Are flavored white teas "junk'?

[TeaParcel]

You can really tell the difference immediately between natually scented Jasmine teas and those sprayed. The real deal is so nice while the sprayed is quite bleh to disgusting.

Is there any way to describe how you can see the difference (For example by how it looks, or how taste? The place where I buy Jasmine Silver Needle - the taste is ok ( although i like Bai Hao without jasmine better ). But neither me , neither my friend who is also fan of white tea - cannot understand wheather it's sprayed or it's natural.

[jcov]

I'm about to contradict myself here, I hope that at the end it still makes sense. Yes, flavored tea is cheaper lower grade. And in my experience every time I find a vendor talking/writing about how their flavored tea is still 'good quality' it basically means (you wont spit it out when you drink it). But lower grade doesn't mean all bad, and as mentioned by others it depends on the process itself.

To be 'flavored' and 'fragrance' are two COMPLETELY separate things. Flavored in my experience usually means adding an artificial flavor or concentrate of a flavor to the tea to 'save' it, since its not that good by itself. Where as 'Fragrance' tea is usually high grade tea that has adopted a taste/scent due to the process or even storage. Examples would be Jasmine fragrance teas (there are 'flavored' and you'll taste the difference right away and specially in re-steeping your tea), which are now found in really high end and expensive offerings. Another example... Puerh, Bamboo fragrance, Pomelo fragrance and so on.

But to each its own, we all love tea, we just love different teas. Enjoy what you love

[beecrofter]

Not if you enjoy them.
Not my cup of tea.
But there are no "shoulds" .

[Vermont Cathy]

Hi, everyone. I'm new here, so be gentle.

Not only am I new here, I'm new to loose leaf tea. After seeing that a lot of the flavored teas have bits of real fruit, I'm thinking of getting unflavored teas and then adding my own dried fruit. I have a food dehydrator and already have dried apples sitting on the shelf. Pineapple would be easy to do also, as well as orange peel. Chop 'em up relatively small, and toss them in the diffuser basket. I do think that the flavors won't be as strong as flavored teas since the flavored teas use natural flavors. So I hope that I will at least notice hints of the fruit I add. So, has anyone tried this kind of thing?

[Jspigs]

Hi, everyone. I'm new here, so be gentle.

Not only am I new here, I'm new to loose leaf tea. After seeing that a lot of the flavored teas have bits of real fruit, I'm thinking of getting unflavored teas and then adding my own dried fruit. I have a food dehydrator and already have dried apples sitting on the shelf. Pineapple would be easy to do also, as well as orange peel. Chop 'em up relatively small, and toss them in the diffuser basket. I do think that the flavors won't be as strong as flavored teas since the flavored teas use natural flavors. So I hope that I will at least notice hints of the fruit I add. So, has anyone tried this kind of thing?

Welcome to Teachat!
I have not tried this but it certainly sounds very interesting. If you try it please let us know if it works well.

[Chip]

The bulk of the flavor for most flavored teas is derived from oils sprayed on the leaves, not the fruit pieces which is often more decoration than anything.

I learned this early on on my TeaJourney when I added bits of dried fruit, etc. The "flavor" was just not there.

So, long story short, I purchased an over abundance of flavored teas along with some unflavored ones to try ... I never did finish any of those flavored teas.

Of course, you should discover your own path ... but part of that should definitely include trying unflavored versions of teas as well.

[Vermont Cathy]

I think this will be my excuse to place another tea order - I mostly bought flavored teas. But I do like them. But maybe I'll start by mixing them with unflavored. OK, off to try tea forte estate Darjeeling.