An infusion is a beverage obtained by boiling a specific herb and a tisane is a medicinal beverage which is the result of research coupled with knowledge of one or more herbs. Depending on the kind of herb, the flower as well as the leaves or stem and roots are used to make tisanes.

Their origin and use for treating certain complaints or as an after meal beverage dates back many years. Their therapeutic use is common to all cultures, although in western culture has virtually disappeared in modern medicine (even though modern medicine has availed itself of ancient knowledge of herbs to develop its formulas). Other mainly eastern cultures have always attached great importance to herbs.

The origins of herb based medicine may be traced back to Egyptian papyrus and Chinese documents from the second millennium before Christ. Whilst this knowledge was gradually forgotten in Europe, in Asia it flourished and grew in importance, until it began to spread to Europe in the 17th century and to the Americas in the 18th.