Since Master Capello was not available to give us a lesson, we asked our master brewers to enlighten us on the subject.
[ Herbal tea ]: drink containing a small proportion of a medicinal plant substance (obtained by maceration, solution, infusion or decoction of plants in water).
[ Infusion ]: the action of infusing a plant substance into a liquid from which one wishes to extract the soluble principles. Herbal teas and teas are made by infusion in hot water. Cold infusion.
[Decoction]: action of boiling a substance in water to extract the soluble principles.
So all infusions are herbal teas , but not all herbal teas are infusions. Are you following us?
Just like decoction, infusion is therefore more of a technique (even if, in everyday language and at Les 2 Marmottes, we use this word to designate a drink!).
And for your information, the principle of decoction is to pour cold water over plants, then bring it to a boil.
Once served in your cup, we grant you, telling the difference between a herbal tea and an infusion is a bit of an impossible mission.
To conduct the investigation and unearth clues, there is only one possibility: attend the preparation ritual.
In fact, to make a proper infusion, you bring water to a boil and pour it over leaves, stems, roots, flowers or a sachet of 2 Marmottes.
We will let it infuse for between 5 and 10 minutes depending on the recipe, in water that fluctuates between 80 and 100°.
Master brewer's tip : definitely don't boil the water on the plants! It should just be simmering.
To prepare a herbal tea , on the other hand, there are several options: infuse the plants, macerate them in room water for several hours or start from a decoction.
Whatever technique you choose, the goal remains the same: to obtain a beneficial 100% plant-based drink !
Now you get it: Les 2 Marmottes herbal teas are obtained by infusion.
To prepare them properly, you pour hot water over a bag containing carefully selected plants , wait a few minutes and you get a herbal tea with a good herbal taste , without added flavors.
For our recipes that are available in a cold version , change of technique: we will opt for slow maceration in fresh or lukewarm water.
Take Cocktail Digest for example: our master brewers recommend steeping your bag in cold water for 30 minutes to obtain a fresh herbal drink .
At the burrow, we called this collection " cold infusions " but in reality it is more like fresh herbal teas obtained by maceration...
Are you mad at us? Try them, you'll quickly forget this convoluted debate...
All our herbal teas
