Flavored Tea

[lucyis]

Have any of you tried your hand at tea alchemy?
I like to drink flavored black tea. The varieties I like are; vanilla, almond, coconut. Here's my question..Is it possible to start with the black tea leaves and add flavor bits to them (ie dried coconut, vanilla bean bits) or must this be done when the tea leaves are dried?

[chefj]

Yes, you can use any number of dried flowers,herbs,or spices just added to the steep. You can play around with proportions to your taste.
As for teas that show no additions but are flavored, these are usually flavored with essences or oils like Earl Gray (bergamont oil).

[lucyis]

Thanks, chefj. Do you have any particular teas, ie; Assam, Darjeeling, etc, you like to use as your base?

[chefj]

Any of the teas you mentioned are good. Blends work well to ,Prince of wales, English breakfast, etc....
I would not use super high quality teas, Chinese teas (it would mask the teas lovely flavor) or Indian tea that brews up super strong like PG Tips or Taj Mahal (it would mask you flavoring's flavor).

[SourberryLily]

I have does mixes such as combining roses, mint, anis... To dried tea. I have never tried to actually flavor the tea itself.

I own a lichi black tea which has no visible bits of anything aside from the black tea itself. I wonder how they did it...