Are Herbal Tea or Tisanes really Tea?

Maybe not, just like what we call lemon tea isn’t real tea. Herbal tea may not contain tea leave.

I know that a lot of people say that tea must contain part of camellia sinensis plant, but a lot of tea shops and brands consistently carry infusions of rooibos (A. linearis), chamomile (a couple of related plants), and various fruits. I feel like they’ve been acknowledged as “close enough” for a lot of tea drinkers.

Honestly, to me, rooibos and chamomile both approximate the flavor of some light teas. There’s also the issue of, if I tell someone who has never read up on tea classifications, that I’m having a “chamomile infusion” or a tisane then they’ll have no idea what I mean. If I say chamomile tea, they do. Colloquially, leaf/flower infusions just ended up being called tea. If I want to know exactly what something is, I look at the ingredient list, lol.