harm than good. Quality sleep has become a huge part of my wellness journey.
I even created a whole bedtime routine with a bedtime smoothie (complete with the best Coop pillow) to ensure I am getting my beauty sleep.
Best Tea for Sleep
There are so many choices out there and many of them have additives that do more harm than good. I suggest sticking with simple, herbal teas that use ingredients such as this:
- Valerian Root: Helpful when you’re having a hard time sleeping due to anxiety or stress.
- Poppy Plant: Contains poppy plant acts as a mild sedative to help encourage a deep sleep when you’re feeling restless and achy.
- Chamomile: Contains apigenin, an occurring antioxidant that may promote sleepiness and reduce insomnia.
- Lavender Buds: Tea that includes lavender can improve your sleep quality and relax you too.
How to Make Herbal Tea for Sleep
Making your own tea is a simple and soothing process in and of itself.
- Heat up milk to hot but NOT boiling. I like the ‘steamer’ creamy feel to this tea, yet you can heat up water if warm milk isn’t your thing.
- Add a chamomile tea bag and lavender buds and steep for 5-6 minutes. This will give you good flavor as well as allow the herbs time to infuse the warmed milk. If you’re new to tea, try steeping for less time until you get used to the flavor.
- Pour your steeped tea through a strainer into your favorite mug. I’ve got quite the collection of mugs as I am a daily coffee drinker, yet I always choose my clay mug when drinking nighttime tea.
- Add just a bit of honey and vanilla extract for the final touch, then sit down and enjoy.
This is the best tea for sleep and happens to be a part of my 7-Day Plant-Based Reset. If you’re wanting to not just sleep better, but feel better all the time check out my best-selling program. Over 25,000 people have gone through it and discovered the transformational power of a plant-based diet. You’ll lose weight, gain energy and sleep better than you have in years.
Sleep Tea FAQs
Look for caffeine-free herbal teas like chamomile, valerian, lavender and more. These use natural ingredients that are calming vs caffeinated teas that will wake you up.
While sleep tea is not the ultimate cure for insomnia, an herbal sleep tea uses real herbs that help calm your mind and body to prepare for sleep. You can also choose foods that will gear you up for a good night’s sleep and establish consistent sleeping patterns so your body knows when it’s time to go to bed each night.
Easy! Pick your favorite plant milk and heat it on the stove. You want it hot but NOT boiling. Add in the herbal tea bag (I like to use chamomile) and lavender buds and steep. Strain then transfer the liquid to a mug. Add in your sweetener of choice for a bit more flavor. Enjoy!
More Recipes to Help You Sleep
I want to set my body up for sleep the best way I can, and a soothing drink with the right ingredients can help me do just that. Try one of these delicious beverages to put you in the mood for sleep.
- Pink Moon Milk: Another natural sleep aid that warms you up and calms your mind for quality sleep.
- Golden Milk Latte: A great beverage to naturally calm the inflammation that’s led to too many sleepless nights.
- Spiced Almond Milk: This is a great way to stabilize your blood sugar throughout the night.
- Sleep Well Smoothie: If you need a nighttime snack, blend this soothing smoothie to settle your body for the night.
Once you’ve made this lovely tea recipe, leave a rating and review to let me know how you liked it. I’d love to help you on your better sleep journey.
Lavender Sleep Tea
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 chamomile tea bag
- 1 tsp honey to taste
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp lavender buds optional
Instructions
- Place the almond milk into a small saucepan and heat until very hot but not boiling.
- Add the chamomile tea and lavender buds, if using and allow to steep 5-6 minutes.
- Remove tea bag and strain out lavender buds, if needed. 

- Pour into the teacup or mug. Sweeten with honey, if using and stir in vanilla extract.
- Drink immediately.Â
Notes
- To create more of a frothy latte, pour all contents into a blender and blend before serving.
- If culinary lavender tea buds are hard to find, use a chamomile lavender tea bag.
- Swap honey with maple syrup to make this recipe vegan.
- Use the plant milk of your choice.
Could I substitute walnut milk instead of almond milk? I don’t buy milk from the grocery store. I make walnut milk.
Love that you make a DIY plant based milk, Jenny! While we’ve not blended this recipe with walnut milk, I bet its delish! Please come back to tell us what you think. 🙂
This is a wonderfully, delicious and calming way to wind down at the end of the day! I have made this recipe three times this past week since learning about it and now look forward to making it in the evenings. It’s a delight to my tastebuds, ushers in a sense of peace and leaves me satiated and content to NOT rummage the pantry for an evening snack. A gift in more ways than one!
A wonderful gift to yourself, indeed Stacy! Love that you’re building this healthy habit into your bedtime routine!
I love hot cocoa at bedtime. This was a perfect healthier drink for me! The lavender was yummy and the honey too. I would opt to find an alcohol free vanilla tho.
Alcohol-free vanilla is the better choice if it’s available to you Tiffany. Great point!
Love this recipe. I often drink chamomile tea, but this took it to another level. I used oat milk instead of almond milk and barely a teaspoon of maple syrup along with the vanilla. It was warm, comforting, and delicious.
Oak milk is a beautiful substitution here, since it can make this cup of warm goodness a bit more creamy. Way to rawk it Cheryl!
This is a perfect way to end the day. I didn’t use lavender buds, but I did use a lavender honey in it. This tea takes the place of an evening snack and keeps me from feeling hungry until morning.
Oooh, lavender honey?! Brilliant Elizabeth!
This is a wonderful alternative to so many other drinks. It’s soothing and delicious. Definitely a keeper. One tsp of maple works best for me.
I personally love swapping in maple syrup for the honey in this recipe too, Lesa. Delish!
Loving the vanilla chamomile steamer! I make it for my husband and I every night (with lavender buds) & it’s become our chill out & connect time after a long day of work, kids, dishes! I’ve been frothing mine for ultimate decadence and nourishment! Try it, you won’t be disappointed.
So fantastic that this is part of your routine now as busy parents, Gemma. Hope this recipe gives you guys lots of good down time together for many years to come!
I loved this for a number of reasons. It’s so smooth and creamy and it is very relaxing when you just stop and sit and enjoy! I bought the tea bags with lavender buds in it (Traditional Medicinals – Organic) I love camomile, but this is the first time I bought this kind. At first I wasn’t sure if I liked the taste of the added lavender, but it grows on me with every cup! One thing I loved is the amazing smell of adding the vanilla extract. When I was a girl at home my mom and I would sit down every night before bedtime. She would make warm milk, with honey and vanilla extract. Just smelling it brought back very happy memories of that time with my sweet mom!
Aw! Valerie, we adore that this is engaging all of your senses and bringing back sweet memories for you.
This is absolutely amazing! It is a wonderful finish to a day a delicious plant based eating!
Way to finish strong each day, Gina! 🙂
This is a great evening beverage to help you relax and get ready for bed. I like it both with and without lavender (just don’t overdo the lavender)!
A cup of our Lavender Sleep Tea is great any way you mix it! Love that you’ve made it your own by experimenting with the amounts of lavender.
I loved this way more than I thought I would. And I slept great afterwards.
Hope this continues helping you have restful sleep so you can rawk all of your tomorrows, Kari!
This will be my go-to bedtime drink from now on. I normally don’t sleep well, but after drinking this for the last three nights, I’ve had no problem staying asleep. The vanilla and lavendar add a soothing taste to this creamy deliciousness!
I don’t think I have ever looked this forward to bedtime before. I prepare and drink this about two hours prior to when I want to go to bed because it is so calming and tastes delicious. A wonderful addition to my evening.
This is a great, simple way to relax and calm down before going to bed. It’s soothing.