If you have been following me for a while, then you know that I have been on a plant based diet since 2005, and on a low fat raw vegan diet since 2012.

One of the most common questions that I get is whether I consume teas on my raw diet, and the answer is Yes and No.

The answer is No if by tea we mean exclusively on tea tree / tea plant, Camellia Sinensis, better known as green tea, black tea, white tea and yellow tea.

And the answer is Yes if we extend the name tea to various herbal infusions that have nothing to do with the real tea tree.

My reasons why I do not consume the real tea, for example green or black tea, are that the toxic effects of consuming tea have been shown by various studies and that the leaves of the tea tree are heated and fermented to produce the final tea product in one of the following four colours: green, black, white and yellow.

On the other hand, herbal infusions are simply warm water with the aroma and taste of flowers, leaves, roots or fruits of certain plants.

However, one should be careful when choosing herbal infusions as well. Did you know that most teas on the market are

• Packed in toxic teabags, 
• Loaded with pesticides, 
• In order to make teabags more profitable, not only whole parts of plants intended for making teas are inserted, but also the plant waste
• While various fruit teas are made either from dried fruit loaded with glucose syrup and sulphates, or from the real tea with the addition of the chemical fruit aroma.

Personally, I choose herbal infusions that are:

• Loosely packed, meaning no teabags, unless they are teabags made from organic material such as cornstarch
• Organic
• Carefully selected whole and clean, ie without any additives, flowers / leaves / roots / fruits

Where to find such herbal infusions? Below I am listing some of my favourite herbal infusions that are:

• High quality,
• Organic,
• Carefully selected, isolated and preserved herbs