KNOW-HOW Recipe creation

Our in-house creations are the result of a healthy dose of imagination and creativity, coupled with a relentless search for quality ingredients to enhance a new recipe. Our creators are passionate about combining flavours and colors: the teas, plants, flowers and spices they choose undergo extensive testing in search of the right balance. Discover how we seek to evoke emotion and why we use whole flowers and spices whenever possible. Welcome behind the scenes of our in-house creations.

Flavors, flavours and aromas, why do we rely on naturalness for more emotions during tasting?

Over time, our approach to recipe development has become more refined, but the basic principles remain the same, the most important of which can be summed up as follows: without authentic flavours, there are no emotions..

Of all the senses possessed by human beings, the sense of smell is the only one directly linked to the limbic system of our brain, which is also the center of our emotions and memory. Although our senses can be fooled to some extent, we believe that breathing in a rose essential oil will never produce the same intensity of emotion as breathing in the scent of a rose in a garden.

That's why we always seek the authenticity of flavours in our in-house creations: organic and fair-trade flowers, herbs or spices are preferred to essential oils, extracts or aromas.

Since the beginning, our mint teas have been made exclusively from organic tea leaves and mint. The Meditation blends recipes are exclusively composed of organic or biodynamic plants and spices that evoke 4 elements in turn: earth, air, water, fire... And while the result may seem more subtle than a classic flavoured tea, their flavours will be all the more natural and emotional.

In a market where the majority of jasmine teas are made with added flavorings at Les Jardins de Gaïa, we also prefer the traditional Chinese method of simply leaving tea leaves in contact with flowers for usually a day. The tea then offers much more subtle and "real" flavours, approaching the almost intoxicating sensation of smelling real jasmine flowers in a garden.

Red berries, citrus fruits, spices... how can you create a beautiful, tasty recipe while preserving the taste of the tea?

While flowers, herbs and spices can perfectly flavor a tea, pieces of fruit don't have the necessary aromatic strength. For some recipes, we use only natural and certified organic essential oils, extracts and flavours, to keep as close as possible to the original flavours.

When we design a recipe, we never try to mask the taste of the tea, which must remain the central ingredient and always be able to express its flavours and qualities. We have always defended this choice by flavoring our teas with natural organic flavors, even if they are less numerous, harder to find and sometimes less powerful than synthetic flavors.

Since 2022, new regulations governing the production of organic products have raised the bar for organic flavoring, authorizing only the use of "natural flavors from", i.e. directly from the main ingredient mentioned. A natural strawberry flavor, for example, will now always be obtained from strawberries, which in the past was not always the case. We see this as a step towards the even more responsible and ethical organic agriculture we have always defended.

At the same time, with the craze for plants and the consumption of natural products flavours more complex and nuanced, palates are becoming better educated. This trend is in line with our philosophy and motivates us for our next creations!

In-house compositions open to the world, tastes inspired by our travels

Since 1994, our travels and discoveries of different cultures have enabled us to build a veritable cartography of flavours and their combinations, which we continue to enrich with each new creation. To create recipes is, in effect, to put a bit of one's personality into them, and in a way to share one's own experience of the world through associations of flavours from here and elsewhere.

When we created Bollywood Flush green tea, for example, the atmosphere of traditional Indian festivals spontaneously sprang to mind, with the bright colors of saris, flowers and the flavour of cardamom!

As taste shapers, our aim is always to provoke emotions in the simplest, most direct way possible. Here, the choice of organic and natural products is a matter of course.

Harmony and respect for the rhythm of life, biodiversity, freshness and preserved nature, combined with a healthy dose of curiosity, exchange and creativity, are the secret to producing tea and herbal tea recipes that are free of false notes and always with a singular, authentic signature.

The art of composing teas flavoureds original, sometimes crazy, and always gourmet!

As you'll have gathered, our in-house creations are a quest for authenticity, shaped by choices guided by our convictions and experience of the world, and our desire to offer genuine, healthy recipes that stir the emotions.

But this approach, which we take to heart, is also an opportunity to unleash our imagination, sometimes with a hint of madness, to break codes and propose unexpected combinations.

In the end, it's a very natural way of doing things, because it's a bit like rediscovering your childlike soul to mix natural ingredients and be amazed at the results. And how satisfying it is when what you've imagined is validated by a satisfying tasting!

Such is the case with Come on baby, a white tea accompanied by sensual notes of jasmine, orange blossom, vanilla and rose petals... An enchanting, poetic recipe in the spirit of the Doors song.
In the same vein, Light my fire is a deliciously spicy black tea with lemony, honeyed notes and a hint of sparkling payment. A recipe for rock, fire and explosion..

This real exercise in style, all natural and organic flavours, was an opportunity to experience intense creative moments by harmonizing natural and organic ingredients and seeking out their resonant, contrasting and complementary links.

The idea came from Arlette Rohmer, a fan of the Californian band, who wanted to make a nod to a period she experienced as an explosion of energy, color, creativity and freedom. The idea was to revisit in flavours the spirit of a mythical song and a blessed era for music and festival lovers, where committed lyrics rubbed shoulders with the femininity of a mythical "flower power"!

So each time we plan a new recipe, we find our motivation and inspiration first and foremost in the aims of the project. Whether it's highlighting a little-known plant whose flavours or virtues we want to share, or creating a recipe that will support an association or enable us to explore new horizons, everything is a source of creativity.

In 2024, for example, we developed three recipes for our range of "teas transported by sail" from the small producers of the Bân Liên cooperative, a long-standing partner of Les Jardins de Gaïa. After their journey from the port of Hô Chi Minh to Le Havre, these teas were hand-packed at the company's production site in Alsace.

This transport by cargo sailboat from Asia, carried out by our partner TOWT (TransOceanic Wind Transport), a new-generation shipowner from Brest committed since 2011 to the decarbonization of maritime transport, is a first for a French tea player!

There was a particular excitement in our laboratory as we created the recipes, because we were aware of the innovative nature of the project, which enabled us to divide the carbon footprint of the journey by 10! With it, Les Jardins de Gaïa have taken another step towards reducing their environmental impact.

When we created the recipes, based on white, green and black teas respectively, we wanted to bring out fruity, exotic flavours reminiscent of the extraordinary fragrances floating around Asian markets.

We also wanted each sip to be an invitation to travel, and the result is two generous teas in flavours, pleasant to enjoy both hot and iced.

Au rythme du vent is a recipe for white tea flavoured whose fragrances, like a breath of light wind, invite you to escape. The harmony between the sweet, milky notes of coconut, the acidity of lime and the spiciness of combava are reminiscent of the gourmet flavors of certain Southeast Asian recipes.
Le souffle des mers is a green tea-based recipe that carries with it the inspiring breath of the seas. Like an exotic voyage, its tasting is lulled by intensely fruity flavours of pomegranate and passion fruit on a deliciously spicy cardamom background.
L'Odyssée is a flavoured black tea that has been adorned with a veil of gourmandise to better charm us. The caramelized notes of roasted buckwheat blend harmoniously with the tea's woody flavours to create an aromatic background for irresistible flavours of stewed bananas.

Further information: https: //www.towt.eu/