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Flavored Tea

Wikipedia: Tea_blending_and_additives 
Last Updated: Feb. 2, 2016 

About Flavored Tea

Colorful loose-leaf flavored tea blend with black tea leaves, blue and purple flowers, and large olive-green dried leavesTARDIS Blend, Loose-leaf Flavored Tea, Photo © Rebecca Siegel, CC BY 2.0.
Flavored tea is made by blending leaves of the tea plant Camellia sinensis with some other flavoring, usually herbs, spices, flowers, or fruit.

There are many types of flavored teas, since they can be made out of different varieties of tea and there is no limit to the types of flavoring that can be used. Some of the most well-known flavored teas are Earl Grey (usually black tea + bergamot orange), jasmine tea (usually green tea + jasmine blossoms), and moroccan mint tea (usually green tea + mint leaves).

Fruits are also common blending ingredients. Commonly used fruits include lychee, orange, berries, or various tropical fruits. Herbs and spices commonly combined with tea include mint, ginger, ginseng, cinnamon, cardamon, clove, and fennel.

Flavored teas can be mixed up into a blend which is packaged and sold as-is, or they can be made up at the time of brewing.

Scented teas

When the tea is flavored only with flowers, especially when the flavoring is carried out through a process of layering the leaves with flowers and then removing the flowers, the resulting tea is sometimes called scented tea. Jasmine tea is produced by this method, and slightly less commonly, osmanthus. Flowers with a very strong aroma, such as rose, often just have their petals mixed in with the leaf, and this yields a strong enough aroma.

Extracts and artificial flavorings vs whole ingredients

Loose-leaf black tea with whole slices of almond and red-orange safflower petalsPhoto by A Girl With Tea, Photo © A Girl With Tea, CC BY 2.0.
Many flavored teas are produced by adding extracts or essential oils, or less commonly, artificial flavorings, to a base tea. This method is inexpensive and often yields a more consistent flavor, and sometimes can yield more potent flavors than blending with whole ingredients. However, it can yield blends that are flat or unnatural tasting, lacking the complexity attained by blending tea with whole ingredients.

When this method is used, essential oils and natural extracts are preferable, and tend to produce better results, than artificial flavorings. In the U.S. the legal definition of "natural flavors" is broad, including any flavoring obtained from a natural source, including both essential oils and more processed substances such as distillates or flavorings extracted by enzymolysis or heating. When reading ingredient lists, seeing the term "natural flavors" thus provides little information about what you can expect from the quality of the blend.

Many companies use both extracts with whole ingredients in their flavored teas. In some cases the whole ingredients do impart significant flavor and aroma, but in other cases they are mainly for show, being present in too small a quantity to influence how the tea tastes and smells.

Recent Flavored Tea Reviews — RSS rss icon

59 / 100
Picture of Parlour Room Blend

This is one of those uncommon tea blends that smells and tastes exactly as advertised—no hidden "flavours" (as it's spelled where sold), no surprises, no Trojan horses. That's a good thing, if you like a smoky rose tea with some fruity elements. Murchie's describes this as, "Evoking the atmosphere of a Victorian si...

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85 / 100
Picture of Darling Grey (Teabags)

Darling Grey (Teabags) from Whittard of Chelsea

Style: Earl Grey Tea – Region: Blend
Feb. 24th, 2024

Given how much of a waste of time and steeping water Whittard's standard Earl Grey was, expectations for this version ran low. What a pleasant surprise instead!

Not only did this tea actually have a detectable and pleasant aroma upon opening the wrapper and sniffing the dry bag, that carried over quite strongly i...

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65 / 100

Culinary Teas Earl Grey from Culinary Teas

Style: Earl Grey Tea – Region: ?????
Jan. 29th, 2024

This is a pleasant EG, but very much on the lighter side. There is not a lot of bergamot flavor, and the tea is a little thin - but it makes a perfectly enjoyable cup. I would recommend this to someone who likes a mild Earl Grey.

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75 / 100

Lavender Earl Grey from Culinary Teas

Style: Earl Grey Tea – Region: ?????
Jan. 20th, 2024

This has a little lavender flavor plus a lot in the potpourri-like aroma, and there is plenty of bergamot too. With lemon or lime and sugar, it has a candied orange peel flavor. I preferred it with milk and sugar, which is a little more subtle. A good change of pace from the usual Earl Grey.

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60 / 100

German Gingerbread from Culinary Teas

Style: Flavored Black Tea – Region: ?????
Jan. 15th, 2024

This was my least favorite of the 3 holiday-spice-cookie teas that I got from Culinary. It tastes somewhat like gingerbread, but it could use some more sweetness and spice. I had it with almond milk, and it is possible that had a negative effect on the taste.

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Review 103 teas to get on this list!

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Most-Rated Flavored Tea

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Earl Grey

Brand:Twinings
Style:Earl Grey Tea
Region:?????
Caffeine:Caffeinated
Leaf:Teabag
28
43 Ratings
No image of this tea

Earl Grey

Brand:Bigelow Tea
Style:Earl Grey Tea
Region:Blend
Caffeine:Caffeinated
Leaf:Teabag
17
22 Ratings
No image of this tea

Lady Grey

Brand:Twinings
Style:Fruit Black Tea
Region:Blend
Caffeine:Caffeinated
Leaf:Teabag
21
22 Ratings
No image of this tea

Constant Comment®

Brand:Bigelow Tea
Style:Flavored Black Tea
Region:?????
Caffeine:Caffeinated
Leaf:Teabag
33
12 Ratings
No image of this tea

Zen Filterbags

Brand:Tazo Tea
Style:Flavored Green Tea
Region:?????
Caffeine:Caffeinated
Leaf:Sachet
12
12 Ratings

Top-Rated Flavored Tea

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Golden Orchid

Brand:Whispering Pines
Style:Vanilla Black Tea
Region:Blend
Caffeine:Caffeinated
Leaf:Loose
100
4 Ratings
Picture of Earl Grey Decaffeinated Black Tea

Earl Grey Decaffeinated Black Tea

Brand:Bigelow Tea
Style:Earl Grey Tea
Region:Blend
Caffeine:Decaffeinated
Leaf:Teabag
100
3 Ratings
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Organic Bangkok (Green Tea with Coconut, Ginger and Vanilla)

Brand:Harney and Sons
Style:Flavored Green Tea
Region:Blend
Caffeine:Caffeinated
Leaf:Loose
99
3 Ratings
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Masala Chai

Brand:Rishi Tea
Style:Chai / Spiced Tea
Region:Blend
Caffeine:Caffeinated
Leaf:Loose
98
4 Ratings
No image of this tea

Green Tea with Peach

Brand:Bigelow Tea
Style:Fruit Green Tea
Region:?????
Caffeine:Caffeinated
Leaf:Teabag
94
4 Ratings

Varieties, Kinds, or Types of Flavored Tea

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