Adding flavorings to Tea is a fraudulent practice. Flavored teas are generally cheaper, often being old or leftover teas that have been refurbished with flavorings and colorants, or low-quality teas enhanced with flavorings to improve their aroma. Truly good tea would never be adulterated with artificial flavors that could spoil its natural fragrance and taste.

How can you distinguish between “flavored tea” and natural tea?

1. Smell the Dry Leaves

Some special processing methods may result in lower fragrance in dry tea leaves. If you take a handful of tea and smell it, and the aroma is fresh and natural, it's likely unadulterated. Conversely, if the dry leaves have an intense and lingering aroma, there's a high probability that flavorings have been added.

2. Rub the Tea Leaves Between Your Fingers

You can rub the tea leaves between your fingers. If any powder or coloring sticks to your hand, it indicates that additives have been used.

3. Infuse at Low Temperature and Smell

If you infuse the tea with 80-degree water and the tea soup appears cloudy or has a very strong aroma, it's likely that flavorings have been added. Good tea requires water above 95 degrees for its aroma and taste to develop properly, while most flavorings dissolve and release their scent in water as low as 80 degrees.

4. Observe the Persistence of Aroma

If the aroma diminishes rapidly after each infusion and lacks variation, or if there is no tea aroma by the third infusion, it's possible that flavorings have been added.

5. Observe the Stain Overnight

After drinking the tea, leave the Cup unwashed overnight. The next morning, you'll find a thick layer of tea stain in the cup. If the stain is a shade of yellow, such as light yellow, deep yellow, or orange-yellow, it indicates that the tea contains no additives. Conversely, if the stain is greenish, whether light or dark, or even black-green, it suggests the presence of additives.

6. Experimental Method

The main components of chemical flavorings are petrochemical products. You can perform a simple test using a plastic bag or a sealed plastic zip-lock bag. Place the suspect tea inside and then put it into a sealed jar. After an hour, open the jar and smell the contents. At this point, the aroma of chemically flavored tea will have seeped out of the sealed plastic bag, and the odor within the jar will likely cause nausea.