Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Dragon Tea House
Tea 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”.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Every once in a while, I like to take a moment to simply watch a tea steep. There is something so wonderfully relaxing about it. I think my favorite teas to watch steep are blooming teas, like this Love Game Flowering Tea from Dragon Tea House. I like blooming teas because they open slowly, taking their time to reveal their splendor, and when they’ve finally fully unfurled, what a breathtaking display!
I infused this tea for six full minutes in 180°F water, and it still had not opened fully … which means MORE INFUSIONS! Yay! This first cup is tasty. The mouthfeel is soft and silky. The taste is sweet and floral with notes of jasmine, and a slight nutty flavor. It is very smooth tasting, with very little astringency and no bitterness.
For my second infusion, I set the timer for ten minutes, although it had fully unfurled after about 90 seconds (taking seven and a half minutes total to completely open), but I infused it for the full ten minutes to achieve full flavor for the infusion, and that ten minutes delivered! The second infusion was even tastier than the first. The flavor is more focused on the nutty flavors, with hints of jasmine, and a sweet, fresh, slightly grassy tone.
Overall, a very pleasant experience!