Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White (Blooming Tea)
Where to Buy: Alice’s Fine Teas
Tea Description:
Sweeping jasmine arch over a bright lily. This tea is mellow, even buttery, with a hint of sweetness from the jasmine. Absolutely delightful! Ingredients: Lily (said to enhance energy and to have a cooling effect), Jasmine (sweet fragrance, said to moisten the skin, ease anxiety and anti-inflammatory) and Silver Needle Tea
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What a beautiful display! The pale green leaves of the tea open up to reveal a red-orange flower and an arch of white blossoms. Really pretty. This is a tea you’ll want to be sure to steep in a tall glass or teapot so that you can fully experience the bloom as it unfurls.
The color of the tea surprised me, it is a bit darker than other blooming teas that I’ve tried. It is still a light color – I’d say it’s light amber – but darker than the pale yellow liquor that I’ve experienced with other blossoming teas.
The flavor is delightful. It is sweet, smooth and floral, but, not in a soapy kind of way. The flavor of the white tea is prominent. It has a fresh, airy kind of flavor with notes of hay and sweet grass.
There is a creamy element to this tea as well – buttery – and a mouthfeel that complements the creaminess. The floral notes are definitely jasmine, with a lighter lily tone than I recall tasting with the Jasmine Fairy Blossoming Tea (also from Alice’s Fine Teas).
What a delightful tea experience – one that would be fun to share with friends.
Jasmine Fairy Blooming Tea from Alice’s Fine Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White (Blooming Tea)
Where to Buy: Alice’s Fine Teas
Tea Description:
Our Jasmine Fairy starts out as a ‘mushroom’ shape ball. White jasmine and beautiful lily hide inside the silver needle tea. Pouring boiled water causes the red lily petals to rise up trying to follow the white jasmine dancing light-footed like a fairy flying in the sky. This fragrant tea tastes smooth and sweet. Ingredients: Jasmine (sweet fragrance, said to moisten the skin, ease anxiety and anti-inflammatory), Lily (said to enhance energy and to have a cooling effect), Silver Needle Tea
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
It’s been a while since I’ve had a blooming tea, so I decided that now was the time. I have really enjoyed the blooming teas that Alice’s Fine Teas offers, so I was pretty confident I’d enjoy this one too.
After steeping for six minutes in 175°F water, the bloom was open, but, I fear that my glass cup was not quite tall enough to see the full effect of the white floral extension (as shown in the photo above). To the right, you’ll see what the bloom appeared like with a slightly shorter glass. Still beautiful, even though the extension was not fully visible.
But even more important (at least to me) is the flavor of the tea, and I am not at all disappointed with the flavor of this blooming tea. It is light, sweet, and even a little creamy! The floral notes are present but in keeping with the overall lightness of the tea, and they do not overwhelm the flavor of the silver needle tea.
The floral is not entirely jasmine here, as I can taste the lily flavor too. I like that even though it is a combination of flowery flavors, it doesn’t taste like perfume or soap. It tastes more like … spring. Like the freshness of spring: crisp air, full of life as the flowers begin to bloom after winter’s frosty chill.
A very fun and delicious tea!
Riches and Honor Blooming Flower Tea from Alice’s Fine Teas
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!
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.
Elixir of Love from Alice’s Fine Teas
Tea Type: Blooming Tea/Flowering Tea
Where To Buy: Alice’s Fine Teas
Product Description:
Sweeping jasmine arch over a bright lily. This tea is mellow, even buttery, with a hint of sweetness from the jasmine. Absolutely delightful! Ingredients: Lily (said to enhance energy and to have a cooling effect), Jasmine (sweet fragrance, said to moisten the skin) and Silver Needle Tea
Tasters Review:
I’ve said it before and I will say it again…I LOVE Blooming Teas/Flowering Teas. Elixir of Love from Alice’s Fine Teas is no exception.
It’s Relaxing, semi-sweet, mellow, floral, and extremely lovely!
This is a sweeter jasmine than I am used to! And I really like it! I mean REALLY like it…I think I would like all my jasmine’s to be sweet or semi-sugary-sweet from now on!
Yup! Alice’s Fine Teas has raised the bar on Jasmine for me! This is incredible…the key is the naturally sugary-sweet of this Jasmine that makes it special!
