Herbal tea
Leaves, flowers, seeds, bark, roots, fresh or dried: when plant parts are poured over with hot water and left to infuse, the food label refers to them as herbal tea - even though they do not actually come from the tea plant. Strictly speaking, they are aromatic infusions.
Everything about herbal tea
Content: 28 gr. (€158.93* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 100 gr. (€109.50* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 26 gr. (€171.15* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 50 gr. (€219.00* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 37.5 gr. (€345.33* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 28 gr. (€158.93* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 100 gr. (€129.50* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 100 gr. (€109.50* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 50 gr. (€259.00* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 75 gr. (€6.60* / 100 gr.)
Content: 28 gr. (€158.93* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 75 gr. (€172.67* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 15 gr. (€330.00* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 75 gr. (€119.33* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 50 gr. (€259.00* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 75 gr. (€92.67* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 75 gr. (€172.67* / 1000 gr.)
Content: 75 gr. (€146.00* / 1000 gr.)
Infused herbs:
traditional from medicinal herbalism
Many of the plants or parts of plants used for infusions have a long history as medicinal herbs. They were not originally consumed for their taste, but for their healing properties, e.g. for the digestive or respiratory tract. This is why some herbal teas are still subject to pharmaceutical law and may not be sold everywhere.
Knowledge of the healing properties of herbs led to their cultivation in Europe as early as the Middle Ages, although this was mostly restricted to monasteries. In medicinal herbology, the polymath Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) is often mentioned in this context. In her natural and medical writings, she classified herbs according to their effects on certain symptoms of illness, wrote them down in a comprehensible way and thus made them accessible to many people.
Herbal tea is not a tea in the true sense of the word
Nowadays we speak of herbal teas when we infuse the leaves (e.g. mint, lemon balm, verbena), flowers (camomile, lime blossom) or seeds (fennel, aniseed).
Under food law, these infusions must be referred to as herbal teas in the sales description in Germany, although many tea purists in this country immediately raise their index finger when this term is mentioned. After all, herbal teas do not contain "real" teas, which are extracted from the Camellia Sinensis plant (the scientific name for the tea plant). Instead, they are fresh or mostly dried parts of the plant. They are rarely oxidized, as is the case with black teas (e.g. nettle or leaves from blackberries, raspberries, strawberries).
The names of herbal infusions are used differently in Europe: In Germany, England and the Netherlands they are referred to as "herbal teas", in France, Italy and Spain as "infusion" or "tisane".
Distinct taste, soothing
or gently invigorating effect
What all herbal infusions have in common is that they do not contain caffeine - with the exception of mate tea, which we therefore treat separately here. Herbal teas usually have a calming effect on the digestion, heart and brain. However, due to their high content of essential oils, they often have a gently invigorating effect - such as mint teas, which calm the stomach but refresh the palate.
Thanks to their distinct taste, many tea herbs are also well suited for blending with and flavoring "real" teas - Chinese green "gunpowder" teas with Moroccan mint, for example, are a classic and a standard drink in many North African countries.
Many herbal plants are also grown in Germany, especially in Franconia and Thuringia. Others, such as Greek mountain teas or Moroccan mint, need more sun and warmth to develop their typical flavor-giving ingredients. The ingredients for some teas also come from wild collections, for example lime blossom and nettles.
The aroma is strongest during flowering
The best time to harvest or collect herbs to be dried is shortly before or during the flowering of the respective plant - this is when the aromatic substances reach their highest concentration. Leaves that are to be prepared fresh from the bush, for example from your own garden, can be picked earlier when they are still very young and soft. Both fresh and dried herbal teas are infused with boiling water and left to infuse for a few minutes. The samova range includes lots of herbal teas, including blends of green and black tea with herbs.
