The secrets of tea blending
Tea blends allow you to enter the fascinating universe of teas with their palette of varied tastes and exceptional nuances. The possible combinations between pure tea leaves and spices, fruits, and herbs seem endless and indulge your palate with intense flavors. We show you the secret behind the perfect tea blend and why they are ideal for curious tea beginners.
What is a tea blend?
In a tea blend, you can find more than one single ingredient. In the case of pure teas, whole tea leaves only are enough to release a full-bodied taste experience in our mouths, whereas a variety of delicious ingredients, such as fruits, flowers, spices, and aromas determine the rich taste of a tea blend. The real art lies in the perfect composition of all ingredients.
“Certainly, it requires deep expertise, knowing how to blend all the ingredients in the best way possible. But most importantly, we also need a good portion of creativity - playing around with proportions of ingredients to create a cup of tea that has not existed before.“
-Eduardo Molina Anfossi, PAPER & TEA Head of Tea Experience
In a good tea blend, all flavors of each component come together to create a unique whole. Creative tea experts created famous tea blends that have become incredibly popular. Earl Grey is a true classic among black teas, refined with citrusy bergamot oil. Here at PAPER & TEA, we took a twist on these classics and created audacious varieties since bergamot also pairs well with rooibos, green tea, and white tea. Genmaicha, a green tea blend of Japanese Sencha and roasted rice, is a favorite of many tea connoisseurs nowadays. First created as a nutritious drink for poor people, Genmaicha is today a pure delight for everyone.
Tea blends: Perfectly suited for tea beginners
Tea blends fill your cups with delightful happiness. And they are an excellent way to enter the world of teas and get to know a varied palette of tastes. That is mainly due to their multilayered, intense aromas that stimulate our palates. Did you know that you train your so-called organoleptic memory by trying diverse taste notes? You can think of it as a sensory memory. That is where we store all tastes. The more nuances you add to your repertoire, the more differentiated your palate becomes. Eventually, tea blends pave the way for you to enjoy pure teas and recognize their nuances.
“Once the right composition of flavors come together in a cup, a sip takes us on a journey through memories, feelings, or transports us to places that are special for us.”
-Eduardo Molina Anfossi, P & T Head of Tea Experience
The process of blending: All blending techniques
Tea blends are true masterpieces to us. The art of blending employs three different techniques: scenting, flavoring, and blending.
We asked Eduardo Molina Anfossi, P & T Head of Tea Experience, to explain to us the different methods of blending and what they are all about.
What is a scented tea?
Eduardo: “Scenting is a traditional process that already takes place in the origin where the tea is plucked. Flowers often are used to scent tea leaves. While scenting, the tea leaves are put into direct contact with the flowers to absorb their aroma. Our IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE N°323 is a good example, a delicate green tea scented with jasmine flowers. For this delicious result, green tea leaves are left overnight with layers of jasmine flowers, and this process gets repeated with new flowers multiple times - for over a month! We need 1,1 kg of jasmine flowers to produce 1 kg of scented tea.”
What is a flavored tea?
Eduardo: “The tradition of flavoring comes originally from Europe. Unlike scenting, it is not necessary to expose the tea leaves directly to the flavoring product itself. All we have to do is use the essential oil of the ingredient. For P & T teas, we only use natural aromas. One of the most famous flavored teas is Earl Grey. For our GOLDEN EARL N°514, the tips of a golden bud tea from Yunnan are bathed in bergamot oil from the South of Italy.”
What is the key to blended teas?
Eduardo: “Blending is the mixing of different ingredients. Either we blend pure tea leaves with other components or several teas with each other. On top, we can also combine different techniques: A flavored tea can be blended with a scented tea. Or we choose herbs as a base and blend them with other delicious ingredients. Masterfully blended is our BRAVE NEW EARL N°711: This tea combines all blending processes in one! It is a black tea with scented green tea, blended with high-quality ingredients such as juniper and last but not least flavored with bergamot oil.”
Masterfully blended: Our in-house Master Blends
As you can see, creating a tea blend is a very complex process. It requires a deep understanding of proportions and which ingredients go well together. The art of blending lies in developing the perfect recipe and composition technique(s). Within the tea blends in our assortment, you can find our in-house tea creations, which find our in-house tea creations, which our tea experts blend with great passion, expertise, and creativity.
Here are our Master Blends - created, individually designed, and hand-filled in Berlin. Unique creations to take you on a delicious journey with every sip. Fall in love with their incomparable recipes that you will only find at PAPER & TEA.
