Is Tea and Herb or Spice?

Is tea an herb or a spice?
There are no utterly precise, categorical definitions for the terms “herb” and “spice.” Generally, however, an herb comes from the leaf of a plant, whereas a spice comes from elsewhere (seed, bark, etc.). Herbs typically can be used in their fresh or dried form (think cilantro or thyme) whereas spices must be dried or fermented (cumin, pepper, etc.) Herbs often come from temperate zones, spices almost always from the tropics (hence the Spice Route). Since tea is from a leaf, but must be fermented, it is difficult to place in herb/spice duality. We like to think of tea as a special herb or spice, in that it needs delicate, specialized treatment (i.e., proper steeping time and temperature). Coffee, likewise, also would be a special spice.

While the term spice covers a host of ingredients and doesn’t have an entirely fixed meaning (some would consider orange rind to be a spice, others would not), unless you have a special delicate spice such as tea or coffee, spices are generally pretty bulletproof. Most of them can be extracted for long periods and at high temperatures. Therefore, we suggest you just throw your spice compounds in boiling water for 10 or 15 minutes -- you can even steep them more than once. By contrast, you should be extremely attentive to the manner in which you steep your tea. Hints for steeping your tea can be found in this brochure and on our website. Note that herbal teas/tisanes, typically are dried herbs.