Herbal tea

Herbal teas are referred to as fruit teas as a tea, but may be declared under food law only in herbal infusions. This refers to aromatic infusion beverages that are made ​​from fresh or dried plant parts, such as leaves, like peppermint leaves, fruit parts, such as fennel seeds, or flowers, such as linden flower and chamomile flower and infused with boiling water.

Definition

There are two product groups:

Most medicinal teas are so-called non-prescription medicines and may only be sold through the retail grocery trade, a few are in pharmacies. Many herbs are used both as food for enjoyment purposes, as well as drugs for medicinal purposes.

Every plant which is processed into herbal tea, has different ingredients. These include essential oils, which determine the taste and smell of each plant, as well as vitamins, minerals, trace elements and polyphenols. With the exception of mate tea and kola nut and guarana blends herbal teas are caffeine free.

Herbal teas are divided into mono drugs ( from the Greek word for mono only ), such as chamomile or peppermint, and mixtures of different herbs. The teas can be not only of different plant stem, but also different parts of plants. Experts distinguish between herb, leaf, root, bark, flowers, fruits, seeds or wood drugs.

What plant parts are used depends on the locations of the aromatic ingredients. Herbal teas are also called Teedrogen. The term drug is derived from the Dutch droog, dry the same, and originally referred to simply dried plant parts.

Cultivation

The plants for herbal teas are now mostly grown on small areas. The main growing areas are mainly in South and Eastern Europe, South America, China and Egypt, since some years ago, increasingly in Germany. Rooibos or Rooibos tea from South Africa, mate tea from South America. Some varieties, such as linden flowers, elderflower or nettles are obtained mainly from wild collections. As natural products, herbal teas are dependent on climate, soil and weather conditions. The quality of the plants can - even if they come from the same production area - therefore vary from one season to the next. However, the cultivated, controlled cultivation guarantees a high level of consistent quality. The respective parts of the plant are harvested in growing country or collected and dried.

Are processed from conventional and certified organic cultivation to herbal plants, the proportion of organically grown herbal teas in 2010 was about 5 percent. Before they are processed in Germany, they undergo strict quality controls. Only then the product is cut and mixed depending on the recipe.

Types of offer

Herbal teas are available in various types of offer: as loose goods (mostly rough cut ), as tea bags and as an instant product ( instantly soluble product ). The rough cut is equal cut by the professionals also Concis from the Latin concissum, respectively. The average sizes vary from 4 to 15 mm. The grain size of the fine section, which is mainly used for tea bags, is about a tenth of that.

Flavored teas are spices or flavors added in order to refine or change in taste. The flavor is specified on the packaging and the individual ingredients are listed in the ingredients.

Storage and preparation

Herbal and fruit should be stored cool and dry. Most preferably, the tea is placed in a dark, air tight vessels. Even the herbal and fruit tea stock should not be kept in the immediate vicinity of other strong-smelling herbs and spices, as these can affect the flavor of the tea. It is recommended to use up opened packs as quickly as possible.

Just like fruits and vegetables lose tea herbs also with proper drying and storing nutrients and active ingredients and therefore are fresh most effective. Therefore, it is when they are harvested for personal use in your own garden or wild collected in the vicinity, most useful, immediately prepare the herbs fresh. While intended for drying herbs usually harvested at the time in which they have the strongest flavor - this is often before or during flowering - are herbs for fresh use usually harvested as long as the herb is green, even after flowering or when it just begins to sprout. Due to the loss of water during drying herbs fall sharply in on itself, so that the same amount of plants about three times as much appears when you use fresh herbs for tea. Tea from fresh herbs generally takes not so long as to draw from the dried herbs, and you can often start drinking as soon as you have poured the boiling water over it. Roots usually have to pull a little longer.

As dosage is sufficient for a heaped teaspoon dried herbs or a tea bag per cup. Generally, the more tea, the more intense the flavor. Just as important as the quality of herbal and fruit teas, the quality of the water. Fresh, low-lime water as possible is boiled and poured over the herb tea with it. The steeping time should be eight, but no more than ten minutes to complete. When Beutelware the brew time is a little shorter. From the makers of the proper preparation for the individual product is indicated on the package.