Quality Specialty Tea Blends Offer Enhanced Flavor Profiles

Tea blending is a process of blending different teas together to enhance the flavors and create a new or favored flavor profile. Tea blends can be blends of teas from different growing regions or tea can be blended with herbs, dried fruits and fruit zest and flowers. Perfumes, flavors and essential oils are often added to add flavor and aroma.

More after the jump…

Black Tea Blends
Breakfast teas are blends of different black teas that together are more robust and full-bodied in flavor than the individual teas. English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast and Scottish Breakfast Tea are all popular blends of robust black teas.

Afternoon tea blends are also black tea blends. These blends tend to be lighter in flavor than breakfast teas. Breakfast Teas and Afternoon Tea are often enjoyed at any time of day.
Flower Tea Blends

Jasmine tea is a well know blend of green tea with jasmine flowers, resulting in a delicious tea that is mildly flavored and scented by the jasmine flowers. The jasmine flowers are usually removed after the tea has absorbed their flavor and scent.
Chrysanthemum tea is often pure chrysanthemum flowers without any tea, although sometimes the blend contains black or green tea.
Herbal and Fruit Tea Blends
An herb that is commonly blended with tea is mint. Mint is often used alone as an herbal tea, or blended with black tea. Fresh mint is often used as a garnish as well.
Dried fruit and fruit zests are popular. Citrus zests combined with cinnamon and spices are popular in “Russian Tea” blends. Bits of dried cherry, mango, cranberry, peach and other fruits are often combined with tea and spices.
Spice Tea Blends
Spices are often blended with tea, especially in Indian, African and Middle Eastern cultures. Chai Tea and Thai Tea are popular spice and tea blends. Spices used most often include ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, cassia, black pepper, clove, anise, fennel, bay leaf, nutmeg, mace and vanilla.
Most tea blends are made with black teas, but green tea blends are becoming popular because of their additional health benefits. White tea can be easily overpowered by strong flavors, so it is used with only very delicate flavor blends.
Look for Quality Specialty Tea Blends
Blending tea with these flavor enhancers is a common technique used to boost the flavor of poor quality teas, so it is important to know that you are purchasing from a high quality tea purveyor. Often these blends will sell at a premium over the cost of the individual teas, so you want to get the quality you are paying for.