Layla Teapot and Jasmine Flowering Tea from Primula

I was lucky to receive a Primula Layla Teapot and flowering tea set from a friend  The Primula teapot features all-glass construction, even the brewing basket is clear.  It has an impressive capacity, making it perfect for sharing a blooming tea session with a few friends.

The flowering tea set came with blooming tea balls, which make good use of the transparent, glass-bodied teapot.  I’m not sure which flavor of blooming tea was included, as it lacked a label, but I suspect it is their house blend jasmine bloom.

This is the first blooming tea I’ve actually conducted myself.  Previously I’ve always been viewing at someone else’s tea party.  Now that I have a teapot so suited for blooming teas, I’ll have to try this type of tea more often.

On an afternoon where I needed some zen, I brewed up a pot of hot water and dropped in the tea ball.  As the water soaked into the leaves, they slowly peeled back, like a hand opening its fingers. The process did take a few minutes and I found myself impatient at first.  As I relaxed, I found I was surprised how much the bloom was changing in each moment, until we finally reached the unfurling of the pink, center blossoms.

I poured a small cup of the tea to sip on while the bloom continued to relax its leaves.  The tea brewed up a golden color, clear and bright, making the blossom look sunlit from every angle.  The tea tasted mainly of jasmine, but had a surprisingly earthy undertone almost like the sweet-floral notes of cacao or dark chocolate.  I like jasmine pearls, but it was nice to have a deeper flavor balance to the light, flowery notes.

I sipped on the tea all afternoon and watched the leaves continue to soak until they were saturated with tea.  It was a lovely experience and the Primula flowering tea set would make a great gift. I can’t wait to brew more tea in this lovely teapot!

 


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Green tea/TeaPot
Where to Buy: Primula
Description:

Create an unforgettable and extraordinary tea experience with this crystal clear glass teapot and accompanying flowering tea blossoms. The Layla glass teapot and tea set offers a generous 36 oz capacity. Serve up to 9 cups of tea in this stunning clear glass tea set, which offers the perfect window from which to watch the included tea flowers begin to bloom in colorful profusion as they steep. After tea, cleanup is easy because this BPA free borosilicate glass teapot is both microwave and dishwasher safe.

Each tea flower has been exceptionally crafted by artisans in China to create the hand-sewn green tea with all natural tea flowers. The green tea is blended five times with jasmine to emanate an ambrosial floral fragrance. Each package contains 12 different flowering teas along with an illustrated picture and health benefit guide. Choose a pot of Floral Passion, Noble Madam, Oriental Beauty or Camellia Joy. Or watch your cup erupt with Wild Flowers, Gilded Lotus, Lover’s Blossom or Juliet’s Kiss. Other popular flavors like London Fog, Butterfly Floret, Fairy Lily and Summer Bouquet complete your choices in the taste sensation. Try all twelve green tea blends and be amazed at how each bud delivers a delectable cup of tea and an optical sensation. Each tea blend is packed with healthy anti-oxidants and can be steeped three times giving you over 250 cups in each canister. These tea flowers make an excellent gift for special occasions and are something any tea lover would enjoy.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Asha Teapot With Flowering Teas from Primula. . . .

I was so excited to get tea mail containing a blooming tea set from Primula tea to review. Primula, in case you are not aware, is a drinkware company. According to the website the companies “reputation is founded on creating quality products that make people happy to use or gift” The set includes a very large 60 oz teapot, Primula’s largest glass teapot, along with 3 flowering teas. The teapot is delicate but sturdy and I love the green leaf accent on the lid. It includes a green glass infuser. The infuser has small lines cut into the glass to allow the tea to diffuse into the water. While I love the aesthetic of the glass infuser I find that they are not always the best for tea making. The slotted lines can allow smaller teas such as those with rooibos to escape into the water. Overall I think that this is a lovely teapot that is a perfect size to accommodate a larger tea-drinking group and works well to showcase flowering teas.

The teapot also came with three of their flowering teas. Unfortunately there was not any literature included regarding the teas which I found to be a bit odd. I took a look at their website and discovered that the flowering teas have been with Primula since they started the company in 1991 and they continue the product line-up because of the popularity of the teas. All of their display teas are hand-crafted in China from AA grade green tea and flowers. Because the set didn’t come with any information on the tea I was able to deduce that the star-shaped flowering tea I enjoyed was a jasmine-scented green tea. According to their site the green tea is blended with jasmine five times to fully immerse the green tea in the Jasmine scent. There are 12 different types of jasmine green flowering teas offered however it is not clear what the name of the tea was that I tried so I can only identify it as the star-shaped tea.

I steeped the tea at a green tea temp, 175 degrees, for around 5 minutes, the time it took for the flowering tea star to fully unfurl. I am conflicted with this because I tend to enjoy my jasmine green teas with short steep times, around a minute. The longer the star steeps the more intense the jasmine becomes. Not to say this is a bad thing, it just develops and becomes more floral. Overall I liked the flavor of this tea. It was light, slightly vegetal with an underlying sweetness and a heavy jasmine scent. I was worried that a novelty tea like this would be lacking in flavor but I was pleasantly surprised.

I think that a flowering tea and a clear glass teapot are items that every tea connoisseur should have in their tea collection. If you are in the market for either of these items I would certainly give Primula a try!


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Teapot with Flowering Teas
Where to Buy:  Primula
Description

The Primula Asha 60-oz. Glass Teapot is our largest glass teapot; it was designed with entertaining in mind. Made of heat-resistant borosilicate glass with a decorative glass leaf lid, this glass teapot includes a glass infuser in a beautiful contrasting hue, designed for steeping your favorite loose tea blend. The Asha Teapot includes three flowering teas, making this an ideal gift for tea lovers.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Peri Flower Blooming Tea – California Tea House

Hello readers! I am happy to bring you a tea that I have been dying to try, a blooming tea. I have not been able to for I also found them too expensive to buy. I mean I know that this is a tea that is not your normal loose leaf or bag but I always saw the “best selling” flowering teas to be about $10 a bulb. So I am glad that I finally got a chance to try this beautiful tea!

Now, first off this tea was beautiful! And don’t worry I posted a video of it blooming on my Instagram, official_karatics. Now on to the important part, the flavor. Now I can’t tell you what I was expecting it to taste like for I wanted to go into this blind. I would say that the flavor was interesting for it tasted like a combination of Oolong and green tea for I was getting a slightly fermented flavor. It is a very light flavor and has a slightly herbal finish. But I think this mainly has to with the company’s white tea, which is their version of Silver Needle. With all that considered I don’t know whether to put this tea into the relaxing tea category or the everyday tea, so I will just say it is both!

Now I have already touched on the price of flowering tea in the beginning of this review and I will say it is indeed cheaper than most of the brands that I have come across. As of right now, the price is $3 per bulb and $15 for 10, that is 50% of off a pack that should cost $30. I would say that these prices are pretty inexpensive compared to what is on the market nowadays. Not to mention that this or any of the other flowering teas that they have on their site will be perfect for gifts or perfect for use at formal celebrations.

I probably will purchase from this company in the future but probably not the Peri Flower tea or any of the other blooming teas for I don’t really care for the taste of Silver Needle. I will say that they do have one tea in their flowering tea range that has a black tea or Golden Monkey Paw. That tea is called Black Gold and maybe more up my alley, so if you are looking into a flowering tea but are more of a black tea drinker like myself it may be worth a shot.

See you for the next cuppa!


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Blooming Flower Tea
Where to Buy: California Tea House
Description

Peri Flower is a beautiful artisan bouquet of Silver Needle a white tea with a multi-level, soft canary Chrysanthemum bloom. Blooming tea, flowering tea, make a perfect tea wedding favor and party gift.  Email us for information about private labeling for a personal touch on wedding gift tea blooms.

Bring a pot of mineral water to a boil and pour into a clear pot, vase or large glass. Drop a single handmade blooming tea ball into the hot water and let steep for 4 to 6 minutes until the flower blooms. Once the tea has fully bloomed the tea is ready to drink.  These are tasty, floral health bulbs!

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

 

Enlightening Lotus from Flower Pot Tea Company. . . .

Not being a huge fan of strongly floral teas, finding the right floral tisane can be tricky.  I have issues with lavender so when ever I see a floral tea without lavender especially a tisane, I get quite excited.

Enlightening Lotus is by far one of the most stunning flowering teas I’ve brewed up.  Basically this tea is one gorgeous flower.  When put in just the right tea pot, you have one stunning presentation. Simply gorgeous.  My husband even commented by how lovely the presentation of this tea was.  Pops of brilliant yellow filled my tea pot.  How can you not smile when you see that?

But this tea’s presentation doesn’t match the flavor.  I will try my best to explain this tea because it is so incredibly unique and unusual.  Each sip delivers a wonderfully musk and earthy tone from the start to finish.  Gone is that sweet typical floral that you normally pick up when you drink a floral tisane.  Robust yet gentle woodsy flavors swirl around with a very subtle hint of sweetness at the end of each sip.

 

This tisane is remarkable and a unique drinking experience. I love how this tea pops with bright and vibrant colors but the flavor has more of a dark flavor.  A tisane after my own heart!


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Tisane
Where to Buy:  Flower Pot Tea Company
Description

A symbol of purity and enlightenment, lotus flowers floating serenely in still waters, soaking in the sun. Our Enlightening Lotus Tisane blossoms with a unique, golden honey aroma that evolves with a subtle herbaceous finish. Grown only in a single plantation adjoining a Buddhist temple, these golden flowers…

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Sugar Melon Blooming Tea From Kiss Me Organics. . . .

 

Blooming Teas. . .not a tea that I can honestly say I’ve had a lot of. I’ve tried them in the past and I could never get them to bloom like the pictures shown.  But when our package of samples arrived from Kiss Me Organics, I was ready to try the blooming tea scenario again.

Kiss Me Organics offers a lovely flavored blooming tea assortment with flavors like cherry, strawberry, and sugar melon.  I couldn’t resist checking these teas out so I set to prepping my water.  Per the instructions, I used a glass tea pot so I could watch the blooming tea in action and used freshly boiled water.  I allowed the tea to steep for the recommended time.

First infusion I can’t say the tea fully bloomed but what I can say is that this tea delivered on a delicious fresh clean melon flavor with a solid buttery like finish. This tea was smooth and crisp.  Dare I even say dessert like.  I couldn’t put my cup down and was surprised by how fast I gulped (and I must emphasize the word GULP there) the tea down.

The second infusion was about the same.  The tea didn’t flower completely like I thought it would but the brew was insanely delicious.  My cup was emptied just as fast as the first go around.  Again, I was greeted with this delicious fresh clean smooth melon flavor. I’m not sure why I kept thinking  clean but the taste was still as crisp as the first infusion, which made me happy.  Like drinking a cup full of sunshine.

I ended up having several infusions of this wonderfully uplifting brew.  The flower did end up blooming and I think I ended up getting close to ten infusions from this one blooming tea.

If you are a fan of melon flavors, I recommend checking this tea out.  I’ve tried a few other blooming teas out of this assortment, and the Sugar Melon so far is my favorite. I was hoping you could get just a package of Sugar Melon Blooming Teas from Kiss Me Organics, but right now the only offer an assortment.

Regardless, this tea is one I’m now craving and will need to get more of.   And with spring right around the corner, this would be a fun tea to share  that has more of an airy light flavor instead of the heavier flavors of winter.  Plus the blooming part of this tea is just fun and unusual from the rest of the teas I typically drink.

Kiss Me Organics has put together an awesome  code for our readers to get 10% off and free shipping-SororiTeaBloom.   They even have a subscribe and save offer, which I think I’m personally going to take advantage of.


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy:  Kiss Me Organics
Description

Each bloom of Kiss Me Organics Blooming Tea is made from organic Calendula flowers, green tea leaves, and natural fruit flavoring. Our blooms are hand-sewn to produce a delicious infusion and a beautiful flowering effect when brewed. Kiss Me Organics Blooming Tea is flavored with natural fruit extract from cherry, peach, strawberry, black currant, raspberry, sugar melon and cactus melon. These 7 flavors are a great way to unwind at tea time, adding flavor and a gorgeous display to your table.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!