Herbal tea Herbal tea Herbal teas — less commonly called tisanes (UK and US , US also ) — are beverages made from the infusion or decoction of herbs, spices, or other plant material in hot water. They do not usually contain caffeine. Herbal teas should not be confused with true teas (e.g., black, green, white, yellow, oolong), which are prepared from the cured leaves of the tea plant, "Camellia sinensis"), nor with decaffeinated tea, in which the caffeine has been removed. Like beverages made from true teas, herbal teas can be served hot or cold. Some feel that the term "tisane"
Chinese tea culture or "cha wenhua" ("tea culture"). The word "cha" (茶) denotes the beverage that is derived from "Camellia sinensis", the tea plant. Prior to the 8th century BCE, tea was known collectively under the term 荼 (pinyin: tú) along with a great number of other bitter plants. These two Chinese characters are identical, with the exception of an additional horizontal stroke in the Chinese lettering 荼, which translates to tea. The older character is made up of the radical 艸 (pinyin: cǎo) in its reduced form of 艹 and the character 余(pinyin: yú), which gives the phonetic cue. There are several