Flowering Tea

Flowers are beautiful and tea is stupendous, and when you put them both together, crafted by the skilled hands of a master what you will find yourself left with is a remarkable little pearl of blossoming flower tea. 

Widely known either as the flowering tea or blossoming tea, it is made up of a small bundle of dried tea leaves and flowers that are bound together into small rosette; hand sewn with fine cotton thread. Honestly it is an easier feat said than done because these balls are really tiny and the raw materials they are working with are small fragile tea leaves and flowers!

Likely originating from the province of Yunnan in China, which is located near the borders of Laos and Vietnam, the flowering teas to me would seem more of an art than a just a fancy presented beverage , bearing in mind that in the Chinese culture, tea drinking is already an art in its own right.

Roughly the process begins with white, green and black teas being picked early in the morning. And while in their damp state, these leaves are flattened and then sewn together with cotton thread to from various/desired shapes and bundles. Some tea leaves are scented with jasmines prior to being sewn in order to give it that fragrant floral scent.

Now, it should be obvious that since it’s called the flowering tea or blossoming tea you would expect a flower to be incorporated into the rosettes. You will find that each design  varies from maker to maker but the common flowers used in the designs are globe amaranth, chrysanthemum, jasmine, lily, hibiscus, and osmanthus.

Exactly how long it takes to sew together a flowering ball will depend on the intricacy of the design. It could take anything between a minute to 10 minutes or more. Then while still moist, the previously bundled leaves are shaped into balls, mushrooms, cones and whichever other shapes because finally finishing the process completing the usual drying, oxidation and firing process of tea making.

Enjoying the tea is a much simpler task as you basically only have to perform 3 steps:

•  The Placement:

Place one Flowering Tea ball in a durable glass teapot (Flowering teas are prepared in a transparent vessel for appreciation of its beauty.)

•  The Steeping

Bring water to to a boil and pour over tea, allowing it to step for 2-3 minutes depending on the desired strength of the tea. Flowering teas are fragrant, aromatic teas that do not get bitter with extended steeping unlike conventional teas.

When steeped, the bundle will slowly expand and unfurl into a process that emulates an actual flower blooming. A magnificent sight to behold.

•The Gratification

After enjoying the sight of the blossoming flower, you may taste and drink your first pot. The tea can be refreshed/re-steeped several times (2-3 times depending on variety) just by adding more water as needed.

While it is unclear if the flowering tea is a new invention, a time forgotten one or simply a rediscovered one, one thing is for certain. Regardless of the age of its origins, it cannot be denied that the interest or should I say the appreciation for it has only in recent times begun to surmount to a level deserving of such a delicate art.

Organic made, I think they would make such a lovely healthy, uniquely beautiful eco-friendly gift for someone dear who loves her tea or simply someone who would appreciate watching a magical flower blossom right before his every eyes.

Angelina Leigh | My Bio & Articles

Like everyone else, I am a child of the earth. I love my animals and I love the environment. As modernisation pushes us forward and introduces us to an exciting new world filled with advance technology, it is easy to forget about ...