The Problem with Scented Teas

[@tinacarroll5481]

For many people, these flavoured teas are a bit of a gateway tea to the real stuff. But once you start drinking actual tea, it's really hard to tolerate the flavoured stuff.

[@MeiLeaf]

True, we can't ignore the gateway effect but how many people are turned off discovering tea because they do not like the artificial scented tea and think that this is all that tea has to offer?

[@JesusistheWaytheTruth288]

I enjoy scented Jin Xuan oolong. (As long as it's labeled as such) But besides that I agree

[@forestque1531]

I'll never forget the first time I tasted a good quality loose leaf tea. I was blown away. There wasn't one extremely strong flavor, there were MANY amazing and subtle flavors, and very little bitterness. It was so much more enjoyable. I can't believe at one time I used to drink these artificially scented teas and thought they were amazing.

[@GentleBeastGaming]

This is exactly why I never liked Teavana. I think I tried one flavored tea after I had been drinking pure leaves and not only was it not enjoyable but it was just disgusting to me. He is right saying that if people tried the pure stuff, there is just no reason to go to flavored...garbage. Teavana is an example of big corporations marketing trash quality to the poor people who weren't fortunate to try a pure leaf first.

[@helpfulnatural]

@@GentleBeastGaming I agree totally! I bought tea from Teavana only once and they were awful! They tasted nothing like the "samples" they served to hook you in. They were expensive too and not worth the price. When the news hit that they were closing due to bankruptcy, I applauded.

[@brandoonjen2975]

The first time I watched this video, I remember thinking "yeah, this guy is a tea seller through and through". At that time I was buying scented teas from a highly renowned tea company that specializes in scented tea. The price difference between the company I was buying from vs. high quality tea was insane to me. I could buy a pound of scented tea for the price of an ounce of true tea. Two or three years later, having tried many "real" teas since, I've gotta eat my words. I tried Gong Fu brewing sencha, ironically from the company I used to buy all my tea from, and even with the bottom of the barrel sencha, it was an eye opening experience. Real tea is such a different experience than scented tea. It became something of an obsession for me, and I never looked back. My entire stock of scented teas went to waste. I don't know if you still check the comments on older videos like this, but I just want to say thank you so much for making these videos. The knowledge that I've gained from this channel has been invaluable to my exploration of true tea. To anyone skeptical like I was, I assure you that this is not snobbery. If you try true tea, you will understand. And you will never want scented tea again.

[@ssanyumay]

This video amazed me. I wasn't quite keen on tea until I met T2, as my passion for tea grew and I started to do some research, I found your videos and I went to a Chinese tea boutique to try this beauty. I felt in love and found out what a real tea is... I won't buy those sugar flavoured tea anymore but I also can't take the credits from them, they opened the first door of the tea world for me. Just face them as an introductory tea business... People who truly love tea will do their homework and will find you for a true experience, you are the next level of the "game".

[@MeiLeaf]

+Larissa Mayumi Thanks and you are absolutely right that this artificially scented tea can be a gateway tea to better leaves. We wish that they would be less lazy and find NATURAL blends that work too and are actually delicious instead of using artificial flavours. Happy that you found us and that you are drinking the good stuff! Enjoy exploring all the tea out there.

[@Yoachan]

My issue with scented teas is that they will overscent a tea, convince you to take it home, but when you do, there's no flavor in the tea at all.

[@MeiLeaf]

Exactly our opinion!

[@jayamilapersson4030]

Yoachan true but as I see it you arent buying taste your buying scent, Tea like this is like candy, Candy are brightly coloured that trigger our brains to think of it like fruit we have been evolved to look for bright coloured food so we want it, we might even buy it and then you eat it and its all just food colour, artificial flavours and sugar. But as long as you remember that candy(or in this case tea) isint fruit you should be fine. And sure sometimes candy dont taste as well as you hoped.

[@ponytheprostituteonvinyl7591]

Sadly my mom falls for it alot

[@dalidali2757]

i knew today I was a dumb shit

[@beestorm7609]

teavana would like to know your location

[@la_scrittice_vita]

"Is there _any_ mango in here?" was best laugh I had all day. Loving your videos.

[@MeiLeaf]

Ugh I remember that fake mango taste.

[@MeiLeaf]

Thanks for watching!

[@giorgioleo8962]

An year ago I tried for the first time some blended loose-leaf tea : it was the first time I tasted some loose-leaf tea and I loved it. After that, I started buying scented tea but the taste was really sick, nothing to do with the first I had tried. After having tasted many scented teas with the same result, I was quite gutted : I thought it was my fault and that I wasn't good at brewing because,when I smelled it in the shops, the smell was really astonishing. Than, two weeks ago, I went from Italy,my country, to London and, at your shop in Camden Town, I bought some eastern beauty and some silver needle. Unbelievable taste: i realized I wasn't the problem but that horrible chemical- scented tea was. Thanks for having made me a teahead.

[@rabirobert1476]

Don´t forget the most famous scented tea: Earl Grey with bergamot, which was used to imitate the citrus notes of much higher quality Chinese teas :) Nowadays it´s not even scented with bergamot oil, but artificially bergamot flavor....

[@mycrofthirschecke5271]

Yeah, that's a problem.

[@christianmayer7432]

Yeah, I absolutely agree. But there are some good quality Earl Greys with real italian bergamot oil out there and the taste is much more smoother and complex than the ones that are infused with this kind of aggressive artificial aroma. And I would also agree that high premium tea is obviously in a class of its own, but a good quality Earl Grey is a good everday tea in my tea consumption.

[@gypsylife7822]

maybe that is why I dislike it

That's easy to fix: buy a good one. ;-)

[@NebOjsa]

Don't throw it now ! You can use scented tea for your toilets ! You are a very brave man, you did that for the tea culture. Thank you for your videos. A french tea head.

[@flyingsnow00]

Lol! Good one :o) ...keep the tea in an open container and will smell lovely in your toilet (but let's not start the debate on artificial air refresheners :D )

[@MerryMerryQuiteContrary]

oh yes, use it as potpourri!

[@faaaaa955]

I remember once in uni over 5 years ago when I was chatting with a friend and said “T2 pisses me off” and to my suprise that was his opinion too haha! We both are now TCM practitioners and we cherish high quality tea and herbs Anyway, years passed and i never knew what the mystery behind my unexplained feeling of unease towards T2. Fast forward years later (now), I finally had my revelation through your videos especially this one and it all just makes SO MUCH SENSE. I’d say, trust your gut instinct.

[@jasonblack4208]

I'll grant these scented teas something: occasionally, they draw people into the tea world who would otherwise have found it inexcessible, and those people can then move on to explore the real teas which are much more satisfying. It's like in the opera world how people often start with "popera" singers like Josh Groban, Katherine Jenkins, etc and eventually move on to discover Maria Callas, Kirsten Flagstad, etc.

[@misscamelliatea3919]

Great analogy

[@lepetitchat123]

For me it doesn't work that way... these scented teas tasted awful so I didn't take any interest in tea until I had a freshly brewed pot of tea in a Japanese restaurant. The problem is even if you know the teas are shit you have no idea that tea could taste better than that, and where to find these better-tasting teas. I guess you can get better education these days with more online tutorials like this one, but only for those who make an effort to find out for themselves. Regular people would just keep drinking the mass market shit thinking it's all tea can offer.

[@jasonblack4208]

@@lepetitchat123 same tbh, but this is how i think it works for most people

[@ANIND123]

@@lepetitchat123 Unborn babies want life

[@lepetitchat123]

@@ANIND123 Fetuses are not sentient. Do you remember what you did as a fetus in your mother's womb? Is killing an egg the same as killing a chicken?

[@cookeecutkk]

It's basically the same situation as instant coffee. It's nominally "coffee" but what you're actually drinking is leftovers with artificial flavoring. It's not snobbish to say this isn't real coffee. Just fact. Now, millions of people enjoy instant coffee and artificially flavored tea bags. To each his own :)

[@joshuathompson4242]

I agree, that is the reason I used to hate tea and coffee.

[@MsJavaWolf]

I can even kind of understand why people use tea bags, but instant coffee I never understood. Even cheap supermarket ground coffee in a 10$ french press already tastes 10 times better than instant and it takes like 2-3 minutes to brew.

[@adelineteoh4564]

Spent this entire video going 'yep... yep... yep...' I sounded like a Muppets alien (apart from the bit where I yelled 'Don! You can't hide branding that strong!'-because I'm Australian? I recognised the packaging straight away.) I'm also tea agnostic when it comes to what other people drink but if people ask whether I drink T2/other flavoured brands, I tell them why not: the taste of good tea is amazing without flavouring. My mission is to get them to understand the difference between flavoured and pure tea and I hope they will then appreciate and drink more of the latter. The biggest thing pure tea is up against is a massive marketing machine for flavoured teas. These brands are at the front line when it comes to representing tea and it is so hard to then get people to understand the difference between flavoured, scented and blended tea, then add pure tea on top of that.

[@MeiLeaf]

+Adeline Teoh Yep......yep.......yep totally agree :)

[@DrAskildsen]

You are so spot on. We also learned in chemistry about any sugars will also make the body take up less of the important nutrients in the tea if you drink/eat sugars in the same meal. So buying premium tea and using sugars (teabag teas) is kind of a waste of money if you are after the health benefits and flavors of the tea. I came over this videoes some years ago and I am still grateful for what this channel has learned us. Also, I have respect for the tea ceremony now.

[@williamkuo7581]

For those saying it's Teavana, just an FYI you can google the word for word description to find out. SPOILER ALERT: It's T2 (I don't know them...). Links: www.t2tea.com/tea/white/white-white-cocoa.html www.t2tea.com/tea/flavored-green/sencha-mango.html Doubt Teavana is much better though.

[@michellecarlos]

Until recently I've been drinking scented teas. After my trip to China and Japan, and purchasing real tea, I'm fully converted to drinking the real stuff. Thanks for confirming my doubts about scented teas.

[@khricket]

Practically all of Davids teas have artificial flavours in them. I really only use their teas for fruity iced" teas"

[@Wintella]

When I started to get more into teas, like so many others, I discovered David's and still has some of the teas that I bought from them. 70% of their scented teas have artificial flavourings... But since then, I switched to a good local suppliers that has anything hardly flavoured and nothing into artificial

[@worldofwarcraft011]

They have a few good quality teas in there, most of it is shite though.

[@mndlessdrwer]

khricket I was so disappointed by the quality of their teas, particularly their abuse of artificial flavorings.

[@helpfulnatural]

khricket; Thanks for the warning. We just recently got a David's Tea location open up near where I live and now I'll avoid them. We have another locally owned, family run tea store called Fava Tea that sells quite a few scented teas as well but they also have higher quality loose leaf varieties for those of us who prefer the untainted stuff.

[@v7ran]

Ikr there’s only ONE matcha that’s not flavored with cookie dough or something weird like that. Same with the other teas. Every green tea is scented with dove dish soap or something and only 1/4 of it is traditional. I don’t even understand why you’d scent white tea with cayenne pepper. Another problem I have with David’s teas is that it’s the only place I can get good black jasmine tea or gyokuro so I have to support them. I guess the vibe they want is like contemporary scented teas? I guess people buy it but I would rather prefer more single origin teas.

[@CrescentGuard]

tl;dr: Teavana almost completely lost me to tea, then miraculously regot me. I'm learning how to treat tea properly with you guys, Mei Leaf. I started into tea about four years ago, thanks to a Taiwanese neighbor who got me some Wu Ling oolong from Taiwan (I still have the tin). Now, I had no idea what I was doing and didn't steep it properly, used a pot that was way too large (24 oz tetsubin), and generally just fumbled around. Yet it was nearly the best thing I ever tasted, beyond what I could have imagined. I received a full tin of tea, and it disappeared very quickly as I drank pots of it each day. However, after I was out, I went to Teavana to explore and started getting their stuff. Over the years, that interest slowly dribbled away as I had more and more teas. A few were okay, most were mediocre, and a few were just terrible. This last fall, I gave it one last hurrah, getting their Golden Monkey and something called Teavana Joy. Something odd happened: the golden monkey was pretty darn good, still not meeting the wonder of that Wu Ling but enough to spark an ember. The "Joy" on the other hand, was just like this. Smelled like apricots, tasted like cardboard. It finally clicked for me what was going on, and through December to now (January), I've been going crazy, getting sample packs from every website that I can and trying to train my pallet. Still haven't had that same experience and I'm still grasping for that pure joy I felt, but I'm using you guys to train myself so I can know it when I find it. Thank you Mei Leaf. You're giving me the tools I need to recapture the joy I felt. When the spring harvest comes around, I'm going to hunt down some fresh Wu Ling, get myself a gaiwan, and brew it the way it was supposed to be. Thank you for your wonderful instructions. I just wish I could purchase from you guys on a practical level--living across an ocean puts a damper on that.

[@MeiLeaf]

Cheers for the story and keep exploring! If you ever fancy tasting our wares then we are always here for you (the majority of our customers are actually from the USA these days which is incredible!).

[@CrescentGuard]

Well, I wouldn't have expected that. I'll take a sniff around then. Cheers folks, keep doing what you're doing.

[@tanmingsung9228]

Ma Liu Mie is Tie Guan Yin cultivar from Anxi China. It won't taste anything like the one your Taiwanese neighbor gave you. The most famous gift given by Taiwanese people is a High mountain oolong called Tung Ting(dong ding/frozen peak) oolong. It's a Qing Xin(green heart) cultivar. Decent quality from a reputable seller would cost somewhere around $0.15 - 0.25 per gram. There are higher quality Oolongs if you are interested and now is Probably the perfect time to get winter Oolong which may be considered one of the best harvest for Oolong. It's also far more expensive due to the limited amount of harvest obtained from the plants. High quality winter Oolongs cost about $ 0.50 + per gram. It's not necessary to wait for spring to purchase Oolong, the highest quality leaves are reserved for other teas first, it's only nearer the end of spring that Spring Oolong is made which is April onwards. Besides that if your Oolong is recently roasted it will not taste good. It needs a few weeks - months to age to bring it to it's prime. Most modern Oolongs are not roasted though.

[@Ttvvzz]

I am Chinese. In my country, the amount of scented teas we created in the past 1000 years are less than those whom are created in western countries. ( if you understand what I mean. ;))

[@MeiLeaf]

+Chen Zeng Yes, that says it all really :)

[@Ttvvzz]

+chinalife Tea House I live in canada Quebec, the brand of tea is David's Tea. When I am doing part time pure tea workshop in some community centres, some people asked me related to blended tea. My answer is " What if someone put coconut and mango in your favourite wine?" Voila.

[@MeiLeaf]

+Chen Zeng Perfect answer :)

[@Ttvvzz]

+chinalife Tea House I am not against scented tea. It is not easy for coffee drinkers change their habits. So that adding artificial flavours is the first step for this 'new market'. As time goes, people will make the better choice. ;)

[@AJB861]

+Chen Zeng Yes, I order from davidstea...a lot of artificial flavors BUT...at least it specifies it in the ingredients, lol. Oh another trick I've seen some shops do. They set the water at 190 degrees no matter what kind of tea they are brewing! After that they just overshadow it with sugar so you can't really taste the bitterness (green and white teas can't be brewed at 190!)

[@iviewutoob]

you've opened up my eyes to quality teas :)

[@MeiLeaf]

:)

[@beestorm7609]

for a second i thought he was going after naturally scented teas and i almost spat out my jasmine tea

[@teaformeplease]

Great video! I love your approach. There's nothing wrong with well done scented/flavored teas but quality is paramount.

[@CharoMonet]

Omg! I have over 50 T2 teas! ;-( I thought I was a "tea head"! ;-( clearly I'm more of a " chemical head"! :-( I will not buy any more ;-( thank you for the enlightenment Don :-)

[@MeiLeaf]

Ummmmm, sorry to burst the bubble Jennifer. If you enjoy them then please don't let us stop you from drinking but maybe try some true tea to compare.

[@iggipeeg1]

Dear Don, I love your humor! I nearly had tea blow out my nose when you said that it smelled like a shoe...a clean shoe!hahahaha! Please do a review of Jin Xuan (Milk Oolong). Keep up the good work!

[@MeiLeaf]

+iggipeeg1 :D Careful when drinking and watching, I can't be blamed for scorched noses! Yes Jin Xuan is on our list, thanks!

[@keepers7768]

Great video- you didn't name names - but there's a bunch of similar concept stores and online. David's & Teavana stand out in N America. Regardless your humble method of schooling us on the difference between good tea and I guess good trickery was worth the entire video watch and a new sub. Truthfully and intuitively I've always known deep down there's something not very tea- like about these artificial confection and flavouring details not to mention the unnatural aftertaste-- but as a novice the sweet scents and delectable names are a good lure. Not to mention the packaging. You really nailed it. Thx

[@MeiLeaf]

Thanks for the comment and the sub - these 'teas' are definitely a lure and we have no issue with people enjoying them but the fact that they are marketed as premium tea and are an easy way to make more profit on low quality leaves.

[@carlosmendoza7233]

I am so happy you made this video Don. Some people belive these teas are so great and fail to see the artificial sweeteners.

[@kimflycht2258]

I have a suggestion for a topic of tea with an English twist!! What to look for and be careful of in a really good Earl Grey Tea and the variants of it like Russian Earl Grey Tea and so forth!! I love Your attention of the Tea products and the thoroughness of how to brew and drink it! Thank You for sharing Your knowledge with us viewers!

[@sayajinmamuang]

teavana*cough*

[@samisbrown]

LOL

[@stationshelter]

I walked by the teavana here in burlington last week and I saw it was being dissassembled and closed down and I LAUGHED

[@tonybob6584]

Still better than Soda x)

[@richlaue]

one of my coworkers sells tea, and she mentioned teavana, i basically presented my views amd she totally disagreed. Thank you for backing me up Don.

[@forestque1531]

I laughed so hard when I saw these teas.

[@Vyruz64]

Reminds me of when I was looking for a tea shop in a city. I found one that very proudly displayed "Over 70 flavors of tea" on their store window, and they were all scented. So many over the top scents, too. Like cookie dough tea, and whatnot. I mean, there's certainly an audience for these kind of scented teas, but it's not people who enjoy pure leaf tea.

[@DahliaLegacy]

I'm like that with tea too and wine. Also, I love tannins in tea. So I'm a bit heavy handed when it comes to adding leafs. (That and I need to support my caffeine addiction like proper writers. XD) I also love dry wine, so go figure. ^_^ It's not so much the taste of it but the mouth feel that I appreciate.

[@vr2186]

I'm a jerk... my children and I have been looking into tea lately. I purchased several teas and tea sets/ subscription teas... (Too much $ wasted) I must admit, I fell for the cute pyramid plastic tea bags with leaves on top and the "fancy" oolong teas with pretty names and candy sprinkles added. At least we as a family are learning together what we should expect. So far the only thing I don't regret is the blooming-flowering teas and tea sets. Those are just pretty.

[@TeaSerpent]

Maybe using Shou Puer with Chenpi or Juhua isn't the best example of traditional. I mean there are specific types of scented green teas and scented oolong teas that go back centuries. Shou Puerh goes back about 50 years and the Chenpi or juhua versions I would assume less. Even if you consider the old original Guangdong cakes it's still only like 70 years that Shou puer have existed in any form. Then again 50 years is kind of traditional for a tea at this point. I mean most teas including Sheng Puer are hundreds or even thousands of years more recent than they are claimed.

[@BlanaBlana-jp1pc]

Thank you so much for doing this video. I don’t know much about teas but I don’t like being poisoned with chemicals, so I was looking for a video who would explain to a freshman how can you actually recognise a real tea with your common sense, and your own senses, cause the truth is that we can’t trust labels anymore 🙄

[@Inspactah1]

I plan to open a loose tea webshop. First I tried to make a natural collection and my first samples what I tasted were all natural teas. I consulted with my buddy who had a teahouse, he suggested me putting flavored tea to my variety for simple reason: this is what most of the people need. He is a naturalist and a "teahead" too, but this is the reality. He had the finest white, yellow, oolong teas but the flavored ones were consumed most. In Hungary where I live, there's no tea culture at all, so if I can persuade people to drink (any) loose tea, that's a big win.

[@lindavoll9555]

My first introduction to loose tea was in a small tea shop in Chinatown (NYC USA) I the 1970’s. I was about 11years old.... I bought some tea just so I could smell it!! Didn’t know how to brew it....took it home and learned from my sister. I learned about brewing tea English style from a British friend and so on over time. I was in a program for health coaching and Dr. Weil talked about tea, which stayed in my mind...Matcha specifically. I’ve watched some of your videos now, bought a whisk but need to order some tea...in ignorance I bought food grade tea, looking at your online shop now and will order from there! Thank you for all the info!

[@kellersongael8868]

watching you sampling these scented teas is highly entertaining :D ! you should make a special playlist "me destroying false tea" that would be a great success !

[@lainduong5675]

Thanks for the video! I have been avoiding any 'non-straight' tea forever because it doesn't taste right for me. Noone get it, and neither could I explain to them. All I could say was I drink a lot and they taste differently. Thanks for helping me build the right case!!! :)

[@erinasher3231]

I confess that I have enjoyed an orange chocolate black tea or green tea with lemon and may do so again in the future, but only with blends that I make myself. That said, I am now on a journey to discover all the true tea out there so It may take a while. ;)

[@cannibalisticwolf3319]

that sounds like teavana to me....

[@James-ee1wn]

CannibalisticWolf Yeah, these ones were from T2.

[@tanmingsung9228]

The box and description matches T2

[@samaritan29]

isn't T2 AUstralian?

[@wecan7331]

Yes. It's from Melbourne. The boxes are most definitely T2

[@biggrigg4281]

I started with Teavana just because it was better than what I was drinking: Lipton. Fortunately, a couple of good tea people saved me.

[@mob8273]

I love tea of all kinds, and sometimes I drink high end teas which I find very enjoyable, however most of the time I drink the cheaper stuff because quite frankly I like the artificially enhanced flavours. Yeah, I like "salted caramel" or "chocolate & pear" flavoured tea, but that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy unscented teas as well.. But seriously, I know we're all entitled to our own opinion, but I honestly think that saying that the flavoured tea tastes like varnish is nonsense because you've never tasted varnish, and if you did you probably wouldn't be alive to tell the tale. Yes, pure leaf tea is obviously far superior in quality, but for goodness sake there's no need to trash talk artificially flavoured tea just because they sell a lot better than pure leaf. I mean I've never seen an artificially flavoured tea producer or seller talk poorly about pure leaf tea just because it's a direct competitor.

[@Ratouschnikova]

Yes, exactely! What i often find kind of shocking, when it comes to artificially scented tea: many times the companies try to act like this tea is healthy. They´re trying so hard, to give you the mental image with the packaging, that the product has to do with pure nature. And even more shocking is the fact, that some of the scented teas actually come with an "organic" logo... I really don´t know how that can be allowed.

[@MerryMerryQuiteContrary]

i mostly started with artificially scented tea, then got blended loose leaf with stuff in it (and probably artificial flavourings as well), that got me talking to someone who cannot have artificial flavourings (acquired allergy from too much artificially scented tea) and got directed to local tea club meetings where i was blown away at the various different pure teas they were brewing (i did already know some basic things like basic tea colours and brewing temperatures, but not much more). planning to join the tea club as a full member in a while.

[@TheHeraldOfChange]

Good solid video Don, great to see you, "take one, for Science!" But I'm a little disappointed that this video stopped short, would have loved to see you follow up with your own scented & blended teas and/or a commentary about true flower scented teas, like osmanthus oolong, or jasmine, chrysanthumum, etc. A related theme would be Chinese Flower and/or herb teas blends, and teas that don't contain tea leaf.

[@leahrhead3835]

Love how he refuses to name the seller but shows the very distinct and iconic packaging. The sneak diss is so real and I am here for it

[@wildflowerhouseoftea]

Thank You for bringing this subject to light. As the owner of a new Tea Company in the US, we are working to only have blended teas available as you mentioned. Education is key! Hope to visit London in the Spring and stop by to have the entire Mei Leaf experience. :) Keep the videos coming!

[@MeiLeaf]

Great, and congratulations on your tea business!

[@CopperBottomify]

Thanks Don. Totally agree that artificial flavoured teas don't compare to really good quality whole leaf. However I wonder if these products are helpful to create a bigger market to support pure whole leaf sellers. Like you need a large blended whisky market to create the interest for Single Malt, or need to sell 1000s of Starbucks caramel flavoured latte's to create a a market environment to support craft coffee roasters.

[@MeiLeaf]

Yes an absolutely valid point and the 'gateway' position of scented tea to expand the market is certainly in evidence but it is frustrating when the sellers do little to promote real tea and feed misinformation in order to maintain high margins on poor quality tea. This video is our little push to get people through this gateway!

[@gultekinuludag902]

Thank you for bringing knowledge to youtube. Loving all of your vids. Please keep sharing the good videos :)

[@MeiLeaf]

Cheers for watching.

[@CatBat90s]

I won't mention the brand but I recognised it immediately because I have had the misfortune of trying their tea I also recognised the description.

[@polaris5827]

very good, lots of brands and sellers just sell tea products not real and pure tea, blended tea fine to me but not like the products of this video

[@MicheleLHarvey]

I totally agree with your assessment! What some may not know is that "natural flavoring" is anything but! Something may be called natural flavoring if it has one component of actual natural flavoring but the manufacturer can add up to a hundred artificial flavorings to it, but still call it 'natural'! I myself, have never liked tea blended with 'natural flavoring' as it's always tastes artificial. Even scented teas such as jasmine & osmanthus may be overpowered by the flowers, masking the true beauty of the original tea. What IS miraculous is the taste of the natural tea leaf in all its variation. This may be enhanced by handling, such as the oxidation process of pan frying or fermenting, but they are highly skilled, masterful manipulations to enhance the tea's inherent flavor profiles. Personally I feel that many flavored teas are akin to fast food, overwhelming the palate with extra sugar salt & flavor enhancers such as MSG (excititoxins), ruining the taste buds for anything more subtle or found in nature. READ your ingredients! Natural flavoring is anything but natural!

[@Culvertami]

I live in the US and am fairly new to real tea. I grew up drinking Lipton tea. I've really been enjoying your videos today and noticed in your video titled "The Problem with Scented Teas" that you (chinalife) sell tea! I clicked the link provided but didn't see a Q&A/FAQ section. Do you ship to the US? And/or are they any tea companies in the US that you would recommend? Thank you so much for your videos and I hope you keep them coming! xx

[@MeiLeaf]

+Culvertami Thanks for watching. Yes we ship the US everyday and we are trying to keep the postage costs as low as possible. It usually takes about 10 days to arrive after dispatch.

[@josephmclord]

I love every tea even scented, we don't have many tea brands here but we got one Brand with many amazing natural flavored tea, it's very easy to distinguish artifical or natural flavor VS actual flavoring like adding cinemom sticks or rose petals , but they got one or 2 artifical flavor for example strawberry, and it tasted amazing nonetheless, I mean we can't Live an artifical free life , so sometimes getting those desired sinful flavors in your favorite beverage is a treat (how else will you find caramel chocolate flavored tea) People can fancy it from time to time but should not make it their daily habit.

[@carynoel]

Thank you very much for this video. It's very difficult in the popular tea world to make this distinction. This is for people to understand the difference between real tea and something that is called tea yet tastes nothing like tea. I suppose this is a gateway for a lot of tea drinkers, but the transition from flavored teas to real teas is the crutial step that needs to happen for so many people to be able to appreciate what real tea really is.

[@MeiLeaf]

+Cary Noel Yes we agree!. We have heard many people say that the artificially scented teas are a 'gateway' tea but the problem is that many shops do not make enough distinction between this stuff and true tea (because they make more profit selling this tea and they may not have a desire to search for true tea). So customers are being told that this IS tea. The other issue is that people will either get accustomed to this aroma and find the smell of true tea too subtle OR they get turned off from tea (thinking that this is what tea is) and stop exploring. Either way they end up missing out on the leaf that we all love which is frustrating.

[@someonerandom256]

Once I found out that Teavana had artificial flavorings in some of their teas, I was done. Artificial flavoring and fragrances are deal breakers to me, not only in tea but generally. I've been buying my tea locally from Capital Teas(love to support local businesses when I can), for the past year, but one of the ones I just bought has "Natural Flavoring" listed in the ingredients. It's one of their signature blends which they have given one star, meaning it's the lowest quality that they sell, but still delicious and enjoyable. I got it as a good all around tea that I thought my husband and children would enjoy, but that I would like as well. It's a black and green tea blend with strawberry and papaya pieces. My question is, is it really that bad that if has a natural flavoring in it? It's just meant to be a basic daily tea for the whole family(which is why I chose a less expensive one star tea to buy in a larger quantity), that I thought would ice well in the summer months. It is fairly strong smelling, but it doesn't have that pungent potpourri smell or taste that you get from artificially flavored teas.

[@OysterPir8]

I'm glad, because I have just discovered some BEAUTIFUL jasmine teas. The purveyor has about 80 teas on the list and I think only 5 in total are scented and highly selected.

[@arunavagreen]

Thanks I threw away my tea bags today after I started on Gyokuro and green Oolong from Taiwan recently. I have been watching your videos and those orange boxes look familiar in Sydney where I live.

[@stephenkessel6037]

My gateway into the tea world was Celestial Seasonings herbal tea, I still hold a nostalgic fondness towards them but I'm so happy I've started drinking pure leaf.

[@cliffjudith]

I thought I did not like Jasmine Tea as I usually have to spit flowers out of my mouth. I have recently tasted Phoenix Jasmine where the flowers are removed and replaced 5 or 6 times. It was NECTAR!It is essential to purchase good quality tea from reputable suppliers like Mei Leaf and the tea is not consumed it is the tea drinker who is consumed by the experience.I now recommend Phoenix Jasmine Tea and explain that the expense is well justified.Great videos Don.

[@grandmasterjacob1915]

T2, Ive been there, same boxes

[@jonlangfitt]

Food grade flowers can be easily purchased online, if you want non traditionally scented teas just make your own blends with quality teas

[@reissm6500]

those orange boxes scream out. I feel your pain. see those orange bags everywhere.

[@HighEnd-S]

I am happy that I discover your videos, I drink teas 50 years and counting..... favourites are Yin zhen, Darjeeling, Assam, puerh, jasmine pearl, matcha....I will visit your shop soon also to see what you have on the shelves. I fully agree that we have in London, and other cities the phenomenon of tea shops that they are full of these scented rubbish that they call tea... people deserve to pay money to something real, and I do this comparison with good wines like you did !, when I try to explain to friends and family the passion I have for tea.... or it is like the leather shoes that they made from plastic !...Keep up the good work on this channel

[@400txuser]

I guess it's a bit like comparing 'fashion coffee' or instant or machine coffee. It's nothing like coffee. To each his own I guess. Nice video anyway.

[@DrAskildsen]

If that pleases you, sure mate, go for it. Health in every drop ;)

[@cestmoi6728]

thank you so much for this, i just recently buy davids tea and you are so right they are all ARTIFICIAL and expensive,

[@MeiLeaf]

Yuk

[@elledechenestudio]

Thank you for suffering on our behalf. I am eagerly awaiting my first shipment of fine teas from Mei Leaf, and I know that I won't be subjected to nasty chemical smells, only Tea Goodness. Cheers!

[@Apollo440]

When you hear "I want some yummy tea" - be aware, that 90% of people at that moment have artificially scented tea in mind. I once fancied a "Le Comptoir Francais" Earl Grey and some other of their tea blends. I was known as a tea connoisseur amongst the ladies at a coffe/tea shop which sold this tea. But as soon as I learned a few basics from Mei Leaf and bought my first pure, 50% tea bud containing black tea (or red tea as the package states) and got tea drunk - the first thing I did was staighten things out. I took this tea to the coffe/tea shop in question and gave like 1/3 of the package as a gift + the printout from Mei Leaf about tea brewing times. The problem is with commerce, that it uses all our basic knowledge against us. Everybody wants to try tea so they make these bags with tea dust and factory dust, which has little to do with the original product, but nevertheless - it had contact with the tea tree, and therefore is sold to us as "tea". It is people like Don at Mei Leaf who stand like fortress at the guard of real tea authenticity. You should teach this in a school, I say!

[@MeiLeaf]

Thank you and apologies for the delay in replying (as you probably know I have been in Thailand recently). I agree completely and I am not alone - all of you teaheads are the guardians of tea too!

[@blakeray9856]

Oh, just a PS to my last comment. Many years a go I had some house mates who used my unglazed 6-cup Chinese clay tea pot (not, probably, authentic YiXing, but something similar) to make a "tea" they bought which consisted of little bits of fruit peel, bark, spices, flower petals, and probably not one bit of tea of any sort. It took about two weeks for the nauseating smell and taste of toothpaste to dissipate from my pot!

[@bikesforme7922]

very good video. i have viewed about 15 of your videos. this video covers the same issues in the coffee marketing business. i am an amateur coffee roaster and tell people that if the coffee bean was high quality, it wouldn't need to have it's brewed taste buried with sugar or flavorings. actually it would be a waste of money to bury the exquisite taste of a single varietal arabica bean. your videos are a treasure trove of information, that enhances the tea tasting experience for me, and i'm sure for your subscribers.

[@ryanbrown4183]

The company that made the teas in this video is T2

[@hithere8753]

I bought a tea pot today which came with a couple flowering tea samples and I thought it was revolting.

[@equestrianwhotravels]

I love both pure teas and teas that are blended with dried fruit, flowers, or herbs. I cannot stand the artificial taste of a tea that has all of these synthetic flavors.

[@jaspersmommy1347]

I basically agree but I did have one chocolate mint tea that I really like as a dessert tea. The mint is natural, the chocolate not so much.

[@MeiLeaf]

Yes I am sure that there are a few blends that work out there.

[@jaspersmommy1347]

Mei Leaf They are so few and far between that I don't even look for them. This one I just happened to taste at a Victorian high tea put on at a B&B

[@kjell159]

Sorry, I'd love to believe what Don is telling. And maybe he really tastes and smells it like that, he's a professional tea sampler after all, his palette is probably highly developed. But why would tea sellers give their 'teas' a sharp sour scent, or a varnish taste and a weird sticky texture on the tongue, on purpose, to make it easier to sell? I love his honesty about not being impartial though, he's accustomed to the good stuff. Artificial flavour isn't necessarily harmful though, and all natural compounds in tea are also 'chemicals'. Some natural compounds, like say the terpene citral, has a detergent like smell and taste to it. Lemon balm literally smells and tastes like cleaning product to me, I still like it though! We might associate it with cleaning products, as the terpene is added to detergents pretty often. Many people comment lavender as being 'soapy' (I don't experience it like that though, yes I'm biased, check my profile picture.), likely because they associate compounds like linalool with other kinds of cleaning products like soaps. yourlogicalfallacyis.com/appeal-to-nature I do agree however, that scented teas are not true to 'true tea', but just like not everybody will drink wine according to extreme delicate rules, some people don't really care that much about tasting the intricacies of true tea leaves. They just see 'green tea with mango', and don't go any further then that. They've never heard of say, a basic longjing, and they won't go into it either. Those who are interested however, might look further into tea anyway. Wine snobs might look at us in a similar fashion. (although I don't drink any kind of wine myself anyway)

[@Chrisiant]

I do not like many fruit-scented teas. Orange spiced tea, yes, if it's not artificially scented, chai and jasmine (and that means jasmine sambac.) Jasmine with green tea isn't my favorite, I prefer it with black. Maybe it's odd, but I came to drink tea that wasn't builder's tea through my interest in tea as a perfume ingredient.

[@Deshawn1313]

wow, we grew up off lipton Black tea. Cant believe how good it can actually get

[@jennyobiliseen4301]

I compare scented teas to skincare. Scented tea and real tea is like bath and body works to L'Occitane, respectively.

[@Vildmis]

I just opened a couple of different tea bags from different suppliers, absolutely horrified. its dust, and in one of em i found little white dots, like its some sort plastic looks like a grain of salt o.O im gna throw it out and find some loose tea leaves, just hard to find something proper and that doesnt cost a million :(

[@MeiLeaf]

Oooh sounds pretty icky stuff hiding in those teabags. Cup for cup, loose leaf is not really more expensive than teabags as long as you infuse the leaves more than once.

[@Vildmis]

yeah, i will look for some today when i go to the market :D

[@davidgellatly1975]

Tea is like Scotch. There are blended teas some of can be quite good, if done right with quality tea that aim to be true to the ultimate taste of tea. And then there are the single varietals - Assam, Darjeeling, etc. which are the equivalent of single malts.

[@Digital-Sparks]

I love and respect all the various types of tea I have come to enjoy, especially Japanese Greens however, I still enjoy a cuppa Earl Grey from time to time despite it being (Blasphemy) in some circles.

[@AveryLaforce]

The only blended tea I can stand is a red tea with some pickled cherries and it very good

[@sumohippo]

I agree 100%, my self I bought a fair amount of these teas with artificial flavours disliked them all, having to give them away or putting in the bin which cost me a few quid to learn that natural is the only way to go!!

[@MeiLeaf]

+Ian Hepburn Yes we have thrown those ones away and they were not cheap!

[@rhysduross]

I know this is probably naughty but where I live the shop where you got the bad tea, it's unfortunately, the only tea shop at all, because of border restrictions I have difficulty importing good teas. the only white tea I would possibly recommend is the silver needles. it looks very white and nothing at all like the coconut tea. the silver needles is made in the Wuyi mountains (well according to the packaging). One day i hope to be able to have good quality teas

[@thzzzt]

As a customer, I have no qualms about bashing retailers that deserve it. I tried a dozen or so teas from Capital Teas here in the States, all scented or flavored teas. My impression was that the tea was included just for color, because it had no flavor of its own. It actually makes sense. If you're going to overwhelm people with strong additives, why bother with a good base tea that's just going to be covered up? I also find the same thing with many retail brands of Earl Grey.

[@helpfulnatural]

I've never liked scented tea as they tend to not taste very good. I recently got sucked in and bought a jasmine scented silver needle loose leaf tea. Thankfully it was only an ounce but still pricey. It tastes like perfume, not for me I'm afraid. :( However, the dry tea smells so full of jasmine that the little bit that's left I'll use as potpourri. :-/ We used to have a chain of tea stores in the US called Teavana, mentioned here in the comments quite a bit. Their teas tasted awful and were really expensive considering there was very little actual tea leaves in their concoctions. When they went bankrupt, I wasn't surprised or saddened.

[@Paputsza]

I feel like teavana type teas are greatly underrated. Their tea is kind of expensive. You basically mix their flavored teas with grocery store loose teas. Some flavors are better than others, and their seasonal teas are incredibly questionable. There are one or two good teavana teas. I like their monkey(?) picked oolong and strawberry blush rose oolong. Just a little though in another light tea like oolong of green. Nothing too smoky. It's not natural but it's delicious.

[@pindrusha]

the other day my sister accidently scened my lovely loose puh'er. She forgot to seal the packed properly after making her tea and put it in the wrong self next to the strong spices. Well I have a coriander puh er now :D

[@MeiLeaf]

+pindrusha Hahaha. Sorry, not sure if we should laugh but how is the coriander PuErh?

[@someonerandom256]

pindrusha I think I would like that! I'm a big Coriander fan! By Coriander I mean the seeds, not the leaves which in the US we call Cilantro. Don't get me wrong, I love Cilantro too, but Coriander PuErh sounds kind of amazing.

[@knoxx187]

I'm liking your rants and 100% stand beside you on all of it. I do love my jasmine green A LOT..... and my Earl Grey...... please adopt me I'm trying to brew gongfu style with 0 equipment......

[@maxmarc1]

The basic problem with scented tea and all other artificially flavoured "nutrition" is, that they miseducate, they spoil the consumer's taste. Artificial aromas are generally very strong but lack depth and complexity (An analogy would be the tone of a violin vs. a sine tone from a tone generator). Alas many people are getting used to these strong aromas already early in their lives by soft drinks, sweets and those millions of flavored products. With a so miseducated taste, you will neither smell nor taste ANYTHING, when first confronted with a real tea. Or any aroma, that is not either very strong by nature or artificially enhanced. So for tea sellers it is not only easier and more profitable to focus on scented teas. They even would have the immense task to alter the perception of a great part of the population if they would want to focus on the "real stuff". This is a mission, not many will take. I'm grateful, that you, Don, do the hard job for teas and there is an increasing number of people out there, who have similar missions in other fields. But there is still a long way to go...

[@su6a12m3lon]

Thanks for the video. I'm wondering if you've heard of Ocharaka in Tokyo started by a French wine sommelier named Stephane Danton. The majority of his offerings are flavored teas, but they don't have the same artificial smell/taste as other big name tea purveyors.

[@TobiasGeisel]

Well, all - of - my - friends like this stuff. I have never understood why, even though the smell of those teas somehow might be a little bit appealing, the taste is always rubbish.

[@MeiLeaf]

Yes I can understand that you may be drawn to an aroma but when the hot water hits those leaves the taste is bleurgh.

[@cheyennesweeley33]

i have a jamine dragon pearl tea that i drink from a tea shop called Black Bear Tea Co. i am good friends with the owner and i love love love the smell of the tea and the taste is very creamy and flowery. i was wondering if you could try their tea out and see if you agree :)

[@thedoover6520]

I appreciate learning about teas and thank you for this video. Do you sell to the United States?

[@leonie7754]

I recently tried a blended tea company in the UK and while some of their teas are flavoured artificially, not all are and they are very clear about what has those flavourings (and if those flavourings are natural or not) and what doesn't. Thankfully, the teas I've bought from them in the past are not the flavoured ones. Nothing they have appears to be scented thankfully. The interesting thing is, I only went to research them after watching this video as flavouring in tea never occurred to me. Perhaps the fact I've had many good quality teas in the past led me to naturally pick those without flavouring? I couldn't stand any of the strong flavoured teas. My husband, who is not into tea, likes those ones though XD To be fair, I have a sensitive palette, but you have to hit his tastebuds with a hammer for him to taste anything. Most gong fu teas barely taste of anything but water to him. At least those teas get him drinking stuff that is better for him than coke, so I'm not gonna judge! There is always an audience for every product, and while we tea loving folk might prefer the more rich and delicate flavour of pure leaf and natural blends, let us not scorn those that enjoy other teas. Enjoy what you enjoy at the end of the day! Just don't use flavoured or scented teas for gong fu - that would be sacrilege :P

[@maxmarc1]

Very good point! But I dare say, that your palette may be more developed than your husband's. It's not about scorning or judging. But there are different levels of education in taste, are there not? See my recent comment to this video.

[@MegaMadDog32]

I laughed when you said you sent Celine to tea scenting class. Agent C reporting in.

[@Yorker1998]

I'm a tea purist, I even think putting honey in green tea is blasphemous. But the only scented teas I'll settle for is Earl Grey and jasmine green tea. Simple and classic. Unfortunately for Earl Grey its extremely hard to find some with actual bergamont. Most of them just say "bergamont flavouring" on the back which is a big red flag. Its sad to see such a timeless classic fall into this.

[@MeiLeaf]

Very true, we like to stick to the simple scents like Earl Grey and Jasmine too. You might be interested in our twist on the Earl Grey which is with pure Bergamot oil (chinalifeweb.com/shop/product/tea-feec/181/).

[@Ronbo710]

I LOVE bergamot even though it reminds one of turpentine %)

[@youssefhiggins.6945]

It was T2, wasn't it.

[@tinahuttner7280]

Well I’ve sampled one tea through teavivre and wasn’t impressed, may be cause I’ve done tea the pasted years wrong and got spoiled. But I’ll have to see if I’ll continue drinking the stuff.

[@ryanbrown4183]

I happen to live in the town where tea guys is headquarterd and let me say they have some of the worst tea I have ever tried after visiting the shop and sampling some of there teas I have decided that they are discussing

[@HolographicLotus]

Is there such thing as a tea company that adds additional flavors that aren't synthetic chemicals? What if they used real fruit instead?

[@MeiLeaf]

If they use essential oils then this is all natural but is restricted to citrus and a few other fruits. Real fruit pieces are not strong enough to scent a tea which is why they infuse them with artificial flavouring.

[@snuffman5497]

is it weird that i enjoy lower grade teas im on a strick budget so i get all of my gong fu teas on amazon and i mostly enjoy them. the da hong pao is not as baked as i like and only has a slight floral flavor. i think enjoyment can be subjective

[@AJB861]

I have noticed this year being my first year brewing loose leaf tea, that they contain many artificial flavors. The sales people in the shops will tell you all the benefits but will not mention the fact that its loaded with artificial flavors that well...you're better off just buying pre-made sweet tea at the grocery store. I think over the course of time, people become used to drinking artificial flavors that the "real flavors" do not appeal to their taste buds anymore.

[@MeiLeaf]

+AJ B Agree that this is one of the annoying things. People may begin to associate tea with these artificial flavours instead of the delights of real natural flavour.

[@AJB861]

Exactly. It messes with your taste buds.