If you’ve ever walked into a tea shop and seen herbal teas and tisanes on display, your first question might be, what’s the difference between tisane vs. tea? You may know that herbs and flowers can be dried and mixed with green or black tea, or simply taken as pure tea on their own. But did you know that herbal teas are referred to differently when you start discussing the medicinal properties of the tea?
The two main teas are simple teas and tisanes. If you aren’t sure what the differences between tisanes and tea are, here are a few key points to help you choose between the two.
Herbal Tisane vs. Tea
What is tisane, and how do you differentiate between tisane vs. tea?
Tea is from the leaves of a single plant. You pour hot water over it and you can serve it. However, the tisane definition is that it’s an infusion of different fragrant herbs, spices, flowers, and even barks.
Now that you know the definition of tea vs. tisane, it’s time to learn how you can differentiate between tisane tea and regular tea.
Know the Material Used to Make the Tisane Tea
To determine the difference between a tisane tea and a regular herbal tea, you need to check the type of material used to create the drink.
For example, if you’re using the leaves from Camellia sinensis leaf, then that’s plain tea.
If you’re drinking tea with no tea leaves (Camellia sinensis leaf) and only have dried flowers, fruits, or other herbs, then that is a tisane.
Tisanes use no tea leaves and are derived strictly from the steeping of the fruit, flower, or herb in hot water for a duration of time to extract the properties of that material.
The Medicinal Properties of Tisane Teas
Most teas soothe or calm the body in some way.
For example, you may purchase chamomile tea that’s cut with black tea or green tea. You’d use this to help soothe the body before sleep or help soothe the stomach. Though it can have medicinal properties, it is dulled because of the tea leaves.
The difference in tea is when you are drinking tisane, you drink it for medicinal purposes. It might be for insomnia, bloating, pain reduction, or other health issues.
Tea vs. Tisane: How Each One Is Prepared
How to Prepare Regular Herbal Tea
As you can imagine, the preparation for the tea versus that of a tisane is a bit different. For example, black tea may take as little as three minutes to brew and steep, while green or white tea takes as little as two minutes.
How to Make Tisane Tea
You may need to brew your tisane longer if you want to extract from an herb, plant, flower, or fruit. This enables you to get the medicinal properties of that material that you’re using.
You want to extract as much as you can when you’re preparing tisane.
A tisane is also generally brewed at a lower temperature for some time. It ensures that you are not cooking the herbs but extracting their medicinal properties.
Conclusion
The materials used, the medicinal properties, and their preparations are the criteria that set traditional herbal teas apart from tisanes.
Knowing this can be vital to determine if they hold the medicinal properties you need.
Now that you know how to differentiate tisane vs. tea, you can choose which one you need depending on what they offer.