I tend to agree, although flavouring is GENERALLY safe, but don't quote me on th at; I'll let you in on an industry secret

-you see, the idea of flavouring attempts to suggest it is gastronomically motiva ted, but in truth, nowadays, it is economical, although at a point in time, it m ay have been done so for harmless dining pleasure. if it is meant to have a certain flavour, one would include it as an ingredient or use an authentic extract. however, due to the profit margin, most use artificially derived flavouring... t hink of the tagline... "all of the crazy intense flavours, none of the nuts!" it would suggest that the people engineering the flavours would be able to tease o ut hints and notes of various scents to add to the foods and beverages because b uying these by the drums and drams, are easier to control storage-wise, and flav our-wise... because, like wines, the tastes of teas do change over time. and like some wines, if stored improperly or unsold, flavours tend to change or degrade... and flavourings tend to cover those nasty little details. Do yourself a favour and try this little test... make a cup of tea with one of those teabags, and then make a second serving with the same tea bag: 1) how does it taste? 2) look at the tea and bring it up to a light source, tilt the meniscus of the t ea, and see if there is an oil-like skim on the surface of the tea liquid compar ed to the first infusion? 3) what is the colour of the skim, and the tea? 4) drink the tea did any of the described flavouring exist in the 2nd cup too? if it has a skim, it could be either or both of: 1) the pesticides used in the spraying of tea cultivation 2) the flavouring , if they are using an oil-based flavouring... alot of 'cream' flavoured teas are such... and they are derived from the oils of palm nuts... s o for those with allergies of the kind, please be careful. if it tastes strongly scented and flavoured in the first, but greatly diminished to an unpalatable brackish bitter tasteless liquid in the 2nd infusion, you'll know the tea is probably abit stale. old teas are sold at very low prices and they have been 'spruced up' and given a second shelf-life with a little bit of flavouring. unfortunately health benefits of teas also tend to deteriorate with time... so, stale black teas, while great for dyeing paper in kid's craft projects and work s as a great compost, have greatly diminished health benefits. tea companies who are offering you tea under or 2.99 a box of tea at retail shou ld raise some alarm bells nowadays.... you must understand the standard markups of teas at stores are often 2 or 3 times the distributor's prices, who in turn, had also marked it up.... so if you do alittle reverse calculation, you might fi nd that your per tea bag might be worth a penny or less... take a look at the box, and it should be generally 35g-50g wt per box, so you ar e paying about 25-cents a cup (packaging and shipping all-in); at any typical ca fes, they will charge you about $2-$3 per serving of these flavoured teas... so

you do the math. Natural flavourings are important because, for me, i enjoy the complexity and pl easures of finding new synergistic relationships between tastes and scents, in t urn, it is a gastronomical artform when i can combine different flavours to augm ent each other, and let us meditate on the senosry nature of life around us... o r make some bitter but beneficial foods more palatable. but i do worry about the long term and heavy use of 'artificial' flavourings, wh ich are basically created by chemical precursors, which is not derived from the methods that are used to manufacture natural flavo urings. an online definition of 'Natural flavouring' as such: "A natural flavouring is a food additive produced from a 'natural' source. Howev er, natural flavourings may be extracted from unexpected sources (such as wood) which you would not normally eat. Like other flavouring additives, they have no nutritional value." but it is a fine line between the two... so one should be careful... and i would also be concerned with the level of pesticides used on certain teas from certain regions of the world. in creating and sourcing of my teas, i have had to do alot of research to corrob orate what my suppliers tell me and read up on independent researches from diffe ring fields to ensure everything is acceptable. Having been in the tea industry for a while, i am still constantly learning new things and information.