I am a great coffee lover, but that does not mean I do not also enjoy a cup of tea at the moment. I rarely prepare a tea to start the day, but I do like to taste different infusions throughout the day. The world of teas is tremendously wide and I know that I have much to learn, but I can not help but feel passionate about trying different varieties. My family knows this, and that’s how they recently made me a curious gift: small spheres that hide an art for the teapot, the tea flowers, a flowering tea gift set.
Visit to Get your Blooming tea gift set
Make special Tea time with Blooming Flowers
They should not be confused with the proper flowers that are used to infuse directly, as they can be those of rose or orange blossom. The gift set calls flower tea or flowering tea ( flowering or blooming tea, in English) are individual infusions small cocoon – like spherical, formed by thin prietas and topped with flower leaves. Dry does not have much visual or olfactory interest, but when hot water is poured on them, a process of great visual beauty is unleashed that floods the cup with floral aromas.
The specific origin of the tea flowers gift set is not known with exactitude, although the probable thing is that it was a Chinese creation. Some sources place them in the Song Dynasty, as a visual delight for the emperor, not so much as a drink. It was not until the last century when this art was rescued for its use in the marketing of tea worldwide, especially taking advantage of the growing interest in all kinds of varieties that have been lived in the last decades in Western countries.
How to choose your flowering tea gift set
A tea flower is a special and delicate product since traditionally it is elaborated of artisan form. Although it may seem, at first sight, they are not totally natural flowers, that is, they are given that concrete form. It is a set of tea leaves and dried flowers that are tied in a spherical shape using a thin cotton thread, which keeps them tight until the moment of consumption.
They can be made with different varieties, but the most used tea leaves for these flowers are white tea or green tea, choosing long leaves that are wrapped together. The flower that crowns each ball can also vary, although the most used are jasmine, lily, chrysanthemum, hibiscus, carnation or marigold. In this way, this flower not only brings beauty to the infusion but also its delicate floral aroma.
Enjoy your blooming tea
The procedure for preparing a cup of tea flower is very simple. Water must be heated to the boiling point, poured into a teapot and placed in the flower. The idea is to use a teapot or a large transparent cup, to be able to observe well the process of the infusion. And is that in contact with hot water, the sphere begins to unfold gradually, releasing its leaves and its flower at the same time as it infuses the water with its aroma.
You have to have a little patience since the whole process usually lasts between 6 and 10 minutes until the flowers are completely released. That’s when we can serve the tea in individual cups. The flower can be reserved and reused for future infusions, although it will no longer offer us the same spectacle as during its first contact with the liquid.
The flower of tea that I have been able to taste was jasmine, with a very pleasant flavor, soft but aromatic, leaving no bitter chink, so for my taste, it was not necessary to add any type of sweetener. The process of releasing the flower is certainly very curious to see, although I have to admit that it does not look as spectacular as some of the promotional photographs that can be seen on the net promise. Perhaps the variety is influenced by it, so I hope to try other types in the future.
Tea flowers are a very original product that will surely surprise anyone who does not know. Its price is higher than ordinary teas, since they are usually sold by units or small flowing tea gift set, so they are more suitable to prepare at special times. They can be a good gift idea for tea lovers or a detail to entertain when we have guests at home, who will surely enjoy both the visual spectacle and the taste of tea.
