TEA BLENDING

Having a bit of an experiment going on does any one have any know how about falvouring green tea such as sencha and bancha. There are many different ways to do this and I am struggling to find recipes and wether to use oils or natural flavours or even natural identical ? Any one have any expeeince. Thanks Maurice

Reply to
magicleaf
Loading thread data ...

There are a few I enjoy, mainly in the summer or iced. The best (IMO) being organic strawberry sencha. It has chunks of real mostly dehydrated strawberry and a medium quality sencha.

I have had an organic peach sencha which is good iced but not hot made in a similar manner.

Other than that I like the sencha/matcha blend sold in a local Asian grocery.

Of course you always have the standards, Jasmine, Lotus flower, ginger, lemongrass, etc. Which I always enjoy. I tried making a Haw (hawthorn) berry green blend once which failed miserably.

Stay away from the oils and use the real thing, even then a lot of the times just the essence is all that is needed like with jasmine.

- Dominic

Reply to
Dominic T.

Hey Dominic why is oils a stay away, do they go stale after a while make the flavor musky. I like your concept with the real thing that seems the best solution. I will go back to my lab and start the experiments .: /

Reply to
magicleaf

I stick with dried fruits and flowers. I don't like liquids even honey because they're usually a concentrate and you need to keep an eyedropper near by. It's amazing what you see in a well stocked herbal store. I'm not a fan of hidden scents. I should see something in the cup I know is alien. I think oils in generally would be immiscible and give the tea an appearance of being dirty. I'm talking about Chinese green tea which I think is a little more forgiving than it's kelpy Japanese neighbor. In that case you are looking for tisanes that go good with fish like roasted rice.

Jim

magicleaf wrote:

Reply to
Space Cowboy

As always, I'm not an expert in this area... beyond drinking a lot of flavored greens over time. Every time I have a really good flavored green it involves real flavoring, and almost every time I have a less than stellar one it is an oil/artificial flavoring.

Many greens are delicate and strong oils can be potent, and I think it would take a lot of experimentation to get the balance right. I'm not saying it can't be done, just that it is more likely than not that it will always be slightly off. I guess if it is all you have and you're not afraid of ruining some tea in the process go for it. Natural, whole, flavorings are just easier to deal with.

I've laid a piece of coffee filter on top of some green tea in a glass jar and then laid in some jasmine petals and sealed it up. Then I removed the filter and petals and enjoyed the tea which was perfectly lightly flavored.

HTH, experiment away and let us know how goes it.

- Dominic

Reply to
Dominic T.

But, but, but... Early Grey is made with an essential oil (bergamot)... and essential oil is "natural." There might be various best methods to scent the tea with the bergamot oil at home (spray? inserting scented sheets in the tea?) but let's not throw the baby out with the bath-water (hum-- strange images float to mind using that metaphor in a tea group...)

Reply to
Thitherflit

Sure, but I'm certain you've had some bad Earl Greys that used natural essential oils too. Like I said it isn't so much that essential oils are bad, just much harder to get right and consistent (especially at home and in small batches). I've had Earl Grey with real bergamot zest twice and both times it was out of this world... so I'm still sticking to the real original form is best theory. It was a similar thing with Monk's Blend (pomegranate and vanilla with ceylon) I thought the stuff I had been drinking was good which used essential oils and then I had an organic, hand-blended one that used the real deal and it was mind blowing.

- Dominic

Reply to
Dominic T.

I have tetsed some tea with madagascar vanilla pods that I cut up and mixed with the leaves, and I also sprayed some leaves with a ALL NATURAL vanilla spray which is alchol based , the alcol evaporates leaving the essence on the leaf. By far the natural vanilla is King ( tatses so much better) however when it comes to something like pineapple It may be a bit more difficult to get natural pieces to enjoy its true flavor. I agree with Dominic that the real is best, A lot of companies use natural identical which supposedly tatses and smells better but it is classified as a chemical. Maurice

Reply to
magicleaf

What is "Bergamot zest"?

I thought Bergamot oil _was_ the real thing.

Lars Stockholm Visit the big ACF freeware wiki:

formatting link

Reply to
Lars

Bergamot zest, like any citrus zest, is the outer peel of the fruit, which contains a huge amount of essential oils.

-Brent

Reply to
Brent

Vanilla flavoring is a popular scent the French like with their tea. I prefer that over the British bergamot. I've seen vanilla leaves at a herbal shop. I'll put that on my list of tisanes.

Jim

magicleaf wrote:

Reply to
Space Cowboy

Dominic, I'd be very interested in hearing where you got teas such as this, I am so frustrated when I look at tea shops online (Specialteas and probably Upton to some extent, among others) that use the oils or "natural flavors" but then throw pieces of stuff in that aren't there for flavoring but for...whimsy factor. So please tell me, where'd you get the zest Earl Grey and the Monk's blend, also do you know of other places that sell teas flavored with the "real deal"? This makes me think about putting some lemon zest in with some Ceylon or something...(or maybe cinnamon stick and orange peel).

Melinda

Reply to
Melinda

Honestly some of the best teas I've ever drank in my life have been basically accidents. I'll come across some little out of the way place (which are the kinds of places I tend to seek out when I travel) and most of the time they outwardly had no relation to tea.

I was on vacation and at a small bakery/sandwich shop and saw on their board that they had "Fresh Earl Grey" when I asked about it they said that they made some sort of tart with bergamot and it had just been an idea one day, it was amazing.

Others I have searched high and low for over a year for an exact tea, like the Monk's Blend... which I ended up finding online.

Other than that, I'm never afraid to just experiment. When you start with good tea and good ingredients, you're pretty sure you'll get something decent... except my horrible Haw experiment which was sour and terrible and not at all what I had hoped for. But they all can't be winners.

- Dominic

Have fun!

Reply to
Dominic T.

DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.