Infusions and Tisanes
Posted by Melody Wren on A Nice Cuppa.
The word tea should only be applied to the beverage made with the leaves of the Camellia Sinensis plant. Other brews are usually referred to as herbal infusions or tisanes. They are caffeine free because there is no actual tea in them. The drinking of healthy herbal brews has a long history - the word tisane is derived from the Greek ptisane, which referred to a drink made from barley.
In “The Tea Lover’s Treasury” by Norwood Pratt, Norwood distinguishes between a tisane and a tea; “The history of herbs and spices is far more ancient than that of tea, even, and I touch on the matter not for toxicology’s sake but to distinguish between tea, which is what it is, and everything else which, whatever it is, ain’t tea.”
Photo by ravenofdreams, copyright Creative commons license
