Brazilian teas

Noun

Brazilian tea (countable and uncountable, plural Brazilian teas)

1. The dried leaves of plants of certain species, or the tea-like infusions made from them, especially Lippia pseudo-thea (native to Brazil), Stachytarpheta mutabilis and Stachytarpheta jamaicensis.
   • The leaves of Verbascum Phoenicium, according to Pallas, are used in Siberia as a substitute for tea; and the dried leaves of Bouchea pseudo-gervao, in Brazil, in the same way as Stachytarpheta Jamaicensis, a small shrub, growing in South America. The leaves of S. mutabilis are sold in Austria...1862, Peter Lund Simmonds, Waste Products and Undeveloped Substances: Or, Hints for Enterprise in Neglected Fields, page 26
2. Maté, a beverage made from the leaves of yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis).
   • At the Health Exhibition will be found many examples of Brazilian tea, the produce of the Brazilian holly, Ilex Paraguayensis. They may be recognized by their dull yellowish colour, and by their being in small flat fragments of broken leaf, not curled or rolled as is the case with China tea.1884 August 16, X. Y. Z., “Brazilian or Maté Tea”, in The Gardeners’ Magazine, volume 27 (New Series), number 1,007, page 451