The biggest question is of an ethical nature: Is it right to flavor teas?
Most customers that come by the store are looking for something sweet, fruity or even straight up bubble tea. How should the tea community as whole react to this movement in tea consumption? Browsing forums such as TeaMuse, I get the sense that flavoring is frowned upon as the stuff of amateurs, the equivalent of drinking Franzia Sparkling wine in a box for the wine connoisseur. It is true that straight up tea has enough flavors on its own to keep the devotee going for a lifetime. Even within green tea, flavors can range from a full earthy almost smoked flavor that tastes like food, to a a light and sweet brew with hints of rose. There are the many pu'er teas, which have a greater range than cheese for flavors. Still, most people are not so interested in the traditional tea experience.
I have worked my way through the 100+ flavored teas we offer at the teahouse in the last week, and may be gaining a new tolerance to the idea of, say, strawberry rhubarb mixed with sencha, or lemon twist black tea. First, the original tea experience involved blending. In early history, tea was too bitter to drink alone, so it was boiled with fruits, flowers, and vegetables. Blends are not blasphemous to tradition. In fact, they are a return to ancient preferences.
Next, the fanatics among us must consider, what is the ultimate goal in drinking tea? For me, tea is about ceremony. It is a chance to reconsider beauty in the everyday, and it provides a moment for contemplation. Flavored teas can fulfill this role equally well. I would rather see someone sit for 30 minutes and steep cranberry orange white tea than take a fine pu'er and steep it in a tea bag while driving to work. Connoisseurs among us need a reality check. we admire different "flavors" within the range of unflavored tea, but we spurn the addition of flavors that sometimes work quite well with the tea. For example, an Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong should have a lilac fragrance. What is flowers were blended with this tea to bring out such a fragrance?
My last point on this matter is a bit more abstract. Tea preparation is a form of alchemy. My meaning, is that different elements are combined through a process that must be learned to create a superior final product. Alchemy, in the mind of early Italian and Chinese practicioners, was not about finding a recipe for gold, but a massive allegory for the combination of different elements in the soul to allow for transcendence. Tea, as described in The Book of Tea, is a form of religion that leads to some sort of transcendence or enlightenment. Blending teas is an extension of that alchemy, not a refutation.
I still enjoy the taste of unflavored teas most, simply because their diversity is so intriguing. Yet, I will no longer cringe to serve up that Bahaman Fruit Blend, knowing that the person drinking it is having the same experience i would have drinking a Wuyi Oolong. This is something that all of us tea lovers must learn if we want tea to become widely accepted in the America. Tea is humility- those of us who try to make it something too loft for others are destroying it.
Perhaps the compromise to be contemplated is how we can put blending in the service of bring out each teas natural flavor, and try to resist completely eliminating what the leaves had to offer. This will allow people to see tea in its true form while still enjoying the comfort of flavors they know.
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