Sure, you love Camomile and Mint, but are they actually teas? Join us as Dr. Tea explains the differences between Teas and Tisanes: Camomile, Mint, and Rooibos. Each has their own benefit as an Herbal Tisane.

Video Transcription

Dr. Tea: Welcome to Tea Tips with Dr. Tea, and today we are going to talk about what is, and isn't tea? All found in my Ultimate Tea Diet Book. Let's get started. In order to be classified as a tea, it has to come form a beautiful plant, Camellia sinensis, which produces white, green, Oolong and black tea. If it doesn't come from Camellia sinensis, it is not a tea. It is referred to as a Tisane, a Greek word, Tisane. Consumed like tea, but not coming from Camellia sinensis. And let's go over some of the varieties of Tisanes. We have green and red Rooibos from South Africa. I have Chamomile, Peppermint from United States and here we have a beautiful Royal Chrysanthemum. Let's start back over here if we could, with green Rooibos. Now Rooibos comes from South Africa. Originally consumed by the Aborigines and at the turn of the century an English gentleman came down to South Africa, in order to start his tea business. But he found no tea growing. He found the Aborigines and the people of the area drinking Rooibos, and Rooibos is a Dutch word, it actually mean red bush. Here we have at the tea garden, a wonderful green Rooibos and this is harvested when it's not matured yet, taken to plantation, chopped, dried in the South African sun a little bit, but it still maintains its green color. Red Rooibos is the matured Rooibos, harvested when it's mature, cut, dried in the hot shot African sun. A fabulous beverage, Duke University has just been introducing a five years study on Rooibos, and it would be interesting to see what they have to say about it. Chamomile, now I know everybody says to me, Dr. Tea, I am having my tea. I am taking my Chamomile at night. Well we know now, that they are having a Tisane and Chamomile is fabulous for relaxation and you can see here, how beautiful that Chamomile is. I bring in Chamomile from Egypt and Chamomile is also the garden's surgeon. So if you are having trouble in the garden, plant some little Chamomile and watch all those problems disappear. Here we have mint from United States, a wonderful peppermint, and we know that people that are drinking mint tea are not now drinking tea, they are drinking mint Tisane, and mint is great for regulating the body's temperature. If it's hot out, drink some mint, it will cool you down. If it's cold out, drink some mint tea and it will warm you right up. And here we have Chrysanthemum blossoms. Now the Chinese use Chrysanthemum blossoms in a number of their teas, the Oolongs and the black teas, rarely a green tea and what it does is, it evens out the flavor. Now we are going to talk in another segment of Ju Hua tea, and that's where the Chinese really add their royal Chrysanthemum. So once again, if you are drinking anything other than what comes from Camellia sinensis, you are drinking a Tisane. So do enjoy yourself and stay tuned for our next show where we talk about the health, beauty and weight loss secrets.