Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
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G reat tea blends often start amid daydreams. Maybe a memory of a walk in the woods brings to mind a smell that can be captured. Or thoughts of an enjoyable dinner give you flavors to re-create in the cup. But it's one thing to wax poetic about blending, and it's another to get one's hands dirty and master the process. How does one actually get from idea to tantalizing tea blend? Read on to find some of the crucial information needed to create your own masterpieces. F irst things first: Tea comes from the Camellia sinensis plant, and there are five tea types: pu-erh, black, oolong, green and white (some pros add a sixth category, yellow). Tea blends usually start with one of these teas as a base, then use a wide range of complementary items including dried fruits, florals, spices and herbs. Non-tea blends—also known as tisanes—will use an herb as the base before adding those complementary items. While all the ingredients are in dried form for the blending process, some of them may have undergone a previous flavoring process. And what are the most common tea blends? Breakfast teas are often big sellers, usually built around a black tea full-bodied enough to stand up to milk, cream, sugar or any of the other additions that consumers enjoy in their morning cup. Another common blend is masala chai, which typically uses black teas from India's Assam region as a base; the leaf is combined with a spice blend that usually includes cinnamon, cardamom, clove, ginger and sometimes black pepper. When talking about time-honored blends, it's important to note that there are no specific recipes, and tea companies often develop their own versions of concoctions that go by English Breakfast, Lady Grey or other monikers. These different takes on the classics contain flavor profiles that are similar and consistent—but not exactly alike. Masala chai, for example, has been passed down over generations in India, and as a result the recipes are as varied as Italian grandmothers' tomato sauce recipes. Such flexibility is good news for the person doing the blending. It gives you room for experimentation and for differentiation: You may decide you don't like the taste of a commonly used ingredient in your blend, or you might discover a secret ingredient that makes a blend truly yours. C reating new blends is fun, and with practice, results improve as blends gain depth and dimension. If a traditional cupping room is not available, set up your blending space in a clean area free of extraneous aromas. Just as with tea cupping, copious notes should be kept. For me, the necessary tools are: • A notebook or tablet, so that you may date and carefully document every step of the process. These notes will be invaluable when tweaking and/or re-creating blends. • A gram scale. Start with small quantities and then scale up. • Bowls to hold all potential ingredients. Keep these in view and easily accessible. Also include additional bowls in which to mix ingredients. • A kettle—one with settings for various water temperatures is recommended but not necessary. However, a thermometer or other means of measuring water temperature is useful. • A timer to ensure proper steeping. • Tasting cups. With the stage set, follow these blending guidelines: USE YOUR MIND FIRST. As I mentioned, memories, aromas and the wider food world can all be good inspirational starting points. Individuals are extremely loyal to their favorite teas, and if you can create something people connect with on a deep level, they may become your customers for a long time. When attempting to capture an inspiration, don't be afraid to pull from a vast array of ingredients. The blending process begins in one's mind, and a trial-and-error process then ensues as you try to translate that into tangible taste results. I find that a relevant mantra for me is: balance, balance, balance. Blending ingredients should be selected for specific flavor profiles that complement, enhance or agitate each other—it's similar to pairing tea and food. Some ingredients pair well or complement each other when mixed. Others help to draw out certain notes in another ingredient, thus enhancing. Then there are ingredients that seem to conflict but actually settle in quite nicely together. BASE NOTE. The first ingredient to find is the base, which is the dominant flavor that will act as the blend's anchor. When determining the teas or tisanes that will be used in this role, mind the steeping applications for each one selected—water temperature, steep time and ratio of tea to water—for the most effective brew. The ingredients must be in harmony; rarely do we see blends that include both black and white tea for the express reason that they require different water temperatures and steep times for optimal results. Now let's say we're leaning toward Keemun as a base. Imagine the taste of this Chinese black tea, generally described as medium-bodied and winey with a slight hint of smoke. Decide what would pair well with these characteristics. If the intention is to complement the smokiness, this could be done with another smoky tea such as Lapsang Souchong. Perhaps you could coax out or enhance the winey notes in the tea by adding a dark-berry-flavored ingredient. Or the goal might be to introduce a delicate floral aspect that would seemingly conflict with or agitate the smokiness— something easily achieved with rose petals. continued on page 50 freshcup.com May 2013 49