The first thing you should know about herbal tea (tisane) is that it isn’t made from the leaf! Although herbal tea can be brewed like leaves, it is usually made from herbs, dried fruits, flowers or the roots.
There are said to be three types of herbal tea:
- Rooibos tea hailing from the red bush in South Africa
- Mate tea which is made from the Yerba Mate plant of South America and
- Herbal infusions that are made up from a range of ingredients.
The wonderful infusions and fluency in flavour gives herbal tea that edge that you won’t necessarily get from your average everyday blend. For this edge, we can thank the Chinese (and possibly the Egyptians) who discovered that you could use herbs to drink as a tea!
Great hot, herbal tea is also great iced! Make in the same way you would make a hot cuppa but simply double the amount of tea you use and when the tea is made, pour over a cup of ice. Nice.