Blooming Tea?

662 days ago

No sure what this is? Well, me neither. I only recently found out that there are like tons and tons of different types of tea. There are even teas that don’t come from the Camellia sinensis plant! We have green tea, black tea, oolong tea and white tea. These are all from the Camellia sinensis plant. There are also “red” tea or rooibos tea from the South Africa and the Honeybush tea also from South Africa. In addition, we still have herbal teas which are usually made from flowers, fruits or herbs. There are even infusion teas which are a mix of different types of tea, herbs, flowers and so on. They even have those infusion which includes rice! I mean, it is just amazing to realize the variety and depth of the tea culture. And yes, I am sure that you guys should know by now that I am a big tea fan.

I have been drinking tea regularly for the past year or so. In the beginning, I started with just plain old Lipton tea, which I believe is Black tea. Then I started with the milder green tea and occasionally I go for white teas. And oh, yes I do quite often take rooibos tea as well. In my opinion, they all taste pretty decent to me. I especially like the Rooibos tea. It has this complex flavour which the other teas I often consume cannot match.

Anyway, my friend purchase this blooming tea for me during his trip to China. It is some sort of a mix of flowers and green tea. When the tea is soaked in warm water, it will “bloom” so to speak, creating a beautiful display of  green teal leaves with flowers in the middle. Well, yes, it is all about aesthetics here but you got to be impressed with the results. Of course, you will have to have a glass pot for showing off the little piece of art. Surprisingly, the price of tea in China is not really cheap. Or perhaps it is because my friend went to those tourist areas and he was “carrot-chopped”?

This is the box the tea came in. Fashion. Art Tea. Whatever.

Something. My mandarin sucks. Time for me to go back to school.

Here we have the individually wrapped tea “balls“, which is a good thing. One thing I often worry about tea is the cleanliness and the hygiene. Although during the brewing process, hot water is added but is that enough to kill of any bacteria or germs? Not too sure but at least I haven’t fallen ill from taking tea recently.

So what you do is to put this mushroom like tea thingy into a pot of hot water and in no time, it will develop into a piece of art.

There, this is what it should become. Not bad right?

Mix of flowers and green tea leaves. Actually if you think about it, quite impressive.

There have different types of “art” for you to choose from. Confusing? In the beginning, it was pretty confusing to me as well. But hey, just choose something you like. If I am not wrong, you can purchase this from eBay and they ship to Singapore.

See, you do need a nice glass pot to have the nice effect. Where to go those cool glass tea pot eh?

Some more examples.

Even more examples.

As you guys can see, I didn’t try it out myself. The main reason is because I do not have a nice glass pot to brew the tea. And I am not really into floral teas myself. Maybe in time, I will learn to appreciate such teas, but currently, I am still enjoying my rooibos and green tea. Ciao, see you guys later.

Drinks