Teaman said

What Is Your Tea Preference Trend

I’ve been drinking tea for a long time but I graduated from tea bags about 10 yrs ago when I discovered loose leaf teas and got seriously into tea. I have noticed a trend in my taste in teas which I wonder if it is unique for me or if others share this same or similar trend.

That trend is…
I first was into fruity/tissane and herbal teas. I was NOT into oolong, green or white teas. They were grassy or flavorless (respectively.)
Then I got into flavored teas, blacks mostly but some green and oolongs.
Then I got more into the straight teas, black, green and some oolong teas.
I started shying away from flavored and hardly used much fruity/tissane and herbal teas. I loved Chinese black/red teas but still didn’t care for Indian teas such as assams, darjeelings, and ceylons.
Now I am on an assam fad and found some really nice darjeeling 2nd flush (still haven’t found a ceylon I care for). I’m also into oolongs, greens and whites.
The trend I see here is going from artificially flavored teas towards natural flavored teas. From the bold “flavors added” type to the more subtle flavors that naturally come from the tea or from the traditional processing the tea has undergone for centuries.

Does anyone else see this type of trend in your history with tea drinking?

24 Replies
Carolyn said

That has been my trend as well:

Herbal tisanes —> Flavored black teas -—> Assams and Boheas -—> Raw puerhs -—> Flavored greens -—> Japanese greens -—→ Chinese greens

I’m still exploring and trying to understand how to prepare and like oolongs, cooked puerhs, and the strong, bitter blacks like Kenyans and some Ceylons. Also, I still don’t much care for Darjeelings.

Carolyn

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denisend said

Not really. I like fruity tisanes and oolongs. I generally don’t care for flavor added blacks or greens (unless it’s chai). For plain teas, I favor Chinese black the most, but none have really inspired me yet.

My husband, on the other hand, heavily favors any green (unflavored). He also has a favorite or two in just about every other ‘category’, but if we’re somewhere that he hasn’t tried anything, he’ll go for a green – he’s been that way ever since getting into loose tea.

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Raritea said

I was actually thinking about this today! I definitely started with bagged teas but as soon as I discovered the bold flavour of loose leaf- I couldn’t go back! I know that I definitely started with flavoured teas-fruity or floral- as well as some tisanes. I wasn’t really interested in blacks. I started to really appreciate orange pekoe when I was working on a dairy farm and that’s what they would drink at breakfast and before afternoon milking. It was an especially great way for me to be introduced to blacks as it was bagged and tasted so great with the farm fresh milk (after going through the farmer’s personal pasteurizer of course)! In the past few years I’ve been able to go to local tea shops myself to smell and taste a wide variety of teas which has really been expanding my taste repertoire. I still enjoyed a good flavoured tea, however, I’m finding that I’m starting to prefer ones with fewer flavours or unflavoured. I have recently really started to crave unflavoured oolongs and greens. I’m still not too interested in pu’er teas but I’m sure I’ll get there eventually! I certainly hope that my taste will continue evolving- there is just so much out there to try and appreciate!

Certainly for me I started out with bagged teas for the first few years I started drinking tea waaaay back when and it was a mix of different tea types that usually was flavoured and sweet w/o milk. This went on till a few years ago I started to drink tea again and rediscovered how it taste and the essence of the tea I was was drinking. Before It was all about the sweetness and caffeine rush just like anyone who would drink coffee, then I began to explore and found tea to so varied that I began to explore which really began my affinty with tea. I still do enjoy flavoured teas, but I know I’m missing out the true taste of the leaf than HFCS or fruity flavors and found the true taste of tea to be more crisper, thirst quenching and relaxing than anything I tried before. Its definitely an acquired taste and perception if one were to wonder what is behind all those flavors .

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Dinosara said

My extremely early tea days were kind of a mixed bag, and I don’t think I could say I had any significant preferences. That was mostly tea bag days, and I also wasn’t really drinking it all that frequently. When I actually started getting into tea in a big way, I started out with a preference for Earl Greys and Jasmine greens, which blew up into any and all kinds of flavored teas. For a while there were pretty much no straight teas that really interested me or that I wanted to drink at all.

That’s been changing recently as I have gotten way into straight green oolongs, and I think that will expand into Chinese greens next. I still am not really a fan of plain black teas, Japanese greens, dark oolongs or puerhs. I also still like flavored teas a lot, but I have become way more picky about quality of flavorings.

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Mel said

Good Earth Tea > Asian (Indian, too) grocery store teas > Japanese grocery store teas > Herbals > Den’s(Japanese green) > steepster, than every type of tea. I can find one I live in every genre of tea. The only tea I can’t get to liking are smoky teas. Toasty teas I love, but smoky…not much. But I love Chinese tea eggs, so I can use it to make those eggs! Yum!

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When I first started, yup, it was all about the flavoured teas, and heavily so. Now, well I tend to go for the straight teas or straight teas with minimal flavouring. Slowly, my faves are changing one by one, to include more straight tea.
Also, there was a time I really didn’t care for Darjeelings, and now I love them to pieces!!! however, I now have no taste for Assams which makes me sad because they once brought me so much joy. Same with Whites- I don’t have the same regard for them. Of course, I’ve softened quite a bit towards Pu’erhs and Asian Black’s.
Oh well, it is what it is! :)

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SunnyinNY said

I’ve gone from favoring teabags to favoring loose leaf tea. I appreciate the time needed to really make a good pot of tea.

I’ve always loved flavored teas & still do, but I appreciate more greens & whites. I’m slowly getting onto Oolong’s now that Buddha Hand really impressed me.

I have a feeling I’m going to love matcha & Pu’er more now that I am swapping with people here to try them.

Overall, my tastes are changing as I am learning more about these different types of teas. I love the addiction!

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Lindsay said

I was born a tea-bag drinker, only occasionally though since I’ve been drinking coffee steadily since age 15.

Since I started with loose leaf tea a year ago, I’ve been into most flavoured teas. I definitely still buy mostly flavoured assortments of blacks, whites, greens and reds. I love herbal teas and their many variations. I now also love chinese greens and green oolongs, thanks to some samples and couragous shopping.

I tried to get into straight black tea, roasted oolong and pu’erh a few months ago, but my tastebuds don’t seem to appreciate those teas. I also had a bad experience with japanese sencha and am too scared to try it again, for now.

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Uniquity said

OP Tea bags → Flavoured tea bags →Flavoured tea/Tisanes → Unflavoured black tea → Unflavoured oolongs..

Still no love for white or green tea, and much less love now for flavoured teas.

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Excelsior said

Lipton—>Twining—>Princeton(MF)—>Queen Victoria(MF)—>Namring Upper(MF)

I like all teas yet I am currently fond of the First Flush Darjeelings from Mariage. FF Castleton, FF Margaret’s Hope, FF Namring Upper, FF Bloomfield, FF Jungpana, FF Namring. I have not found anything better and when comparing the MF FF teas, they are all excellent in taste, aroma, quality. To choose one over another becomes a matter of preference.

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