Scented vs Not-Scented tea

I would say that a good percentage of the tea in the US is also from big corporations like lipton, but I don’t know how it is in Greece. Maybe you have it worse? I do live near NYC though and you can get anything there so I’m pretty spoiled.

To your question about scented tea, I don’t think scent is only for masking inferior tea. While it’s true that some sellers will add flavor or scents for the purpose of enticing more tea drinkers, others add scents for flavors in order to create a new and quality experience. For example, jasmine tea has long been a favorite in China and the quality of the leaves used can vary from bad to awesome. I’ve had some wonderful jasmine green teas where the leaves on their own would have been pleasure enough, but the scent adds another dimension and experience. It can be wonderful.

Of course, I’ve also had flavored teas where I wouldn’t touch the leaves because they’d be too harsh without the vanilla/strawberry/whatever flavor mixed in. On the bright side, I can enjoy these teas for less money.

I think flavoring tea is a separate skill from creating wonderful “plain” teas. They can both be appreciated and enjoyed. Naturally, people have their preferences and that’s great. The makes more variety for all of us. :)

If you’re interested in trying awesome scented teas, maybe others can help you out. Perhaps it’ll help you to discover what you love. More experience can’t hurt, right? I lovelovelove trying things with flavor or scent, but in the end, I still prefer the unscented/unflavored kind.

Welcome to Steepster, by the way!

“So firstly I’m voting for not-scented, whole leaf tea.
Secondly I’m asking, is there really any scented tea that can match the quality of that tea or is scented tea just a way to make mediocre tea leaves interesting?”

First of all, like Mercuryhime, I want to welcome you to Steepster.

Second… I have to disagree with your statement that I quoted above. Not all scented (or flavored) tea is in tea bags. And there are some unflavored and unscented teas in teabags too. What I would suggest is to vote no on the teabag, and not so much on unscented or unflavored tea entirely because there are some really incredible loose leaf scented and/or flavored teas out there. If you are lucky enough to find the reputable tea artisans, you will find that the tea used to make scented and/or flavored teas is of high quality and tastes very good on its own.

I personally enjoy all types: unflavored, scented, and flavored. I would prefer loose leaf over bagged tea, however, there are even some decent tea bags out there too, you just have to know where to look. And… yes, in your journey with tea (which I hope will be a long and happy one!) you will come across a tea or two (or maybe even more) that is not as pleasant as others you’ve tried.

Here is something I wrote before about traditional processing of Chinese jasmine green tea:
http://gingkobay.blogspot.com/2010/11/traditional-processing-of-jasmine-green.html

I haven’t sampled a lot of them, but I heard there are some nice all natural flavored tea in US market too. No matter what the origin the tea is and what flower/fruit serves as the scent/flavor source, I believe “natural” is the key. Artificial oil based scenting/flavoring can hardly, if possible at all, simulate the natural mix of aromas and concentration level. To make it worse, a lot of fragrant oils have a flavor distinguishably different from the real thing.

But overall I think scented/flavored tea ranges from very good to very bad, just as unflavored tea ranges from very good to very bad.

Thank you for the replies, it’s nice and enlightening to read your thoughts.
Here in Greece I don’t have anyone enjoying tea and talking about stuff like this.

Maybe I guess I haven’t met a very good quality scented tea…any suggestions?

I’m an advocate of “plain” tea as well, bagged or otherwise. In fact, I might be the only indigenous Briton who hates bergamot (see Earl Grey). In my opinion, tea must be earthy and naturale. Scented teas trigger my ‘chemical’ radar as well. What are they attempting to cover up using scent, I wonder?

Surely! Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II came up with that name. Technically that specific tea is from Taiwan but it’s still Chinese, I guess. I don’t get into geopolitics. :)

I definitely agree with a lot of what has been said above. When I started getting serious about tea, only the unadulterated leaf would do. No additional scent needed, thank you. The scent must only be a way to hide inferior tea. And I enjoyed some wonderful tea and some not so wonderful. It wasn’t until someone who was drinking a good quality scented tea and allowed me to sample it that I realized I was cutting myself off from some nice tea experiences equal to anything that had filled my cup before. Now I’m an equal opportunity tea drinker and will give anything a try. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.

“It wasn’t until someone who was drinking a good quality scented tea and allowed me to sample it that I realized”

I think that’s the only way to happen, isn’t it?
I wish I had a friend in Greece who drank that kind of tea :) :)

I have read but have not comprehended. Sorry.

I usually drink pure tea. But I can appreciate a good quality scented or blended tea. I don’t like flavored teas though. And a lot of companies call flavored teas scented or blended. So when I get a scented or blended it has to be from a company I trust and after inspecting all info about the tea to ensure it is no way flavored. And even then I usually only go for the more traditional ones like a dragon ball jasmine.