Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Alice’s Fine Teas
Product Description:
The shape of Blooming Flower Brings Riches and Honor is like an orb made of strips of silk. It is made of tea needles and fresh camellia. It opens in the water just as the flower opens in slow motion – delicate and charming. Under the water’s moistening the camellia is natural and graceful. The tea has a wonderful buttery fragrance and tastes very smooth, sweet (like honey) and fresh. Ingredients: Camellia (flower of the tea plant is high in antioxidants) and Silver Needle Tea
Taster’s Review:
In the past, I’ve steeped blooming tea bulbs for just a few minutes, and would stop the process before the bloom had completely opened for fear that I’d over-steep the tea. This time, just for experimentation’s sake, I decided to try steeping it until the bulb had completely blossomed, and see how the tea tasted.
The bloom is gorgeous! It is a creamy white color, and it looks so graceful and elegant as the petals move slowly in the liquid. And surprisingly, the tea is not rendered too bitter to drink after the long steep (it took about ten minutes for this bulb to completely unfurl in 160 ° F water).
The liquor is a pale, clear amber-ish color and has a thick, soft mouthfeel. The flavor is sweet and is not quite as delicate as a typical silver needle tea (of course, this probably has something to do with the length of time it was steeped). There is some cleansing astringency to this tea, but it is not overly dry. Overall, the taste is lightly grassy and has a distinct floral taste to it that is somewhat pollen-y with a honey-like sweetness that lingers in the aftertaste.
This is a beautiful tea with a very pleasant sweet-yet-savory taste to it. One that would be a pleasure to serve to guests … and it makes a beautiful (and unique) conversation piece as well!
Variety of Colors from Dragon Tea Room
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Dragon Tea House on eBay
Product Description:
A delicate flower blooms inside this ball tea just before tiny flowers slowly cascade upward like Champagne bubbles. The flowers add their enlivening fragrance and strong taste to this delectably smooth green tea. Our Ball offers one of the most artful spectacles in tea. This blooming tea has an original shape of an tiny ball and when put in boiling water a bouquet of tea leaves and flower. The aromas of both flowers and tea leaves are very well preserved and these exceptional teas develop a wonderful flavor and create at the same time a beautiful “table decoration”.
Once dropped into a glass of hot water, this ball tea unveils a broad flower followed by the sudden eruption of a flower plume, which is actually flowers sewn together end to end. The golden liquor yields a full-bodied flavor intensified by the large medicinal bloom. Let the the blooming tea brew for at least 10 minutes, a longer brewing time will not spoil the tea, on the contrary, the flavour will rather improve. One piece of blooming tea can be used twice with approximately 5 to 6 dl water each time.
Taster’s Review:
It has been a while since I’ve taken the time to experience an “Art Tea” – otherwise known as a blooming tea. But today I wanted to take the time to slow down and enjoy this tea in its splendor.
This tea ball is slow to open and reveal its beautiful flower inside. For the first infusion, I steeped a full 10 minutes (as suggested in the product description) and it still did not fully open. The liquor this 10 minute steep produced is surprisingly tasty.
It has a distinct green tea flavor, with notes of grassy vegetation and a fresh tone. As the product description above states, there is a somewhat medicinal flavor to this tea as well, it comes across as a slightly bitter note that hits about mid-sip. However, it is not an off-putting bitterness, rather, I find that it has a way of improving the overall cup by giving it some dimension. I think that this would be a far too sweet tasting tea without that bitter tone!
The tea has a smooth mouthfeel that dissipates at the tail when the cleansing astringency hits. The mouth is left feeling clean, dry and ready for another sip.
The second infusion was well over 10 minutes. I forgot to set a timer, so, I can’t tell you exactly how long I steeped it for, but I’m sure it was at least 15 minutes. By this time, the ball had opened fully, revealing a beautiful pink flower that looked a bit like a large carnation! Gorgeous!
The tea tastes even better with the second infusion than with the first. It is smoother with a softer texture. This infusion tastes almost buttery, with a beautiful sweet-yet-savory creaminess. The astringency is lighter, too.
A very pleasant tea experience – I suggest brewing this with a friend! It’s fun to watch and a pleasure to drink!
Summer Kiss from Red Leaf Tea Company
Tea Type: Black Tea
Where To Buy: Red Leaf Tea Company
Product Description:
This tea is blends organically grow black tea leaves with flowery accents. It will enable you to rise up on the hottest day of the year with a body filled with a clear and cool spirit. Our blend creates a unique and powerful mix of sweetness and tartness, adding a bright morning alertness to our brews. To create this special jumble of lightness and vigor, we have added red rosebud, purple mountain rose hips and hibiscus to the basic leaves of our black tea. Sweet flavors require expert handling, and we have the skills to offer you the greatest morning tea in the nation.
Tasters Review:
I, for one, am overly ready to KISS SUMMER hello! So when I saw this Summer Kiss tea from Red Leaf Tea Company I was very happy. I know you aren’t supposed to judge a tea by it’s name – but I couldn’t resist!
This black tea had large rose buds in it and shouted SUMMER! It was highly scented and the taste was pleasing – that is for sure! The product description mentioned hibiscus – to be honest I didn’t notice it – and that is coming from someone who doesn’t favor hibiscus. I know of the healthy benefits of hibiscus and really wished I did LOVE it but I usually find it too tart or too sweet or distracting for me. I will say – whatever Red Leaf did with it in flavoring the black tea here – is PERFECT! At least for my personal preferences!
The black tea taste is a little weaker of the black teas I have had but that is ok…I don’t think a big, bold, black would work here with this blend…so again…Red Leaf is “right on”. Then there is the rose. The roses are beautiful and very flavorful! I recently found this nutritional info about infusing rose buds and petals and thought I would share it with you…
Rose hips are consumed in tea in part for their nutritional value. According to nutritiondata.com, a single ounce of rose hips contains 24 percent of the recommended daily value of vitamin A, 5 percent of calcium, and a whopping 199 percent of vitamin C. Native Americans used rose hips in teas, and then, rather than discarding the remaining hips, added them to soups and stews because they were too nutritious to waste. Rose petals have also been used to make tea, but their nutritional content has not been studied.
Halo Tea from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Type:
Flowering Tea/Blooming Tea (White Tea)
Where To Buy:
Direct link to this tea in their store: http://www.persimmontreetea.com/halo-tea.html
Product Description:
A beautifully hand-crafted blooming white tea that displays a ring of jasmine and amaranth flowers, with blueberry and peach essence.
* Characteristics Mild * Flavors Fruity * Steep Temperature 180˚ * Steep Time 3-5 mins
Tasters Review:
Halo from The Persimmon Tree Tea Company is just outstanding and AMAZING!!!
It perfectly opened/bloomed the first time around without any imperfections whatso-ever and smelled of blueberry and peaches and that’s on top of the floral aroma…how awesome is that for a blooming tea!!??
I could taste the blueberry, peach, and flowers and it’s very yummy!
I tried a 2nd infusion on this and it was still very tasty! The only notable difference was the 2nd infusion was more floral. It was still an overall wonderful flavor tho!
This is probably one of my favorite blooming teas or flowering teas I have tried to date! This is VERY special!
Bird of Paradise from Alice’s Fine Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Blooming/White
Where to Buy: Alice’s Fine Teas
Product Description:
This bloom unfolds into beautiful birds perched in a golden nest surround by green. Not only is it visually surprising, but the taste is surprisingly spicy and reminds one of autumn, like pumpkin pie!. One of the favorites at Alice’s Fine Teas, a delicious, warm, soothing tea. Ingredients: Marigold (believed to help circulation and ease stomach ache), Lily (said to enhance energy and to have a cooling effect) and Silver Needle Tea.
Taster’s Review:
I enjoy blooming teas, but I don’t really brew them very often. I blame the gadgetry – I am a self-professed anti-gadgetite (I just made that up) – and when I brew a blooming tea, I have to watch it brew, right? I guess I am just going to have to promote my glass teacup to the status of essential tool rather than its current status of “gadget” so that I can enjoy the beautiful art of blooming teas!
I steeped this bulb for four minutes in 165° F water and after the four minutes, the bulb had not completely opened. Only a hint of the orange-y blossoms that would display was showing at the very top of the bulb. But this is a good thing! It means additional infusions… which means MORE tea! Yay!
This really DOES taste like pumpkin! There are very gentle spice notes in the background, which contributes to the “pumpkin pie” like taste that is mentioned in the above product description from Alice’s Fine Teas. I wouldn’t say it tastes just like pumpkin pie – but it does have similar characteristics. The squash flavor is distinct … and quite yummy.
The tea has a very pleasant sweetness to it (I don’t recommend adding sweetener to this tea, it would overwhelm the delicate flavors!) and a light yet smooth mouthfeel. Very little (almost no) astringency to this cup. A very pleasant, mild cup of tea that makes for an excellent topic of conversation as well as a refreshing beverage.
For the second infusion, I steeped for five minutes and achieved another delicious cup of tea. The bulb had not yet fully opened until I infused for the third time (for six minutes), and the tea was still quite lovely, although the pumpkin flavor had subdued a bit by this time. There were still faint notes of squash and spice, but mostly what I tasted by this time was the soft, fresh notes of silver needle with a delicious buttery finish.
When the bulb finally did completely open, I enjoyed the sight – it looked like two swans dancing (ever go to Disneyland and watch the swans in the pond outside of Sleeping Beauty’s castle? Every hour when the sounds of a singing Sleeping Beauty can be heard, the swans dance together).
This was an incredibly fun tea to steep and to drink. The flavor was delicious and surprising, and the colorful display from the bulb made tea time all the more entertaining.