Herbal teas are a completely different set of ingredients from Mother Nature's Kitchen than what we normally think of as "tea". While black and green teas are made from a variety of tea plants, with leaves picked a specific times in their development and then fermented, smoked, dried, cut, tied and otherwise dolled-up for consumption -- herbal infusions are made from roots, leaves, flowers, stems, seed, bark, and buds of a whole pharmacopia of botanicals. Some are wild flowers and some are cultivated. *Rooibos tea -- the lastest discovery in a line of free-radical fighting brews -- comes from 1 variety of the South African "Red Bush" which is (or was) considered a weed until recently. *Chamomile (the table tea for many European countries as well as South America and Mexico) is a wild growing tiny flower -- that also turns out to relax people the way catnip relaxes a kitten. Not a big sledge hammer of relaxation -- but a little nudge. *The bark of the white willow tree has been chewed and brewed by indiginous peoples for centuries (!) to releave toothaches and other minor aches -- it turns out to be a natural source of unrefined ingredients found in aspirin. Most of the herbal teas we in the US buy, whether from the Republic of Tea, Celestial Seasonings, or whatever blend your local whole-health-holistic-organic-natural market carries, have one or two botanicals as their base, and then a variety of additions for flavor of one kind or another. The trick with herbal infusions -- and the thing that makes brewing them different from brewing black or green teas -- is that to get the full flavor from one of these bits of plant life, it needs to steep for up to 3 times as long as black/green tea. In fact, for many of the reputed medicinal properties to appear in tea made from barks, stems and other thick or hardened part of a plant -- it may have to be boiled for 10 minutes up to several hours. Which helps explain a lot of those fairy tales with witches standing over boiling pots of potions and brews.... Medicine must have been a very spooky business at other times in our history. So. For the average cup of herbal tea --> boil clean, clear, cold water in a pot and pour it over your tea bag or infuser of loose leaves, then cover your cup or pot and allow it to steep for 5 full minutes before removing the tea bag or infuser. In fact, if your cup allows, you can leave the tea bag in the cup to continue brewing and getting stronger as you sip. Find an herb or herbal blend you like -- but don't stop there. There are hundreds of wonderful herbal teas to enjoy -- so enjoy the variety! ********************************************* REACH US BY EMAIL AT purcifuls@yahoo.com OR BY PHONE AT (806) 239 2927 during business hours. IF YOU DON'T GET A LIVE PERSON -- JUST KEEP TRYING! THIS TIME OF YEAR WE TAKE LOTS OF CALLS!! ********************************************************* BE SURE TO CLICK THE GLOBE ICON AND GO TO OUR FRONT PAGE FOR CURRENT SPECIAL OFFERS AND COUPONS!!! ********************************************************* FOR COMPLETE SHIPPING DETAILS (what kinds are offered, how long it takes, how to choose etc....) CLICK THE "SHIPPING INFO" BUTTON on the left side of any page. ********************************************************* To find out about Purciful's Policies -- privacy, security, returns, placing orders by mail and phone, or just about us -- go to the ABOUT PURCIFUL'S AND POLICIES link -- it's in the column of purple buttons on the left side of every shopping page!