Stop Drinking Perfume: Why We Don't Use Synthetic Flavours
Open a box of generic grocery store "Berry Bliss" tea. Take a deep whiff. It smells incredible, right? Like a basket of fresh raspberries exploded in your face.
Now look at the ingredients. You’ll see tea leaves, maybe a dried berry or two, and then the mysterious catch-all term: "Natural Flavors."
Here is the hard truth: If you dipped a tea bag in hot water for three minutes, it should smell like wet leaves and subtle fruit. If it smells like a Jolly Rancher, you aren’t drinking tea. You’re drinking perfume.
At Outsiders, we have a strict "No Perfume" policy.
We believe that if a tea claims to be "Lemon Ginger," the flavour should come from actual lemon verbena and actual ginger root. Not a lab-created spray designed to trick your brain into thinking it’s tasting fruit. Those sprays—often listed as natural or artificial essences—coat the leaves and wash off into your water, leaving a weird, oily film and a chemical aftertaste.
Why do companies use them? Because real ingredients are expensive. Flavour sprays are cheap.
But we aren't here for cheap; we’re here for real.
When you brew a cup of our Immunity Shield blend, that tart, red punch comes from hibiscus flowers and rose hips. When you taste the sweetness in Calming Tea, it’s from fennel seeds and cinnamon bark.
It’s subtle. It’s complex. And yes, it’s a little quieter than the candy-flavoured stuff. But that’s nature. It doesn’t scream at you; it invites you in.
So put down the perfume bottle and taste what the earth actually offers.