TeaChat

Has anyone ever added spices to their teas?

If anyone can please do tell me.

I was thinking of mixing spices in a green tea. How often does that work out?

Anyone have any tips or stories for me?

I've played more with spices for herbal tea blends than for C. sinensis teas, but lots of spices seem to do nicely in various infusions. I've added these whole, or lightly crushed, with good results: cinnamon, cardamom (pods or seeds), anise, saffron, cloves, allspice. I'm sure that there are others that would also be good used this way (for example, short pieces of vanilla bean, cut open), but I can't vouch for them. How much to use and which teas to spice is of course up to your taste buds.

Would black or green tea be better for this?

... and ginger!

Have to agree on the ginger.

Re: which tea to spice up, I like my green, oolong, and puerh teas so well I'd never seriously consider spicing them up. I spice up herbal mixes with tulsi and/or chamomile as the base element.

For melding of flavors and tea, I think that mellow deeply toasted oolong might work very nicely, a nice basic &inexpensive version.

I'll try later today.

I'll be sure to tell you how it goes.
Wish me luck!

UPDATE:

I mixed Masala spice with Tung Ting.
Came out okay.

Then I added orange peel and it wasn't very good.

Chip wrote:... and ginger!

YES! Ceylon tea with milk and ginger.

also Ceylon tea with mint and sugar

Yummy!

SlientSipper wrote:Then I added orange peel and it wasn't very good.

Mistakes are an inevitable part of the experimental process. As long as you're learning from the mistakes, it's ok.

debunix wrote:

SlientSipper wrote:Then I added orange peel and it wasn't very good.

Mistakes are an inevitable part of the experimental process. As long as you're learning from the mistakes, it's ok.

So instead of orange peel I tried Lemon Grass and Ginger.

My dad likes it. My mom likes the smell of it but, couldn't drink it.

I think its meh. I don't hate it...

I'll try this again with a black tea.

I usually drink teas without adding anything, although there are some exceptions:

- cinnamon and ginger to Ceylon tea;
- fresh spearmint and cane sugar to Gunpowder;
- acacia or lime honey to Hibiscus (served hot, in winter);
- lemon juice, coriander and cane sugar to Hibiscus (served cold, in summer);
- ginger and coriander to Rooibos.

I toss some whole spices (usually cinnamon, cardamom, clove, fennel seed and vanilla) in with black tea, sugar and milk to make original Indian chai. Delicious!

I love to poke around asian grocery stores looking for novel ingredients. Once I found a small box of tea masala (Mangal brand I think) in our local Indian grocer. I tried it with black tea (milk and sugar) and although it was fine I had two issues with the flavour: Firstly I question the use of ground spices in tea. Powdered spices infuse rapidly and it would be very easy to use too much. They also stale quickly and loose their fresh aroma. Another problem is the gritty, powdery texture it creates. Obviously using your own selection of whole spices avoids this problem. Secondly, indian tea masalas commonly contain black pepper. Yes it does give masala chai a strong kick but I found this flavour to be a bit too aggressive for my liking. Adding whole peppercorns would tone down the heat somewhat but still provide that nice lemony aroma. I love to use Indian spices but mainly just to create my own curry masalas.

I hear ya about the gritty texture

It also happens with these instant chai mixes they use in cafes to make 'chai latte'. That tastes nice in its own right (imo), but it doesn't taste anything like the real thing!

I wonder if a spiced Tie Kwan Yin would taste?

Dare I try it?