sassafras tea

American  

noun

1. a tea made from the aromatic dried bark of the root of the sassafras tree, often used medicinally as a stimulant, diaphoretic, and diuretic.

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Etymology

Origin of sassafras tea

First recorded in 1775–85

Example Sentences

For the front awning, he used sassafras, a semi-soft wood that darkens with age, smells like root beer when you cut it, and reminds him of the sassafras tea he drank as a kid.

From Los Angeles Times

He used to barter pies for fresh vegetables and found local herbalists who could take you through the forest and “show you everything that was anything. We had sassafras tea, pokeweed salad, dandelion greens, morels. Nobody made a big deal of it. It was just one of the joys of country living,” he said.

From Washington Post

For money to augment their pensions and savings, the Millers would make sassafras tea to sell at farmers markets.

From Washington Post

Breakfast was light—acorn pancakes, jam, and sassafras tea.

From Literature

Bando rinsed Dad’s soup bowl in the snow, and with great ceremony and elegance—he could really be elegant when the occasion arose—poured him a turtle shell of sassafras tea.

From Literature