How to Make Tea Taste Better

How to Make Tea Taste Better will give you some ideas on flavoring your tea, whether you prefer iced tea or hot. The health benefits of drinking tea are motivation alone to consume this popular beverage.

If you’re looking for more tea recipes, Hot Thai Coconut Tea and Cinnamon Apple Tea Latte will leave your taste buds happy.

Since you’re looking for ways to create the perfect cup of tea, you’ve come to the right place. I asked the question, “How to Make Tea Taste Better,” in the Cozy Living Group. There were so many great responses, I just had to share the tea lover wisdom.

Tips for Making the Best Cup of Tea

Start with a Quality Tea

Like all food and drink experiences, starting with the best ingredients for your tea is the best place to begin.

Not all teas are created equal. If you start with quality tea, you’re more likely to have a positive tea-drinking experience.

There’s a debate on whether loose leaf tea is better than tea bags. Most people think loose tea leaves make better tea, but the convenience of tea bags worth the trade-off. I buy tea both ways.

Steep Time

Different types of tea require different amounts of steeping time. Herbal teas, like chamomile tea, will take less time than black teas. If you steep your tea too long, your tea has the potential to become bitter.

Here’s a guide on how long to steep tea according to various types of tea.

It’s All About the Mug

When I asked “What do you do to make tea taste better?” in the Cozy Living Group, one member said to start by putting it in your favorite mug. I loved that answer because something as simple as drinking tea out of a handcrafted cup can elevate the experience of taking time out on a busy day and enjoying those few moments you are taking for yourself.

Tea and Ambience

What I love about England is the importance of the ritual of tea. How many of us actually create our own tea rituals in today’s busy world?

Instead of mindlessly drinking our tea, what if we took a few moments to sip our hot drink as we stood next to the window watching the snow fall gently to the ground? Or how about sitting on your front porch drinking tea early in the morning, watching the world come to life? You could also light a candle, say a prayer for the world and drink your bedtime tea before heading to bed. The possibilities are endless to create magical pockets of time.

Water

If you’re using tap water to make your tea, it’s time to rethink this decision. The flavor of your tea is dramatically affected by water quality. Filtered, distilled, and spring water is the best choices.

You also want to make sure you use better quality water when making ice cubes for your iced tea.

Keeping Your Tea Kettle Clean

To clean your kettle, add 1-2 tablespoons of baking soda to your kettle. Fill the rest of the kettle with water and bring it to boiling. Let it cool, and clean it with a non-abrasive brush.

Improving the Taste of Green Tea

We all know the health benefits of drinking green tea, but some people don’t like the taste of it. Here are some ideas on how to improve your cup of green tea:

• If you love black tea, add a green tea bag to your mug in addition to the black tea bag. Doing this will help dilute the flavor of the green tea.
• People tend to steep their green tea too long. Steeping tea too long can make your tea taste bitter. Green tea should be steeped for 2-3 minutes.
• One Cozy Living Member suggested drinking Japanese green tea versus Chinese green tea. She thought that Japanese green tea leaves had a milder flavor.
• I’m not a big fan of plain green tea, but I love Jasmin green tea.
• White tea tends to have a lighter flavor than green tea. Studies have shown that it may have even more antioxidants than green tea. Give white tea a try for a more mellow flavor.

Creating a Cozy Life Group

Since you found this article on How to Make Tea Taste Better, I’m guessing you love all things cozy living. I created a Facebook group called Creating a Cozy Life with over 90,000 like-minded souls.

It’s a group where we share recipes, photographs of things that leave you in awe, and ideas on how to make your life a little bit more snug. You can join the cozy virtual cottage here.

Here are some ideas on How to Make Tea Taste Better:

Natural Sweeteners

Why add artificial sweeteners to a good cup of tea when you can go natural? Here are some natural alternatives you’ll love:

Honey

Adding honey to tea is one of the most popular ways to flavor to your tea. The great thing about this idea is that many different flavors of honey are available.

One way to try a variety of flavors of honey is to buy flavored honey sticks.

Raw honey has antioxidant properties. Make sure to add the honey after the tea cools down, so you can retain the benefits.

Orange blossom honey is also an incredibly tasty choice for tea. You could also try local honey.

Brown Sugar

Brown sugar is sugar with molasses. The molasses is what gives brown sugar that distinctive brown color and flavor. It’s a simple way to add richness to your cup of tea.

Raw Sugar

You can try raw sugar in your favorite flavor of tea. It’s less processed than regular sugar and tastes great.

Maple Syrup

If you’re looking for a simple idea of what to add to tea on a chilly fall day, maple syrup is your answer. You’ll want to use real maple syrup, not the fake stuff. Just a few drops of maple syrup added to your tea can give it a unique sweet, and slightly nutty flavor.

Stevia

You can purchase stevia in liquid form or powder form. Personally, I love the liquid state. You can also grow your own stevia and dry it to use in your tea.

Liquid stevia comes with a lot of different flavors like chocolate, orange, vanilla, pumpkin spice, peppermint, toffee, and even root beer!

Simple Syrups

Making simple syrups couldn’t be easier, and they are a great option to use when sweetening your tea. There’s a never-ending amount of flavors you can make.

What to Put in Tea

Citrus Fruits

Citrus flavors are a popular addition to tea, and for a good reason. Some citrus fruits, such as lemons and limes, are pretty tart. While other fruits, like oranges and grapefruits, are sweeter.

The zesty flavor of citrus fruits can help to perk up a bland cup of tea, and they will also help boost your immune system at the same time.

Lemon Slices

One of the cozy living group members rubs sugar on her slice of lemon before dropping it in her tea. That was such a great idea!

Lime Slices

The combination of green tea and lime makes a refreshing drink that makes tea lovers happy. Adding lime slices to healthy green tea makes it even better.

Orange Slices

Adding orange slices will give your tea the perfect touch of sweetness. You can also add the orange zest to your tea for even more flavor.

Fresh Fruit

Fruit is a natural sweetener that can take your tea from good to great. If you have yet to try iced tea mixed with fresh fruits like pineapple, strawberries, and mangos, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Dried Berries

Pick a variety of tea that has dried berries. Fruit teas are a great way to enjoy the taste of the tea if you love a little sweetness in your beverage.

Pear, Peach, or Apricot Nectar

Fruit nectar isn’t commonly thought of as a sweetener for tea. You’ll never go back once you try adding this tasty nectar to your favorite tea blend.

Fruit Juice

Adding fruit juice like apple juice, orange juice, pomegranate juice, and cranberry juice are all great ways to infuse your tea with sweetness. You can also add a little lemonade to your tea.

Lemon juice and sugar can be added to iced black tea to make an Arnold Palmer. This drink was made famous by golfing legend Arnold Palmer, who would order a non-alcoholic beverage of half iced tea and half lemonade.

One Cozy Living Group member loved the combination of iced green tea with pomegranate juice. There are so many different combinations you can try.

Jams or Jellies

I first read about adding jam or jelly to your tea from a cookbook. Now it seems like such an obvious addition to hot tea, but before seeing it – I would have never thought of adding it.

What to Add to Tea – Flavors

Fresh Ginger

One of my favorite healthy tea blends is a hot lemon honey tea steeped with fresh ginger. You can find that recipe here. It’s so good!

Candied Ginger

Adding a touch of candied ginger is a fun way to transform your tea with sweetness and spice. If you’re looking to make your own candied ginger, you can find my recipe here.

Cinnamon Stick

Fall is when we start craving all things cinnamon. Why not add a cinnamon stick to your mug of tea to celebrate the season?

Wassail Mix

You can use a nonalcoholic spice blend of apples, cloves, cinnamon, lemon, orange, ginger, and nutmeg. This blend of spices gives basic black tea a much better flavor.

Mint

There’s a reason you often see fresh mint leaves floating in tea cups. Mint gives the tea a refreshing taste.

It wouldn’t be summer for me without drinking iced peppermint tea made with fresh mint leaves from my garden.

Rose Hips or Rose Petals

Whether you add rose hips or rose petals to your tea, just a little bit goes a long way. Adding floral notes to tea is becoming more popular, and roses are a favorite choice. You’ll want to make sure you use pesticide-free flowers.

Lavender

Tea drinkers love to add lavender to their cold and hot teas for a taste of spring.

Vanilla

You can use vanilla extract or a split vanilla bean to infuse your tea with this loved flavor.

What to Put in Tea – Milks

Cream or Milk

Adding cream or milk is one of the most popular ways on how to make tea taste better. One person in the Cozy Living Group switched from milk to cream and said it was a game-changer.

Plant-Based Milk

Coconut Milk

This creamy plant-based milk has become more popular over the years. There’s a good reason. Coconut milk is healthy and the perfect addition to your tea.

Almond or Hazelnut Milk

Nut milks add the right amount of nutty sweetness to a cup of tea.

Things to Put in Tea – Vanilla

We’ve reached the end of How to Make Tea Taste Better. Let me know in the comments below your favorite idea.

Don’t forget to join the Creating a Cozy Life Group. You’re not going to believe how amazing it is.

I made a How to Make Tea Taste better pin for your Pinterest board so you can refer back to this post.

You can follow me here on PINTEREST. If you try any of these ideas on things to put in tea and take a photo, be sure to tag me here on INSTAGRAM.

Thanks for stopping by. I’m so happy you found us through your search for What to Add to Tea.

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