Steep herbal tea for 5 minutes at 100°C (212°F), fully boiling.
Herbal tea is not tea. Nothing in it comes from Camellia sinensis — it is a tisane, an infusion of flowers, leaves, roots, bark, fruit or seeds, and the category is enormous. Chamomile is dried flower heads, peppermint is leaf, ginger and turmeric are root, hibiscus is calyx, rosehip is fruit. They share only two things: no caffeine, and almost no tannin. That second fact is why they behave so differently in the cup from everything else on this site, and why the rules that govern green or black tea do not really apply to them.
Use fully boiling water at 100°C (212°F). Herbal material is tougher than tea leaf, and much of it is root, bark or dried fruit that needs real heat before it gives anything up. Be generous with it — a heaped teaspoon, or two bags if the first seems thin. Steep 5 minutes at medium, 3 minutes 45 seconds if you want it light, and 6 minutes 30 seconds or considerably longer for a fuller cup. Cover the mug or pot while it steeps, because much of what you want from chamomile or mint is volatile and otherwise leaves with the steam. Hard roots and barks are better simmered than steeped.
Treating it like tea. People give chamomile the same careful three minutes at the same careful temperature they would give a green tea, and get colored water for it. Herbal infusions want more heat, more material and more time than any real tea does. The opposite mistake is assuming caffeine-free means inert — some tisanes are genuinely active. Licorice root raises blood pressure in quantity, senna is a laxative, and several interact with medication. Read what is actually in a blend rather than trusting the word herbal, and check the box: many supermarket blends quietly include black tea.
Most herbal infusions give one good cup and not much more. There is little tannin holding anything back and no complexity in reserve, so the first steep takes nearly everything and the second runs watery. The exceptions are the tough materials — ginger, licorice root, cinnamon bark, dried citrus peel — which hold enough for a second and even a third infusion, especially if you simmer rather than steep them. Since there is nothing waiting to turn bitter, you lose nothing by leaving the material in the pot and simply topping it up with more boiling water.
Steep herbal infusions for 5 minutes or longer in water at 100°C (212°F), at a full boil. Herbal blends carry none of the tannins that make real tea bitter, so they cannot really be over-steeped — 6 minutes 30 seconds, or twice that, is a question of taste rather than a mistake.
No. Real tea comes from the Camellia sinensis plant, while herbal tea is a tisane — an infusion of flowers, leaves, roots, bark or fruit. That difference is why it carries no caffeine and almost no tannin.
Almost, but not quite. Yerba mate and guayusa are caffeinated despite being tisanes, and many supermarket blends include black or green tea alongside the herbs — check the ingredients rather than the word on the front.
Yes, especially with mint or chamomile. Much of their aroma is volatile and escapes with the steam, so a lid or a saucer over the mug keeps in flavor that would otherwise end up in the room.