Heaven of Tea

One of the pleasures of using loose-leaf teas is being able to blend multiple teas and get a unique, delicious tea blend that is all your own. You can also blend teas to add health benefits; for example, adding Silver Needle White tea doesn’t change the taste of most teas, but will give you a big boost in antioxidants and help to detoxify your body.

But blending does require a bit of tea knowledge, so to speak. In the Teavana stores we often get questions about how to make blended teas, so it seems obvious we should answer those here.

Typically blended teas involve equal parts of two or three teas, but for a really custom blend feel free to mix the amounts so that they suit your tastes. When you are blending teas, you need to know how to steep each of the teas included in the blend. The general rule is that you make the tea according to the instructions on the tea that is most likely to get bitter.

So if your tea includes a green tea, you probably want to steep it at 175 to 180 degrees for just a minute or so. If it is two herbal teas, on the other hand, use boiling water and steep for around five minutes. As a guide, here are general instructions on steeping teas in order of sensitivity:

Green Teas: Heat water to 175-180 degrees (before boiling) and steep for 1 minute.

White Teas: Heat water to 175-180 degrees (before boiling) and steep for 1 - 1.5 minutes at most.

Black Teas: Heat water to 195-205 degrees (right at boiling) and steep for 2-3 minutes.

Oolong Teas: Heat water to 195-200 degrees (just before boiling) and steep for 3-4 minutes.

Herbal Teas: Heat water to just boiling and steep for 5-6 minutes.

To use this list, make your tea blend using the instructions on the highest tea on the list. So if you have a blend of White tea and Oolong tea, use the White tea instructions (they are first). Make sense?

Note that if you have specific instructions for the tea you’re making, use those (not all green teas should steep for 1 minute, for example). But these are general guidelines you can use.

So be creative and start blending fresh, loose-leaf teas together. See how delicious you can make a cuppa tea!