Frequently asked questions & all answers

These brands represent three distinct product families, all originating from KOTTAS:

• KOTTAS Kräuterhaus: Premium herbal products developed and bottled by our team at KOTTAS Kräuterhaus, drawing on many years of experience and inspired by the wishes of our customers.
• DR. KOTTAS: The well-known brand available in pharmacies combines traditional herbal knowledge with the latest insights from medical research.
• ORIGINAL DR. KOTTAS: Traditional products based on old home recipes that have lost none of their relevance today. They are made to the highest quality standards from carefully selected ingredients that have been trusted for centuries.

While each brand has its own focus, you can always expect products of the highest quality – filled/manufactured in Austria.

If you can't find the product you're looking for, please contact us by email at . Many products are exclusively available at KOTTAS Kräuterhaus and can be ordered directly on site. Other products are seasonal and only available at certain times of the year. We're happy to help!

Many DR. KOTTAS herbal teas are certified as medicinal products and are therefore only available in pharmacies. However, you can find many of our non-medicinal teas in the KOTTAS Kräuterhaus Online-Shop. For more information about the DR. KOTTAS range, please visit kottas.at.

Many of our DR. KOTTAS teas are medicinal teas and, as such, are available exclusively in pharmacies. However, you can also find some of our filter bag teas in the KOTTAS Kräuterhaus Online-Shop. Go to ‘All teas’ and select the ‘Filter bag’ packaging type to see an overview of the filter bag teas in the online shop range.

In world of tea experts, ‘real tea’ refers to all teas made from the leaves of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis), such as black tea, green tea, white tea, pu-erh or oolong. Herbal teas, fruit teas, spiced teas, mate tea, honeybush tea and rooibos tea are not included, even though they are just as ‘real’ – in the sense of ‘natural’. Among experts, they are considered tea-like infusions. To help you find your favourite tea more easily, we have created separate categories for real teas (i.e. traditional teas) in our shop.

Regardless of whether it is loose herbs or filter bag teas, at KOTTAS we always use the same high-quality ingredients. The only difference is that the herbs for use in tea bags are cut a little finer, but this does not have a negative effect on the ingredients.

The key factor is that the filter bags are sealed in a high-quality aroma protection bag. This preserves the valuable ingredients and allows the advantage of the smaller cut size, namely better extractability with water, to come into its own.

Our filter bags are made from biodegradable natural fibre banana hemp (abacá). This means they are plastic-free and fully compostable.

With some types of tea, a light film of oil may form on the surface after brewing. There is usually a harmless explanation for this. Frequently affected are high-quality herbal teas with a high content of essential oils. In this case, the film can even be a sign of freshness and high quality.

However, hard water with a high magnesium and calcium salt content can also react with tannins and other ingredients in the tea and promote this effect. Filtered water and clean crockery can help to prevent this.

Tip: Cover the tea while it is steeping to preserve the valuable essential oils as much as possible.

Our products are purely natural, which means that each item is unique. Natural variations are not a defect, but rather a sign of the authenticity and individuality of our products. You can rest assured that our herbal blends and all other products consistently meet the same high-quality standards.

Many of the teas in our range are generally suitable for children. Particularly mild are the teas from our Mother & child series, specially developed to meet the needs of young tea drinkers. Varieties such as rooibos or honeybush are also pleasantly mild and very popular with children. Information about ingredients, such as caffeine content, can be found on each individual product page.

Our tea bags are made from the compostable natural fibre banana hemp (abacá). They are folded under pressure and joined with a cotton thread and a paper label without metal staples or glue.

No, our DR. KOTTAS tea bags are free from microplastics and nanoplastics. The problem mainly concerns the so-called ‘pyramid bags’. Our tea bags, on the other hand, are double-chamber filter bags made from the natural fibre banana hemp (also known as abacá). They are folded without glue using high pressure alone – a somewhat more complex process, but one that guarantees that even the seam is plastic-free. This means that DR. KOTTAS tea bags are also fully compostable.

Our herbal and tea specialities are based on natural raw materials, mainly from sustainable wild harvesting and organic farms. The taste and aroma of the plants can vary depending on the soil conditions, geographical location and climatic conditions of their region of origin. Thanks to our many years of experience and careful purchasing policy, we strive to compensate for these natural variations as best we can. However, they cannot be completely ruled out.

Mechanical abrasion of the plants in our tea specialities produces microscopic grains that pass through the fine pores of the filter bag and remain in the teacup as a fine residue. This occurs particularly with certain ingredients, such as hard-shelled herbs and fruits like fennel or caraway, as well as with very delicate leafy plants.

Important to know: These residues are completely natural, harmless and can be drunk without hesitation.