Who else drinks only non-flavored tea?

Me! I love natural tea, and I can’t recall when I last drank anything flavored. Well…I’ve drunk tea that had some stevia leaf added to it for sweetness. But I abhor tea with artificial flavors or aromas. And why do people keep giving that kind of tea as gifts? Brrr.

The straight ones tend to have a more authentic profile, I think. I’m finding myself drawn towards straight teas more and more. Flavoured is ok, but sometimes I have a bad reaction and so I need to be careful.

I am glad I’m not the only one…. I just threw out a sample of “autumn cranberry” today after one sip. I do use flavored tea in the summer, for iced tea. But in all honesty, I prefer a black tea to drink hot. I think a lot of inferior tea can be ‘hidden’ by fake flavoring. I feel the same way about coffees— what does fake irish cream oil have to do with a good coffee? about as much as fake blackcurrant oil has to do with tea. YUCK.
I do admit to being suckered into buying flavored tea if the name or packaging is enticing enough… but sadly, the flavor never really lives up to the hype. I like to think my palate is ’mature" LOL… but all bets are off in the hot summer time. Then and only then do I want a strawberry or mango-peach {COLD} :D

Although I drink pure tea most of the time, I would happily take any tea flavored/scented with real flower/fruit/herb. There are a few jasmine teas that I like very much.

Unless it’s to be polite in social events, I wouldn’t take any beverage flavored with agents that are not real botanical materials. I understand there are organic fragrant oils that are extracted from botanical materials. They could be perfectly fine and healthy for other people, but I choose not to take them. On the other hand, I am less tolerant of the idea of tea flavored with artificial fragrant oils, but I understand there are many FDA approved ones of such kind. So I guess different people just have different degree of tolerance on them.

That’s me… straight Camellia Sinensis all day all night :) No milk sugar bergamot or flowers for me…

I mostly drink tea (non-flavoured tea), but there are a few flavoured teas I still enjoy. “Regular” tea always feels like a deeper, richer experience most of the time, plus I get to drink more of it through resteeping.

I thought I was the only one left who liked “real” tea! My friends are all big tea-nuts but they all love the flavoured teas and keep telling me I’m missing out. Granted, there are a few flavoured teas that I really like (David’s Tea’s pumpkin chai is great) but for the most part I want a traditional, straight tea. Perhaps I have a more sophisticated palate?? ;)

What ever tickles my fancy I will sure try it and probably love it. The only thing that can get tiresome is uber flavored teas that really tastes nothing but perfumey oils or chemically flavors that makes me queasy even dizzy at times. Its like drinking air freshener! if it is flavored I usually prefer a balance of flavors like chai but otherwise I drink both unflavored and flavored teas just not the ones that are sickeningly drowned in perfume.

The way I see it, tea is the only thing I drink, since I basically have no tolerance for cold drinks. Plenty of people drink both fine wine AND flavored juices/sodas. That’s what it’s like in my mind – a nice unflavored tea is like a fine wine, and a tea that’s flavored is like a can of soda. I like both.

Well, I would say me too…but it wouldn’t be completely honest. And I can’t say that every flavor added to the few I still drink on occasion is natural, but I think it is. I do still like Mariage Freres Marco Polo and another one of theirs. (Which is all I’ve tried, there might well be more I like). And I hate to admit it, but Teavana’s Youthberry/Orange Blossom tea is awesome. These are evening treats to me. In the morning, I want a good tea that the flavors derive from the tea itself. I started off with flavored teas and have been slowly finishing them off as iced teas. They don’t appeal to me at all, for the main part. Cheesecake tea? Yechhhh.