Tisane

 
A herbal tea, tisane, or ptisan is a herbal infusion other than that made with real (white, yellow, black, oolong, or green) tea (Camellia sinensis). Tisanes can be made with fresh or dried flowers, leaves, seeds or roots; generally by pouring boiling water over the plant parts and letting them steep for a few minutes. Seeds and roots are often boiled on a stove for a few minutes. The tisane is then strained, sweetened if so desired, and served. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisane


A term used frequently in Europe referring to popular herbal infusions, such as chamomile flowers, etc., which are commonly taken as a beverage or for mildly medicinal effects. http://www.planetbotanic.ca/glossary.htm

When visiting our French friends who live just outside of town in the suburbs, they offer us a choice of coffee or tisane after dinner. If we choose tisane, she brings a French press to the table that is filled with big dried leaves. She then pours in some boiling water, the leaves get reconstituted, and it looks like we will soon be drinking something made from yard waste.

I was always fascinated by this and finally asked what we were drinking. She answered “verveine”. She showed me her “stash” of dried leaves in a basket that she kept in her kitchen. This French couple is what I would call “children of the 60’s” (as we are). They grow this stuff in their yard. And they have spent much of their life down in Provence, a part of France known for it’s laid back lifestyle. Armelle shops at the “biologique” market. I think that means organic.

So one day while Paul and I were out shopping, we stumbled upon a bag of verveine and we bought it so that we could “try this at home, folks.” It was then that we started researching to find out exactly what we would be drinking.

Upon further investigation ... verveine is simply Verbena! Oh yeah, I think my mom grew that in her garden. She may have even given me some plants which I would have quickly killed. But I don’t think she ever did more than enter them in a flower show.

So...

thanks to the internet, I found this:

verbena, common name for some members of the Verbenaceae, a family of herbs, shrubs, and trees (often climbing forms) of warmer regions of the world. Well-known wild and cultivated members of the family include species of the shrubby Lantana and of Verbena; many species of both are native to the United States. Many cultivated verbenas (herbs or shrubs) have fragrant blossoms and leaves that are sometimes used as condiments or for distillation of oils or for tea, as are those of the similar lemon verbena (Lippia citriodora) of tropical America and Africa. Wild American species are more frequently called vervains. The European vervain (V. officinalis), now naturalized in the United States, was sacred to the Greeks, Romans, and Druids and is associated in Christian tradition with the Crucifixion.
Answers.com

It’s pretty good stuff.