DIYS Tea Blending

[Richard Kilgore]

My local fine teashop, The Cultured Cup, has created a couple of personal blends for me and I have been very pleased with them, especially the one called "Richard's Three Mountain Blend". (I get nothing out of this, but you can call them and order it with a minimum 6 - 8 ounces). But I am interested in learning more about how to do this myself. It appears to be similar to blending coffee beans - you select one solid, smooth tea for the body of the blend and then something for more of a bass note and then a little of something more distinctive. Or something like that.

Has anyone else experimented with creating your own blends? What has worked well for you?

[Naftal]

Hello again-There is a chinese tea called rose pouchong (or something like that) and it does have a slight rose taste. I have bought dried rose flowers/petals at my local middle east market(they use it in cooking). I add this to an inexpensive black tea. I use a lot of rose because I like the flavour, but I am sure it could be adjusted for individual tasts.Also, I have a tea canister made of cinnamon bark and tea left in it does get a slight cinnamon taste/scent.

[Richard Kilgore]

Today I am drinking my own blend. Something i never did before. I have been wanting a Russian Caravan, and can't find one i can afford, so i mixed it myself. 1/3 Oolong, 1/3 lapsang souchong, 1/3 keemun. I like it a lot.  The flowery oolong and the smoke mix very well, and the keemun give is body and fills in the background.

I will make this again!

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What type of Oolong are you using in this blend, Yajna?

Anyone else blending their own teas?

[Yajna Patni]

Weel... i have talked about my budget before... 10$=about half my groceries for the week... So it is some stuff from china town, it was $2.75 in a tin that has a picture of a mountain and a dragon on it. It claims to have been "prepared with traditional sanitary method and giving the most fragrant flavour when cooked"

I can not comment on the traditional sanitary method, but it is kind of fragrant. it definitely has the oolong flowery flavour, although marred by extreme bitterness, and i like bitter. . My biggest issue is it has a gigantic amount of caffeine and i am very sensitive to that. But it is fine in a blend. I am not sure i would want to use a fine oolong and mess it up with lapsang.

True, if i was a little more flush i would spring for a few degrees better, although this tin does promise me at the bottom that "an exellent drink guaranteed" do you think i could take them up on it?

[Yajna Patni]

But if we are talking about it like music.... the lapsang is the bass note, the keemun the mid range, and the oolong the treble. the keemun fills in the spaces, the oolong plays around on the top, and the lapsang sings the deep bass. This one might be a little bass heavy, but definitely benefits from the playful oolong soprano.

[Yajna Patni]

As i think i realise i do make blends sometimes. For me it is generally honestly to eke out an expensive tea. I mix my beloved lapsang with either keemun or Assam, it reduces the smokiness and adds other nuances, and the old standard which is Assam +Darjeeling. I assume it is standard because i have seen so many Indian families mix red label and green label, which is Assam and Darjeeling. at least i think red label is assam? this makes quite a balanced tea, the Darjeeling giving the top notes. It would probably not work with the really delicate Darjeelings, but works great with the more robust ones. And again, can be used to eke out a favorite.

[Sprinkles]

I'll be interested in blending my own teas as well. Where do you purchase your teas from? Do you buy them fresh or from the supermarkets? Sorry I'm new to this but greatly interested because I'm constantly drinking tea at work.