Infusions

Extracts made by steeping a substance, usually of plant origin — spices, teas, or fruits, for example — in water or another solvent. Solvent-soluble components, flavour and aroma compounds among them, leach from the material into the solvent. Teas, tisanes, and flavoured waters are everyday infusions, and their quality depends on the raw material, the water, time, and temperature. In flavour manufacture, controlled infusion extracts delicate aromatics that harsher methods would destroy. Cold infusions extract delicate aromatics while avoiding the bitterness of hot extraction.