Tea-like products
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German: Teeähnliche Erzeugnisse Also known as: Teeähnliches Erzeugnis, Leitsätze für Tee, Kräuter- und Früchtetee (Recht)
A food-law collective term for infusions made from plant parts that do not come from the tea plant, such as herbal, fruit or rooibos tea.
According to the guidelines of the German Food Code (Deutsches Lebensmittelbuch), only products made from the leaves, buds and tender stems of the tea plant Camellia sinensis count as "tea". Infusions from other plants, such as peppermint, rosehip, rooibos or mate, were long called "tea-like products". The revised version in force since 2022 is titled "Guidelines for tea, herbal and fruit tea".
The guidelines are not laws, but they describe general trade usage and serve food inspectors as a benchmark. Medicinal teas with health claims, by contrast, fall under pharmaceutical law.
Related terms
Fruit infusionHerbal infusionYerba mateRooibosTea plant (Camellia sinensis)
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