tisane (tih-zahn): n. an herbal tea, made from steeping herbs, spices, or flowers in boiling water.
We simply call this drink herbal tea. We rarely use its proper name, but unless a drink contains leaves from the actual tea plant, it is technically a tisane. Find out what's in the unconventional one pictured above...
Our Paris blogger Kristin made a tisane using a bunch of fresh sage. Get her technique here: More Sage Advice.
If you have a mixture of tea leaves and herbs, it can be called a true herbal tea. But most of the non-caffeinated "teas" we love, like mint, rosemary, or chamomile, are tisanes.
Do you have a favorite?
Related: Harvest Time: Picking Tea in Kenya, Japan, and India
(Image: Kristin Hohenadel)
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When I was an exchange student in France, I had mono and the most swollen tonsils of, perhaps, anyone ever in the history of the world (or so it felt). My French "mom" would make me tisane - theirs were fruit flavored, no actual tea leaves but just dried fruits and rinds - and make me drink them as hot as I possibly could. My favorite, by far, was a sweet combination strawberry and something that we could never figure the translation for. It had the truest flavor of any hot beverage, tea or tisane, that I've ever had. I've never been able to find them here in the States, much to my (and my tonsils') chagrin.
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MissKatieMay, that reminds me of a tisane I purchased once called "Magic of Roses." It's *extremely* fruity-tasting and full of fruit and rind. This online place carries it as well as some others, if you do a search.
https://id301.securedata.net/teazone.com/merchantmanager/product_info.php?products_id=53
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Thanks, catlike! I haven't done a search in quite a while, and had never found this site. Thanks again!
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