Blending ingredients?
So my friends and I are newly into tea. (It’s all my fault. Lol.) And one of them wanted to try one of the blending kits from Adagio. I’ve heard mixed opinions about them, but mostly that it’s probly better just buying a bunch of their samples since it’s essentially the same thing.
My only issue with only buying samples is then we won’t get any inclusions (though I’m not exactly thrilled with the inclusions they have with the kits anyway). Spices are easy enough. I’m more curious about things like fruit pieces since all the stuff I’ve ever seen is candied/sugared or otherwise unusable for tea. Or am I wrong and candied fruit pieces are perfectly alright to use?
Essentially my question to anyone out there is, if you blend your own teas, where does one find all the interesting inclusions that I’ve seen put into the tea?
Any and all help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
-Also if this is in the wrong place, I apologize. This is my first topic here. ^^;
You can use candied fruit :] It just kind of adds a sugary, light fruity taste(in my experience.) Just don’t add too much or it will just taste like hot sugar water D: But dried fruit is mostly for looks and doesn’t really add to the flavor. Spices and herbs are always a good way to go, too.
When I blend teas I use different kinds of tea(green, white, and oolong are always nice together) or different flavors together. I’ve added flavored coffee, all sorts of herbals, and sprinkles/candy pieces to plain and flavored teas.
It’s all about the creativity and flavors you like :] Sometimes it will taste horrible and other times it will be awesome.
Fruit pieces don’t add nearly as much flavour as flavouring oils so I wouldn’t worry if you don’t have any. I’m not much of a blender, but there are lots of classic additives like mint, rose petals, etc. Have fun with it! You could always blend cup by cup so you don’t waste your base. If you let the blends rest a couple weeks the flavours may be better combined, but I think that might apply most in cases of flavouring oils. Hopefully others have more hands-on experience to contribute. :)
So then where does someone get high quality flavouring oils? I was always under the impression that essential oils were bad to use, so what else is there? Candy flavouring type things?
Edit: I found a couple places with oil soluble flavourings, but they offer 2oz minimum which is a bit much for experimentation!
I just googled “flavoring oils for teas” and it popped up with a couple sites like this:
http://capellaflavordrops.com/flavordrops.aspx
This one kind of goes through different teas and how to add flavors:
http://capellaflavordrops.com/teaflavors.aspx
Edit: Oops… I didn’t see your edit :P
Oh, this is more helpful! I’m at work right now, and have work-brain. My google-fu mostly failed me! :)
Hmm. Bacon flavoured tea? :) It’s still a lot of flavour concentrate, but apparently you CAN use essential oils. I’ll have to experiment. It sounds fun.
Just don’t use wintergreen. I read somewhere that you should never put wintergreen essential oil in, on, or near your mouth. Not sure why…
Bacon tea sounds like it’d be interesting :P
Bacon and marshmallow actually sounds good right now, but that’s probably because its the middle of the night, and I’m tired and peckish.
I was thinking of lavender petals and lime essential oil. It smells good in soap, so why not tea…
Lavender lime tea? That actually sounds like it’d be nice. The Bacon and Marshmallow one makes me think of camping haha
Oh goodness. Bacon and marshmallow with a smoky tea. I, uhh, might have to hunt down flavourings in small sizes now.
In Canada most essential oils are labelled as “External use only”. I used lime anyways though.
1/3 cup Lover’s Leap, 1 tsp lavender flowers, 4 drops lime essential oil (with some of it ending up on my hand!). It’s in the cupboard hiding out for a couple weeks. I hope it turns out OK!
you can make your own Earl Grey by adding a few drops of bergamot oil in any black tea. i do that at times when i have Earl Grey liking friends coming over :)
You can find it online here http://www.essentialoils.co.za/essential-oils/bergamot.htm or here http://www.experience-essential-oils-shop.com/bergamot-essential-oil.html
Hey. Thanks everyone for awesome information. It’s definitely good to know that stuff other than herbs and spices don’t actually do anything major to the tea. I’ll have to track down some of those oils. It sounds like it would be fun to throw a blending party with some.
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