We love single-origin teas but when it comes to making a delicious cup of tea, a blend is often the way to go. Tea blends bring together the perfect combination of true tea leaves, herbs, and fruits for a delicious flavor profile.

The first step in making a tea blend is selecting the base. This is typically a black tea (full bodied, bold flavor), green tea (light, earthy almost grassy flavor), white tea (mild and sweet) or oolong tea (a little bit of both).

Once the base is chosen the fun begins. The rest of the ingredients are what make up a tea blend and the variety is endless! Some common tea blends include:

Top 10 Flavorful Tea Blends to Try This Year

Citrus peel: Tea Story is a popular example of this utilizing bergamot oil. Another famous citrus flavored tea is Twinings Lady Grey which uses additional lemon peel and orange peel. Berries: Blackcurrants are the most popular but a wide range of dried fruits can be found in many tea blends including lychee, blackberries, and raspberries. Roasted grains: Japanese genmaicha uses roasted rice as a tea base while Korean hyeonmi-nokcha utilizes brown rice. Spices: Many South Asian teas including Indian masala chai, and Middle Eastern kahwah are flavored with multiple spices such as ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cassia, black pepper, anise, fennel and Indian bay leaf.

The beauty of a tea blend is that you can really be as creative and wild as you want. Many people find that blending their own teas is the best way to get exactly the flavor they are looking for because they can add or remove any ingredients to the formula until they have it just right.