Blending teas primarily ensures the stable quality of large batches of raw Tea. By combining teas with different characteristics, their strengths and weaknesses complement each other, optimizing the overall quality while enhancing the economic value of the raw tea. Moreover, blending ensures that each batch of produced tea maintains a consistent taste and appearance, stabilizing its quality features.

What are the benefits of blended teas?

Blended tea refers to the mixture of teas from different origins but of the same quality, or from the same origin but of different grades, according to specific formulas. The market for blended teas is currently dominated by large manufacturers, as blending is a highly skilled process requiring extensive expertise from blenders. Large manufacturers have access to more diverse blending formulas and experience.

There are currently five concepts of blending: regional blending, grade blending, age blending, seasonal blending, and vintage blending. Regional and seasonal/vintage blending are the most common, such as blending older tea leaves into new tea to enhance its smoothness and aged flavor.

Compared to single-origin teas, blending involves greater technical complexity. Without decades of experience with Liu Bao tea, one cannot claim to be skilled in blending. Blending is a closely guarded secret among large manufacturers, and they never reveal their formulas. For these manufacturers, blending significantly increases product volume and helps utilize raw materials of different grades and periods (spring, summer, and autumn teas). Thus, blended teas offer numerous advantages.

The benefits of blended teas include:

1. Large manufacturers purchase raw materials comprehensively, including spring, summer, and autumn teas together, which helps reduce costs.

2. The resulting blends have rich flavors with distinct layers, providing a solid and substantial drinking experience.

3. The combination of different teas enhances their aromatic qualities, making them more complex and enduring. For instance, one ingredient may lack durability but have a strong aroma, while another may be durable but less fragrant; blending them can create a tea that is both aromatic and long-lasting. Blending can mask flaws, highlight strengths, and ensure complementary advantages among the teas.

4. Blended teas exhibit higher stability, as the complementary aspects make it difficult to find significant defects. A single-origin tea might have a very weak aroma, which is a significant flaw, but blended teas achieve a more balanced profile. While a particular aspect of the taste might stand out, there are rarely any significant deficiencies in any aspect.