"Both methods are possible," Cramer says. "The essential
oils work best for fruit flavors, and inclusions work best for creating spiced blends. We practice both. And while the flavor process for hot versus iced teas are the same, it is recommended to double the leaf-to-water ratio to account for the melting of ice." Bill Waddington, owner of TeaSource, says there are three
main ways to add flavorings and other ingredients to teas. "First just mixing in dry (or liquid) things into the dry tea leaves, including bits of dried fruit, spices, extracts, and flowers," Waddington says. "Second, spraying things over dry tea leaves—these need to be liquid flavorings or possibly extracts or essences. Third, adding flavor pellets: these are little tiny pellets (a little larger than carrot seeds) into the dry tea leaves. This is an option that is usually only used when putting tea into tea bags. TeaSource only uses option one—it is a little more labor-intensive, but I believe it gives us much more flexibility and control."
TAKING IT TO THE HOUSE Linda Smith, owner of Divinitea, strives to blend her
company's teas using only the finest certified organic and biodynamic teas, herbs and spices from around the world. Smith doesn't flavor her teas—rather, she has her recipes
written down and turns to an outside organic "house," where she has her recipes on file and they cup all of the components of the tea to Smith's specs. "In the tea world, I prefer to let the scientists do the
extractions, because they can follow my guidelines, but I can't do what they do," Smith says. With names like African Elixir, Caribbean Cooler, Organic
White Melon and Organic Peaches N' Cream, Smith strives to infuse her herbal and scented teas with much higher-grade products—including scents that are organically compliant, and smell and taste like natural fruits. "I will have the highest quality flavorings with seriously safe
bases," Smith says. "Then I contract the 'house' or company that will use my recipes, and all my tea grades and tea leaves are then shipped to Divinitea." Smith says there are several classic trends in terms of today's
hottest tea blends, including an herbal tea from South America that hasn't really come to fruition yet. Although a popular choice among many tea aficionados, Tulsi Basil tea is one that Smith chooses not to carry in her product offerings. "It is simply too technical because, according to the research, there are different kinds of Tulsi Basil for different body types," she says. "And that's just something I don't want to get into." Blended fruit tisanes continue to be a favorite among tea
drinkers. According to Adagio Teas, fruit teas, or tisanes, are caffeine-free tea blends containing a range of fruits, spices and herbs. The most common ingredient in fruit teas is hibiscus, a crimson flower that imparts a deep red color to the cup and a
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Dried fruits, flowers, spices and many more flavorings can be blended into tea.
