Herbal tea: how to choose by flavour and moment

Herbal tea is the easiest way to change the mood of your day with a kettle: cool mint after dinner, tart hibiscus in the afternoon, chai-style spice on a cold walk home, a mellow chamomile blend before bed. Here's how to choose by flavour and by moment, with the Pukka, Stash, Yogi, Celestial Seasonings and Traditional Medicinals boxes we keep on the shelf, and the loose-leaf blends we scoop from bulk. If you're cutting back on coffee, want something cosy as the nights draw in, or are shopping for a tea lover this Christmas, start here.

What is herbal tea? Herbal infusions explained

True tea (black, green, white and oolong) comes from one plant, Camellia sinensis. Herbal tea is everything else you steep: leaves, flowers, seeds, roots, bark and spices from other plants. That's why you'll also see herbal tea called herbal infusions, or tisane on bilingual boxes. Most herbal teas have no tea leaves in them at all, so they're naturally caffeine-free.

Herbal tea, green tea and caffeine

A few herbal-sounding blends do have caffeine: yerba mate, anything blended with green or black tea, and blends with cocoa shells, which carry a trace. If caffeine matters to you, read the ingredient list rather than the flavour name. Our guide to lemon balm tea and caffeine walks through it with one herb as the example.

Minty teas: fresh and bright

Peppermint is a classic after-dinner tea. It's cool, bracing and full of menthol, while spearmint is milder and naturally sweet. Blends with both land in between. All four of these products are caffeine-free, and every one makes a good iced tea if you brew it strong and pour it over ice.

Not a mint person? Pukka's After Dinner is the other cup we reach for once the plates are cleared: aniseed, sweet fennel and cardamom, with licorice root for natural sweetness. It needs no milk or sugar.

PukkaAfter DinnerAniseed, fennel, cardamom and licorice. Organic and naturally caffeine-free.Shop →

Floral and fruity teas

Chamomile brews a golden cup with a soft, honeyed, faintly apple-like flavour. Hibiscus is the opposite: a vivid ruby red, tart and tangy, made for adding a little sweetener or pouring over ice. Take care with lavender: it's the strongest of the three, so a small pinch goes a long way. Most of these come in bag form, and the lavender is loose from bulk.

If you'd like a floral cup with a little caffeine, Uncle Lee's blends organic Egyptian chamomile with white tea made from young leaf buds. It's delicate and apple-scented, and light enough for any time of day.

Uncle Lee's TeaOrganic Chamomile White TeaEgyptian chamomile and white tea. Organic and kosher.Shop →

Warm and spiced teas

When the weather turns, this is the corner of the tea shelf that empties first. Cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves and licorice root give these blends a sweetness and warmth that stand up to milk, and none of them has tea leaves. Ginger has long been used to settle the stomach, which is part of why a ginger cup after a big meal is such a familiar habit. Bengal Spice gets its body from roasted chicory and carob, so it tastes like chai without any black tea.

Calming evening teas

A calming evening cup is one of the nicest habits to build into the end of a busy day: kettle on, screens down, something warm in your hands. These blends lean on chamomile, lavender, lemongrass and linden flower for a soft, floral flavour, and they're all caffeine-free, a gentle way to relax before bed. Pukka Night Time also has valerian root, a traditional evening herb, and Cup of Calm adds passionflower and catnip. Many people make one of them the last drink of the day.

Holiday teas

Seasonal boxes arrive in the fall and tend to sell through before New Year's, so if you have a favourite tea from last winter, grab it early. Stash Christmas Eve is a caffeine-free blend of spearmint and sweet holiday spices, and Christmas in Paris is a chocolatey herbal cup that turns into a hot-chocolate stand-in with a splash of milk (it has a trace of caffeine from cocoa shells). Stash's Christmas Morning is a black tea, so save that one for breakfast.

Four O'Clock is a Canadian family tea company, and we love having them on the shelf. Their bags are unbleached and compostable and the boxes are recyclable, which is a small kindness to the planet. The seasonal blends have no added sugar. The Chai Maple Pecan Rooibos is built for a latte with steamed milk and a drop of real maple syrup.

Four O'ClockChai Maple Pecan RooibosChai spices with maple and pecan on organic rooibos. Caffeine-free.Shop →

Loose-leaf blends from our bulk station

Luminate Co is home to Atlantic Canada's largest all-organic bulk station, and the loose-leaf tea jars are one of the best parts of it. Everything is sold by weight, so you can buy a few spoonfuls to discover a new flavour, or refill your own tin. Our own house blends sit alongside organic teas from Lemon Lily: Gingerbread tastes the way a gingerbread cookie smells coming out of the oven, Anteastress is the pot we put on when the day has been a lot, and Holiday Blend brings honeybush, cinnamon, star anise and pieces of candy cane.

1. Bring a jar or use our bags. Weigh a clean jar or tin empty at the till, then scoop what you need.
2. Measure a heaped teaspoon. That's about right for one cup of most loose-leaf herbal teas. Use a little less for lavender.
3. Steep in a roomy infuser. Give the leaves space to open in freshly boiled water, then lift the infuser out when the cup tastes right.
4. Store it sealed. Keep tea in an airtight jar, away from heat and light, so the flavour stays fresh.

The herbal tea brands on our shelf

Every brand we carry has its own style, so it helps to know who does what when you want to discover a new box.

Stash Licorice Spice has been part of the Stash range since the 1970s. Licorice root gives it a natural, nectar-like sweetness with no sugar added, which is why some people drink it as a dessert tea. For a plain ginger cup, Traditional Medicinals Ginger is pleasantly spicy and warming. For something more fiery, try a ginger shot.

How to brew herbal tea

Herbal tea wants freshly boiled water and more time than black tea. Roots, seeds and spices need the longest; delicate flowers need a little less. Covering your mug while it steeps keeps the aromatic oils in the cup.

Squeeze the bag gently before you lift it out. If your box has its own directions, follow those for that blend.

Two easy herbal tea recipes

These are two of our favourite herbal tea recipes to make at home. Enjoy them as they are, or use them as a starting point for your own.

Ruby hibiscus and spearmint iced tea (about 1 litre). This is our favourite way to use hibiscus.

1. Brew it strong. Steep 3 hibiscus bags and 1 spearmint bag in 480 mL of freshly boiled water, covered, for 10 minutes.
2. Sweeten while warm. Squeeze and remove the bags, then stir in 1–2 tablespoons of maple syrup if you like.
3. Chill and serve. Add 480 mL of cold water, chill in the fridge, and pour over ice with a thin orange slice. Enjoy it the day you make it.

Warm Bengal Spice milk tea (one big mug). Steep 2 Bengal Spice bags in 180 mL of freshly boiled water for 6 minutes. Warm 120 mL of milk or an oat beverage until steaming, combine, and finish with a little maple syrup and a pinch of cinnamon.

The best herbal tea is the one you'll make again tomorrow, so choose by flavour first.

Questions we get a lot

Is herbal tea caffeine-free?

Most of it is. Herbal teas made only from herbs, flowers, roots and spices have no caffeine. Blends with green or black tea, yerba mate, or cocoa shells have some, so check the ingredient list.

What herbal tea is best for you?

The one you enjoy enough to drink. A caffeine-free cup is an easy way to drink more fluids through the day. Peppermint is a classic after a meal, ginger has long been used to settle the stomach, and chamomile is a gentle, calming evening cup.

What are herbal teas good for?

Mostly, a warm, flavourful drink without caffeine at any time of day. Many people use them to replace a late coffee, wind down in the evening, or refresh with an iced tea in summer.

Is Stash Tea a good tea brand?

It's one of our steady sellers. Stash has been blending tea since 1972, and the range runs from organic single herbs like chamomile to Licorice Spice and the holiday boxes people come in asking for each fall.

Is Celestial Seasonings a Canadian company?

No. Celestial Seasonings started in 1969 in the United States, with wild herbs gathered in the Rocky Mountains. The boxes on our shelf come in bilingual Canadian packaging.

Is Pukka tea in Canada?

Yes. We carry a range of Pukka blends at both stores and online, including Three Mint, Night Time, After Dinner, and Chamomile, Vanilla & Manuka Honey.

Is Yogi Tea good for you?

Yogi teas are made with organic botanicals and spices, and the ones we stock are caffeine-free herbal blends. Lemon Ginger and Calming are the two our tea-loving community asks for most.

Herbal tea is in the grocery aisles at both stores, with loose-leaf blends at the bulk station: 486 Starboard Drive in Bedford and 590 Portland Street in Dartmouth, open seven days. Browse the bulk coffee and tea range online too, and for cold season, see our guide to natural cough syrup and throat teas. For more bedtime help, our guides to natural sleep aids and ashwagandha cover passionflower, magnesium, melatonin and more. In HRM, order by 11 am with Luminate Express for same-day delivery, or choose pickup. Anywhere else in Canada, orders over $80 ship free.

Sources: Traditional Medicinals, About; Stash Tea, About us; Celestial Seasonings, About us; product labels.