Chinese Herbal and Flower Teas: The "Teas" That Aren't Tea

In Chinese, almost anything you steep in hot water can be called cha, "tea": chrysanthemum tea (ju hua cha), barley tea (da mai cha), bitter kuding tea (ku ding cha), buckwheat tea (ku qiao cha). But none of these are made from the tea plant, Camellia sinensis. They're herbal or flower infusions, sometimes called tisanes. Pure herbal infusions contain no caffeine; scented teas like jasmine or osmanthus oolong are real tea with flowers added, so they do. This section covers the most popular Chinese "teas that aren't tea": what they are, how they taste and how to brew them. It's about flavour, not medicine.

Why does this section exist? Partly because of where I live. In Slovenia, as in much of Central Europe, the word čaj means anything you pour hot water on: mint, chamomile, linden blossom from the tree down the road. For years I had to explain to friends that my pu-erh was "real tea" and their mint wasn't. Then I learned that Chinese is just as generous with the word: barley, chrysanthemum and osmanthus all get called cha. I stopped being a snob about it and started exploring.

Tea vs herbal tea: the difference#

The Chinese herbal and flower teas on this site#

Scented tea vs flower tea#

This trips up a lot of people, and the labels don't always help:

• Scented tea is real tea that has absorbed the aroma of flowers. Jasmine tea is the classic: green tea layered with fresh jasmine buds overnight. Osmanthus oolong works the same way. These contain caffeine.
• Flower tea (hua cha) is just the flowers, dried: chrysanthemum, osmanthus, rose buds. No tea, no caffeine.
• Blends mix the two, like chrysanthemum with pu-erh. Blooming tea is also real tea: tea buds hand-tied around dried flowers. They contain caffeine because of the tea.

Read the label, all the way down: if it lists tea, green tea, black tea or oolong, there's caffeine. More in caffeine in tea.

How to brew Chinese herbal teas#

A glass teapot or a tall glass is perfect: most of these are as pretty to watch as they are to drink. Barley, buckwheat and chrysanthemum all make excellent cold brews too: see cold brew tea.

A word on health claims#

Nearly every herbal tea in Chinese shops and on Western websites comes with a list of promised benefits: cooling, detoxing, lowering this, curing that. Some rest on traditional Chinese medicine, some on lab studies of extracts, and very few on solid research in people drinking a cup of tea. On this site we write about how these infusions taste and how to make them, not about what they might cure. If you're pregnant, take regular medication or have a health condition, check with a doctor before drinking any herbal infusion regularly, and treat miracle claims with suspicion.

Storing herbal teas#

The same rules as for tea apply: airtight, dark, dry and away from strong smells. Flowers tend to lose their aroma within about a year. Roasted grains like barley and buckwheat can go stale and oily-tasting if left open. See how to store tea.

My honest take#

I didn't expect to love these as much as I do. Barley tea has replaced water on my summer table, chrysanthemum is my after-lunch cup, and a pinch of osmanthus in an oolong is one of my favourite small pleasures in autumn. None of them replaces a good pu-erh. They don't have to: they're a different, gentler pleasure, and they're caffeine-free.

The bottom line#

Chinese herbal and flower "teas" like chrysanthemum, osmanthus, kuding, barley and buckwheat aren't made from the tea plant and are caffeine-free, unless blended with tea. They're easy to brew, hard to get wrong and lovely to drink. We write about them for their flavour, not for health claims. For true tea, start with my guide to the types of Chinese tea.