Tea my Valentine: Make your own tea blend

February is the month of love. Nothing is more beautiful than making something of your own for your loved ones, or simply for yourself. We've got all the tea lovers covered! Our Tea Sommelier put together this detailed guide on how to make your own tea blends. Pick and choose the flavors you like, but keep these basics in mind. Get ready to brew some love this Valentine's Day!

Here are simple ways you can use the Flavor Wheel and Tips from a Tea Sommelier on how to make your own personalized tea blends. All the recipe use ingredients that can be easily found around you.

Few rules first,

1. Choose your base tea first. Green tea, Black Tea, Oolong tea, White tea. Your choice of tea lays the foundation on what kind of ingredients you can use.

2. Choose your ingredients. Firstly try and use all natural ingredients and stay away from food essences and food colors which will make your tea look good but not necessarily taste good. The idea is to craft a tea blend while keeping all the health benefits intact. Open up your spice drawers and herb jars. Follow this order when adding ingredients:

1. Flowers
2. Herbs
3. Spices

3. Always go from a light flavor to a strong flavor. Add one ingredient at a time. Taste your tea after you add each ingredient. Sometimes the sound of an ingredient is exciting, but you may not necessarily like how it tastes in combination with the other ingredients. 

4. Restrict yourself to 3-4 ingredients only. I know it's super fun crafting your own tea blend and it's easy to go overboard, but it's advisable to create different tea blends rather than putting all your favorite ingredients in one.

5. Store it in an air tight container and keep it in a dark place, away from direct sunlight. Use an opaque jar only and do not open it for one week. This time allows for all the flavors to infuse well. Tea picks up odors very quickly. Hence, make sure you do not store your jar around items with strong aromas or fragrances. You need not refrigerate it or freeze it. Room temperature works just fine.

Open your jar after a week and voila, your tea blend is ready. Enjoy your creation!

Here are some easy blends you can start with:

Wake-me-up Green Tea

1 cup dried basil leaves

2 tablespoons dried orange peels

3 tablespoons of dried ginger bits (or use saunth powder)

100 gms of green tea

Ginger is one of my favorite ingredients. It's the perfect antidote to sluggish mornings. Combine it with soothing basil and orange to craft this morning wake-me-up tea.

Oriental Bliss Tea

1/2 cup lemongrass

3 tablespoons dried coconut shavings

50 gms white tea

50 gmms green tea

Make this luxurious blend for your evening cuppa. White tea has seven time more anti-oxidants than a cup of green tea. Blend it half and half to boost your regular cup of green tea. Coconut adds richness to the tea along with the refreshing lemongrass.

Apple Pie Tea

1 cup dried apple pieces (most of them are sugar coated so be sure to check how much extra sugar you need to add while brewing the tea. In fact I would recommend you add honey to this tea. Honey goes best with fruit based teas).

2 teaspoon cinnamon bits (avoid powder and coarse grind cinnamon sticks instead)

100 gms black tea

Indulge your sweet tooth with this dessert tea. Ditch the calories in your desert and enjoy this as a post meal drink instead. You can also replace apple with your favorite dried fruit. It also works great with a mix of dried berries. I would specially recommend your try dried cranberries.

Note: All of the above taste great as Iced teas as well.