T/F game: You know exactly why some people get irrationally angry at the words "herbal tea"
Sorta?
I understand that there's a big difference in terms of flavor, chemical effects and allergy concerns between "Tea" that is made from Camellia sinensis leaves and "Tea" that is made from a wide variety of other plants and sometimes mushrooms. I don't understand getting heated over it because every person I know who does complain that Herbal Tea Isn't Really Tea So It Should Be Called Something Else ALSO calls the Black Tea/cinnamon/cardamom/Cloves/Ginger/Milk beverage "Chai Tea" which is even less linguistically sound but like Herbal Tea, a perfectly Cromulent Term in the context where it's usually used.
Any "Tea" should have it's ingredients and nuturitional information clearly printed on its container, but after that we all need to come to terms with the fundamentally imprecise nature of language, and rejoice in the freedom that such fluidity gives us.
Tea can be distilled into its most basic definition and any dried plant matter that has gone through some sort of processing by human hands. Then has been rehydrated and infused into hot water, but kept seperate. Producing a flavour that a percentage of humans find pleasant.
You could argue that any plant based broth is a tea really.