Traditionally, people think of drinking tea only with one taste at a time – Oolong, Puer, Green, Black, and White etc. – and rarely do we think about adding different types of leaves together. While in the west it is common to add flavor-enhanced preservatives such as Mango or Cherry to a type of Green or Oolong Tea, there are few people who mix tea leaves together to make their own blend. This in fact is even rare in China and it almost seems like a tea sin to consider it, but tea lovers have actually found there are many great blends you can experiment with to spice up your tea tasting as well as make it more fun and creative.
Combining Leaves
To start, one of the simplest ways to try this out is to blend different leaves of the same tea type. Take green tea for example – you can add various high-mountain Taiwan teas and long green tea leaves from China to make your own specialized green tea. Doing this is a type of hybrid that creates not only a difference in aroma but also a different taste and fragrance that blends in nicely.
You can also try out different Puer teas together. Puer is a great one to try as there are all sorts of loose leaf Puers that are cooked or raw, and can be combined with another type such as a cooked cake. We like combining different ages of Puer, with one being cooked and the other raw to make an interesting combination that captures a combination of earthy, dry, yet soothing taste.
Combining leaves also means adding Oolong with Green to get a nice half blend between unfermented and half fermented tea while darker, more roasted types of Oolong can be mixed with Puer to get a nice fully fermented and half fermented blend for a bolder, rich are darker taste. Black tea also goes with roasted Oolongs and some people even like it with Puer. White tea is more rare so we have yet to combine it with others.
Combining other foods
While drinking tea straight from the pot itself provides many health benefits and is already extremely satisfying, we do understand that drinking the same type every day can get a bit old. Therefore, in order to mix things up a bit we have some recommendations for things you can add to different teas.
Puer
While honey is mostly used in red teas, a surprisingly large amount of people also enjoy adding honey to puer to give it an earthy, yet sweeter taste. Organic honey is high in nutrients and Qi, and is a great way to mix in more health benefits to an already healthy drink. Adding dark chocolate is also another great way to enjoy Puer as a type of alternative coco drink. If adding it directly into Puer, simply eating chocolate with Puer is delicious, with dark chocolate being the best in our opinions.
Green
Honey is also a great thing to add, and so is sugar cane. Real sugar canes and not processed sugar has many antioxidant and cold-fighting properties that make green tea that much healthier and tastier.
Black
Adding good cinnamon to black tea gives it a nice spice, and do not be afraid to add other spices to imitate or create your own Indian Chai. Orange flavoring either through extract or even small orange slices themselves can also be used for helping clear one’s throat as well as to help fight off colds. In fact, adding all sorts of fruit like pomegranate or peaches also makes for a very delicious drink.