I am nuts about Shiso, but only recently started making tea from the leaves. This happened as a result of a fortuitous experiment with a less than perfect mango. I blended it with green Shiso leaves, ice, milk, and a wee bit of maple syrup. It tasted really good and I was ready to make another one.
But first I got online to see if anyone else had tried anything like that, and was amazed at the enthusiasm with which quite a few bloggers described their experiences with Shiso tea.
The only Shiso tea I have made so far was from fresh leaves of what the seed catalogs call Britton Shiso, also known as "tia to" (or beefsteak plant?) and it was instant love. It turned out to be the only kind of tea I have ever made or tasted that I like all by itself, without sweeteners of any kind. This is the variety that has leaves that are green on top and purple on the bottom. I can hardly wait to try the red Shiso tea and was delighted to see Lowe's advertise red perilla on their app, but there is some question as to whether what they are selling is correctly named, and I haven't found it in the local stores yet. What folks in the Midwestern USA called beefsteak plant was Coleus and decidedly not edible.
Perilla frutescens seeds I bought to sprout myself gave mixed results. First off, the seeds for the red variety did not sprout in my trial, not even one of them, and second, although the green seedlings sprouted and grew beautifully, I didn't think they tasted quite as good as the ones from Bonnie Plants at Lowe's. My plants were impressive, however. I took cuttings from one of my seedlings and grew a small plant to give to a friend. After being away for a few months I came back and she showed me that plant growing in her garden and it was taller that she was!
WARNING: Shiso is one of the many plants about which there is conflicting, incorrect, and misleading information online, particularly as to its suitability for use as food. Take care not to mistake culinary Shiso/Perilla with similar plants that are toxic, hallucinatory, or simply unpalatable. Be careful when buying live plants and/or seeds. Coleus and perilla can be barely distinguishable, but are not the same. Coleus may or may not be toxic to humans.