the magical world of flavored tea
i have mostly ignored flavored teas because i have imagined them to taste too candy like. the exception has been vanilla and various spice teas…i usually adore those.
but today i wanted something new and tried Tao of tea mango black. oh that was yummmy! now i want to try other fruity flavored teas.
does anyone have some good suggestions? i definitely want to stay away from anything that tastes artificial or overly sweet.
also i prefer black teas. but tell me about your favorites no matter what kind of tea it is. you never know…i might convert.
I tend to like my tea to taste like tea. That’s not to say I don’t like flavored tea, I just don’t want other flavors to mask the flavor of the tea. Take Teavana’s Maharaja Chai Oolong, for instance. It is a strong, wonderful blend of spices, but they completely cover up the taste of any hint of oolong. Why even put tea in the blend if this is the result?
On the other hand, Teavana has some wonderful flavored blends that actually taste like tea. I might recommend Six Suumits Oolong, Earl Grey White, Citrus Lavender Sage, Earl Grey Creme, and Honeybush Vanilla.
I haven’t done much exploring of a wide variety of companies, but I might recommed Seven Cups’ Genmaicha and Eight Treasures, as well as Intelligentsia’s Organic 333 blend.
I love both flavored and “unflavored” tea (and I don’t really like the term unflavored, because even teas that have not been flavored are still very flavorful!)
I love 52Teas because they have a unique flavor every week. I subscribe to them and receive a package every month and it is a joyful occasion.
There are many other wonderful companies out there. I recommend staying tuned to Steepster and reading tea notes, as well as visiting tea review blogs to get some ideas of what you might be interested in. (I happen to write for two blogs: http://sororiteasisters.com and http://www.teareviewblog.com
I’ve gotten pretty picky about my fruity teas lately, mainly I don’t want any that just taste like fruity candy or artificial flavorings, and I like them to have a good, well rounded base to stand on.
My favorite fruity blacks:
Mango Black – thepuriTea
Passion Fruit Black – thepuriTea
Black Currant Black – Harney
Lychee Black – Harney
Boston (cranberry plus almond) – Harney
Noël à Pékin (tropical blend) – Damman Freres
4 Red Fruits – Kusmi Teas
Other fruity:
Passion Fruit Oolong – Naivetea
Lychee Oolong – Naivetea
I have been pleasantly surprised by lychee tea. I bought Harney’s Blue Ginger ginger and lychee tea admittedly for the tin, and I thought it was a mistake upon smelling the tea bag. But
I am happy to say the lychee taste delightfully compliments the black tea. Definitely try samples of everything. You just never know what may surprise you.
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