Tea truly is amazing – the only more popular drink in the world is water.
Tea is an infusion made by steeping processed leaves, buds, or twigs of the tea bush, Camellia sinensis, in hot water for several minutes. Not surprisingly though we tend to process all these elements into little bags. (It's a lot less messy for a start).
This processing can include oxidation, heating, drying, and the addition of other herbs, flowers, spices, and fruits. The four basic types of true tea are black tea, oolong tea, green tea and white tea. And herbal tea? Well, herbal tea usually refers to infusions or tisane of fruit or herbs that contain no Camellia sinensis. This isn't a bad thing (as anyone who's tried our herbal tea, for example, will hopefully agree).
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