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There are lots of herbal teas that don't have caffeine already out there. What makes anything "tea" beyond putting some type of [dried, possibly ground-up] plan
by seanp2k2 8y ago
There are lots of herbal teas that don't have caffeine already out there. What makes anything "tea" beyond putting some type of [dried, possibly ground-up] plant into a strainer in hot water, then drinking the result?
- dchest 8y agoThe tea plant.
- asmala 8y agoWhile “herbal tea” is indeed a very loosely used term, botanically speaking “tea” refers to the species camellia sinensis. Hongyacha is, to my knowledge, the only known case of a caffeine free camellia sinensis.
- breakintheweb 8y agoThe word tea generally refers to the various preparations of leaves from the plant Camellia sinensis.
- Asooka 8y agoThe tea plant is camellia sinensis, so technically any tea not made with a plant of that species is not tea by the original definition. All the different kinds of tea are the same bush that is grown in different conditions, the leaves are harvested at different times and then processed in various ways. The significance here is that they have discovered a variant of the tea bush that is naturally caffeine free, while presumably retaining its other qualities and taste. The word tea has been with us for about 4 centuries now, so it's no wonder it has taken meanings other than its original strict definition. Herbal tea would have been called a potion before the word tea was introduced.
- aaronblohowiak 8y agoTisane
- mediumdeviation 8y agoNow I wonder why nobody has advertised herbal tea as health potions to gamers...
- jacobush 8y agoNot too late! YC 2019?!
- croo 8y agoDrinks from herbal leaves or dried fruits are usually called (herbal) infusions. Green, white, black teas are all from the tea plant with different parts of the plant / harvest time / preparation.
- FroshKiller 8y agoThey're also called tisanes or teasans.
- chrisseaton 8y ago> What makes anything "tea" beyond putting some type of [dried, possibly ground-up] plant into a strainer in hot water, then drinking the result? Well leaves from a tea bush, obviously.
- JshWright 8y agoNot necessarily leaves. Stems, blossoms, buds, etc are all used for various types of tea.
- Xixi 8y agoTea in this context refers to drinks made out of a specific plant: Camellia Sinensis. Interestingly both black and green teas are made out of that very same plant. It's mostly the post-processing that make them either green, black, oolong, pu-erh, etc. Just like there are different varieties of grapes more or less adequate to produce some kind of wines, there are different varieties of Camellia Sinensis. All varieties of Camellia Sinensis were thought to contain caffeine, until this specific variety was (re-)discovered. Herbal teas are basically infusions of any plant that's not Camellia Sinensis.