How is Tea Flavored?

So, how is tea flavored? At Fraser Tea ALL of our tea ingredients are organic. Everything from the hand-picked tea leaves, herbs, spices, fruits and organic flavoring are carefully chosen to accent the tea blends to bring to you the myriad of flavors we provide across our wide range of teas.

We are proud to bring to you the best tasting pure organic tea. In our commitment to stay organic, all ingredients, including organic flavor extracts, must pass rigorous tests to be validated as organic. Unlike other tea brands, Fraser tea uses ONLY Organic flavors, no artificial flavors or fillers. You can drink our tea and be confident that every sip is purely organic. Our organic tea is free from GMO’s, preservatives, chemicals and anything else that we would not want to give to our own family. To learn more about our organic pledge, please read our post, “What is Organic Tea.”

Tea Ritual

There is something magical about that first sip of tea. One uses five senses when experiencing the tea ritual. The five senses are sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. In this article we are going to focus mainly on the sense of smell (or aroma) and taste, and what happens in the blending process to create those inviting and delicious cups of tea.

In tea preparation, the first sense stimulated is the sense of smell. As you scoop the loose-leaf tea into a tea pot or open one our next generation non-GMO pyramidal tea bags your senses are awakened. As you pour your tea into your cup, the aroma grabs your attention. This is not an accident, as teas have been blended or scented with aromatic ingredients for centuries. Your brain is telling you this is going to taste good. More on taste, and how Fraser Tea influences the taste, in the next section.

Fraser Tea Method for Flavoring Tea

Essentially, there are four ways we use to accent flavors in our tea blends. First and foremost, we choose the very best organic black, green, oolong, rooibos, white, matcha and herbal tea components as the core flavor to the blend. The flavor we want to accent the core tea flavor with will determine our next steps and how is tea flavored for each individual blend.

Scented Tea is an older traditional process. Jasmine tea is a common and well-known example. For jasmine tea, organic jasmine flowers are mixed with organic green tea leaves to make the tea smell floral and fragrant. The natural organic oils from the jasmine flowers combine with the tea leaves for a period of time. The jasmine flowers are removed before packaging. If you’re a fan of jasmine, be sure to try one of our Organic Jasmine Teas. Scented tea is not to be confused with aromatherapy oils, which are not used in any tea processing. Organic flowers and organic tea are the only product applied for scented tea.
Inclusions are organic flowers, spices, herbs, roots, roasted rice, dried fruits, etc. that have been added to the tea blend to balance the flavors. These organic inclusions are mixed right in with the whole tea leaves. If you look closely at our tea blends you can see the actual fruits, flowers and spices. Some examples of an inclusion tea blend is our Green Chai Organic Green Tea , Genmatcha Organic Matcha Tea and Immunitea Organic Rooibos Tea.
Organic Flavor Extracts are National Organic Program (NOP) USDA certified organic. Our organic flavorings are created by extracting the flavors from organic fruits, leaves, roots or blossoms or other parts of a plant in an organic alcohol base solution. Sometime, these can also be referred to as tea extracts. Organic extracts are mixed in with the organic tea and organic inclusions for a delicious aroma and flavor. There are no GMO ingredients, synthetic solvents or preservatives in Organic Flavor extracts. Some examples of our tea blends using organic flavor extracts are our Go Go Goji Turmeric Organic Herbal Tea, Vanilla Rooibos Organic Rooibos Tea and Sweet Dreams Organic Herbal Tea.
Natural flavors (in a USDA Certified Organic” or “Made with Organic Product”) are very rarely used in our blends but fall into the category of being compliant with organic regulations. They do not contain preservatives, GMO’s or synthetic solvents.

Artificial Flavors Dangers

Unlike other tea companies, Fraser tea does NOT use tea extracts that contain artificial flavors or fillers. Artificial flavors are lab created chemical compounds that are made to resemble a natural occurring flavor. Did you know that they use chemical manipulations with crude oil and even coal tar to get the flavors they desire? Ewww. No thank you!

In addition, we do not use regular natural flavors to flavor our teas. Natural flavors are substances found in nature like plants and animals. On the face of it, “natural regular flavor” does not sound so bad, right? Nope, just wait, there is more. Did you know that up to 80% of regular natural flavors can be made from solvents, preservatives, emulsifiers and whatever the company determines might be an incidental additive?

You may be asking yourself, why would other tea companies put artificial ingredients or regular natural flavors in their tea? The answer is quite simple. Artificial flavors are much easier to find compared to organic flavor extracts, and therefore much cheaper. Fraser Tea does not use artificial flavor additives or regular natural flavors in our organic tea blends.

Health Risks – Artificial Flavors

Did you know there are around 1,300 ingredients approved by the FDA to be used in the production of artificial flavors? Really? The scariest part of all of this is that companies are not required by the FDA to list the ingredients they used. All the company is required to do is list the word “artificial flavor” in the ingredient list.

You could literally be ingesting 30 – 40 chemicals in your body to obtain just one flavor extract, maybe even more. What if those chemicals are something your body is not able to process or that you are allergic to it? Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a common ingredient used in artificial flavors. MSG is linked to many health issues like migraines, heart palpitations and much more according to the Mayo Clinic.

Difference between artificial flavors and natural flavors?

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), both regular natural flavors and artificial flavors are synthesized in laboratories. However, there is one essential difference: Artificial flavors come from petroleum and other inedible substances. Regular Natural flavors can refer to anything that comes from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or anything fermented from those foods.

If you drink Fraser Tea, you will never have to worry about these health risks. We do not use artificial flavors or fillers in our teas. Instead, we work diligently to find the best quality organic ingredients to bring to you the best quality organic tea to keep you healthy. Not only is organic tea linked to reduced health issues, but by choosing organic you are also doing your part in keeping the planet healthier too. If you want to learn more about the benefits of organic teas, be sure to read “What is Organic Tea?”.

Our commitment to quality and your safety doesn’t stop with our ingredients. Even our next generation non-GMO pyramidal tea bags were created with your health in mind. Come and explore the world of Fraser Tea Flavors. Whether you like fruity tea, floral tea, minty tea, spicy tea, sweet tea, citrus tea or traditional tea, we have a unique tea blend just for you.

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