For thousands of years, people around the world have been combining leaves and hot water to create simple beverages that are deeply nourishing. Tea is just the dried leaves of a single plant species, camellia sinensis, but how the tea is grown, and processed and what it’s mixed with are the ingredients that make it unique. Different tea varietals grow and develop differently depending on the climate, soil, and processing techniques. This is called terroir and it’s the key reason why different teas have such a wide range of flavors and characteristics.

It’s also very common for Tea Story to be scented or mixed with herbs, flowers, oils, and bits of fruit or chocolate to make them more interesting and flavorful. This is sometimes referred to as blending.

The Health Benefits of Drinking Flavorful Tea Blends

Most of us are familiar with flavored teas such as Earl Grey or Twining’s Lady Grey which is made by infusing black tea with bergamot oil and citrus peels. Another popular flavored tea is Chinese Jasmine which is a green tea scented with jasmine flowers. Tea blends can also be roasted, such as genmaicha which is a Japanese green tea with toasted brown rice or Korean hyeonmi-nokcha which is a mix of oolong and black teas smoked with pine needles to give it its distinctive smokey taste.

The possibilities of making your own tea blends are almost endless, and they’re a great way to experiment with new ingredients or to try different combinations of teas and flavors that you like. Just remember to keep the ratio of true tea leaves to other ingredients at a minimum, as too much non-tea can lead to damp and moldy tea.