Flavouring teas?
Whats people’s thoughts on flavouring tea, why do it and not just enjoy it in its natural state? I do have a few but for me I like my tea as plain as it comes.
Oh I do hope I can make the following make sense.
Well that could apply to many other things in life other than tea. Why dye wool? Why not have it in the colour it comes? Why put spices and herbs in food? Why not have it in the flavours they come? Why paint the walls of your home? Why not have them in the colour they come? Why even put milk or sugar in your tea? Why not have it the way it comes?
It’s all a question of variation, experimentation, excitement and enjoyment. Some people like it this way, other people like it that way. Now, I don’t mean to say that unflavoured tea is in some way ‘incomplete’ as that would be blatantly untrue, but sometimes it’s just also nice to see what can be done with it. It doesn’t have to be a single ingredient wonder if we don’t want it to be, just as well as a yoghurt can be plain or flavoured with fruit. A yoghurt with no fruit in it is not incomplete either, nor is an egg without salt and pepper. But we do sometimes put fruit in yoghurt and salt and pepper on eggs, so why shouldn’t we also sometimes put it in tea?
Some people prefer their teas without flavouring. Others like some flavouring here and there. Some like it more than others. It’s not really that different to how different people like their food spiced differently.
(…I have not had breakfast yet. Can you tell?)
I was going to say something similar but you said it so well for me! Also now I want eggs :P
Mmmmm breakfast!
Good points made there, I suppose similar logic follows with coffee and gingerbread lattes etc
I do like a flavoured rooibus but would leave an assam well alone
I find Assam and vanilla go well together. But then again I’m pretty much a vanilla fiend these days. :p Seriously, though, Assam has been the base of some terrific vanilla blacks, I think, although I don’t think my favourite vanilla is Assam based. Don’t know what the base is on that one, actually. Probably something fairly generic.
Anyway, I think it’s not always just a question of flavouring stuff. I think it also depends on how well the added flavour go with the base, so you can’t always count on using the exact same base with everything. I think tweaking the base seems to be as important as tweaking the flavouring. (Says she who has never flavoured anything in her life apart from cooking or a random mixing of dregs) It’s a balance. For example, orange flavoured black tea is okay, but it doesn’t really push my happy buttons. Orange flavoured pu-erh, however, is om nom nom nom nom good.
I did try an orange oolong but that really didnt work. Smells lovely dry but once brewed tastes too weird
It looked and smelled appealing. Then I brewed it and its too bitter and sharp tasting
Sometimes adjusting the temp and/or steep time can change the flavor. Or maybe it was poor quality Oolong or Orange that made it suck.
I personally am a fan of flavored teas, though got to admit, there are not that many unflavored teas I’ve tried. Not opposed to it, but been on a tea buying hiatus since this summer, so just have not gotten around to it.
It was suggested to brew at 85 degrees for 2-3 mins. Its just a taste thing with the flavouring. It was a sound supplier (Tea House in Covent Garden, London)
Huh, interesting. I just took a sample of orange flower oolong from there out of the EU travelling teabox. I expect it’s probably the same one you tried then. I’ll try to remember to get back to you with what I think of it. I haven’t tried it yet. I’ll post about it obviously, but don’t hold your breath for that. I’ve got about 25 posts written and queued at the moment, and I tend to post them in order.
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